374 , Foreign Notices : — India. 



culty. One degree farther south, at Alten (70°), a little barley makes its 

 appearance. At Enontekis (6&° 30'), the crops (barley and bear) yield a re- 

 munerating harvest, on an average, once in three years. Rye and hemp cannot 

 be successfully cultivated beyond the 66th, nor oats beyond the 64th, parallel. 

 This latter is also the general limits of garden cultivation. The cherry tree, 

 alder, and maple cease to thrive beyond the 63d ; the ash and the willow, at 

 the 66th; the elm, lime, and oak, at the 6 1st parallel. The natural beech 

 woods of Sweden do not extend beyond lat. 57°. Finally, the mulberry, the 

 chestnut, and the walnut arrive at perfection in Schonem (54°), at the southern 

 extremity of the Peninsula. On the coasts of Norway, vegetation is less 

 curbed by the rigours of winter than in corresponding parallels on the shores 

 of the Baltic; and, according to Mr. Laing, pears, plums, and sometimes even 

 chestnuts, ripen in the neighbourhood of Moldes, 6a° 47' north latitude." 

 {Forsell's Statistics ofSwedeti, as quoted in Jamesoji's Journal, vol. xxii. No. 44., 

 Aj}ril, 1836.) 



INDIA. 



" The singular Form which many of the Trees assume [in the Island of Little 

 Carimon, near Singapore'] is not the least remarkable feature in the varied phe- 

 nomena displayed by the vegetable creation. 1 allude more particularly, in 

 the present instance, to a remarkable and very obvious disposition in the roots 

 and lower part of the stem of the larger trees to form winged appendages of 

 great magnitude. These tabular compressed appendages are three or four in 

 number : they obviously serve as supports to the weighty incumbent mass of 

 stem and leaves, thus compensating for the want of depth of soil, only a few 

 inches into which the roots can penetrate before they are obstructed by the 

 surface of the rock : they are thus forced to extend horizontally. A tree of 

 this description, torn up by its roots, aifords a singular epectacle, and one in 

 which the economy of vegetable life is peculiarly remarkable, inasmuch as this 

 economy is obviously exerted in overcoming the difficulties which oppose its 

 developement. Every crevice in the rocky base, every chink, has been occu- 

 pied by the root ; a thin, but hardy, network extends along the ground, to a 

 distance often equal to the noble altitude of the tree itself. The thin-winged 

 appendages to the tree, or its supporting walls, as they may justly be termed, 

 partake more of the nature of roots than of trunk, though altogether out of 

 the earth. They possess, generally, a smooth, softish, and very thin cuticle, 

 green underneath, abounding in the vegetable juices of the tree, and are re- 

 markably hard. They sometimes extend horizontally, in a straight, but more 

 commonly in a curved, direction, 15 ft. or 20 ft.; their edges being 6, 8, or 

 more feet above the ground, gradually decreasing from the stem to the earth. 

 In some instances they are formed into walls, resembling fortifications." (Fin- 

 layson's Mission to Siam and Co chin-China, as quoted for us by J. B. W.) 



" The most extraordinary Plant in these [the Sechang] Islands, is one bearing 

 affinity both to Diosc6re« and to Menispermum, but differing from both in some 

 essential generic characters. The great beauty of the creeping stem, suspended 

 in elegant festoons from the branches of the surrounding trees, were sufficient 

 to attract attention. But the most singular property of this herbaceous plant 

 is the disposition which it has of forming tuberous roots of a most extraordi- 

 nary size; a cu'cumstance the more singular, because, independently of the small 

 size of its stem, scarcely larger than a quill, it is found growing in the most 

 arid and sterile situations, without a particle of earth to conceal its roots ; 

 neither are its leaves succulent, nor its stem nor root of a texture apparently 

 fitted to convey a large proportion of vegetable juice, both being hard and 

 fibrous. The singular tuberosity of this plant is formed at the exit of the root 

 from the rock, or surrounding stones, and is, in general, buried about one fourth 

 under the surface. The part exposed is globular, of a dirty M'hite colour, 

 warty ; and internally, the yam is tough and fibrous, rather than spongj'. One 

 brought on board, on account of its size, weighed 474 lb., and measured 9| ft. 

 in circumference; others, of still greater size, were not uncommon. It will 



