and Horticultural Society of India. 44*1 



contribute to the furnishing of our tables with wholesome and agreeable 

 vegetables and fine fruits is yet to be commenced ; not to mention that orna- 

 mental gardening is scarcely known. We depend upon Europe for seeds, of 

 which, when we have obtained them at a great price, scarcely one in five 

 hundred vegetates, and, even after it has sprung up, seldom comes to perfec- 

 tion, through the ignorance or negligence of the native gardeners. It is, 

 notwithstanding, well known that one part or other of India would suit every 

 production, and bring every kind of seed to maturity ; so that, by a free com- 

 munication, those parts of the country in which the seeds of particular plants 

 do not come to perfection, might be easily supplied with them from others, 

 and useful plants and fruits might be gradually acclimated, so as to be plentiful 

 in every part of India. The introduction of the potato, and more recently 

 of the strawberry, are sufficient to show that the attempts of insulated indi- 

 viduals have not been in vain. How much more then might be accomplished 

 by the joint efforts of a number of persons arduously engaged in the same 

 pursuit ! " (p. xi.) 



This deplorable state of things Mr. Carey proposed attempting to improve, 

 by the establishment of a Society which should give premiums, and publish 

 reports ; raising the funds necessary for that purpose by subscription. The 

 Society was formed in 1820, and, after having held several meetings, a number 

 of premiums were given, for the first time, at a meeting held in Jan. 1827 ; and 

 the work before us includes the reports that have hitherto been made to the 

 Society ; or, rather, the papers which have been contributed to its Transactions. 



To give an idea of the articles exhibited at these meetings for competi- 

 tion, we may mention that, at the first meeting (in January, 1827) at which 

 prizes were distributed, the articles produced were chiefly of European 

 garden produce ; such as peas, cabbages, turnips, cauliflowers, beet, mangoes, 

 guavas, kohl rabi, red cabbage, and potatoes. The silver medal was awarded 

 to Yusuf Malee, of Moochee-khola, for the best potatoes raised from Cape 

 sets. The cabbages weighed from 20 to 24 lb., and were 10 in. in diameter. 

 The cauliflowers weighed from 6 to 8 lb., and were about 8 in. in diameter; 

 the kohl rabi 3 lb., and 5h in. in diameter; the turnips 2 lb., and 6 in. in 

 diameter; and the potatoes were 3^ in. long. (App. p. xxxvii.) 



We shall now look over the different papers which compose the Transactions, 

 and shall select what we think will be most interesting or useful to our readers. 

 In the introductory discourse, by the president, W. Leycester, Esq., we think 

 the good produced by the British Board of Agriculture is greatly overrated. 

 Instead of going to the root of the evils of British agriculture, and directing 

 its attention to the removal of tithes, of injurious restrictions in leases, and 

 similar political obstacles, and striking at the general ignorance of farmers, the 

 British Board of Agriculture limited its exertions to publishing books, most 

 of them at so high a price that they never fell into the hands of those for 

 whom they were intended. We question much whether the Agricultural 

 Society of India durst venture to propose to diffuse knowledge among the 

 native agriculturists by educating their children. If they dare do this, they 

 may rest assured, from the negative results of the agricultural societies of 

 Britain, that it is the only effectual mode of really improving agriculture or 

 gardening. A certain degree of knowledge is necessary to enable cultivators 

 to make the improvements pointed out to them their own : this degree was 

 not possessed by the great majority of the farmers of England, when the 

 Board of Agriculture was in activity, and it is much less likely to be so in 

 India. The consequence, in England, has been, that, in many districts, agricul- 

 ture is scarcely, if at all, advanced beyond its state in the year 1790, before 

 the Board of Agriculture was established. The same tenures from year to 

 year ; or, if a longer tenure, the same leases, prescribing the same courses 

 of crops which were practised centuries before ; the same ploughs, carts, 

 and waggons, and the same heavy horses, may still be seen by the tourist. In 

 agriculture, therefore, as in all matters which concern the improvement of the 

 practices of great masses of society, to do good effectually, it is necessary to 



