a7id of Bural Improvement, during IQ^B. - 633 



European improvement of which it is susceptible, and civilisa- 

 tion is advancing there with rapid strides. We refer to Mr. 

 St. John's Egypt, and to our Encyclopcedia, for details, and to a 

 paper by Mr. Trail, the pacha's English gardener, in our suc- 

 ceeding volume. The most valuable agricultural product of 

 Egypt, at the present time, is cotton ; and, while this material 

 from the East Indies is worth, at Manchester, about l^d. per 

 lb., and that from New Orleans about 11^., the Egyptian cotton 

 is woi'th \Sd. With such a source of wealth, it is not to be 

 wondered at that the pa^ha should be powerful and pros- 

 perous. 



In Asia there is probably an immense number of plants, 

 natives of the elevated regions and high latitudes, which would 

 endure the open air in Britain ; and it is highly satisfactory, and 

 greatly to the honour of the East India Company, that the in- 

 digenous botany of their dominions, and of the adjoining coun- 

 tries, has been, and continues to be, explored, at their expense, 

 by eminent botanists. Much has been done by Dr. Wallich 

 for the botany of India, and also for the botany and horticul- 

 ture of Europe. Dr. Wallich, who had been for above a year 

 on a visit to this country, has recently returned to India; and, 

 as will appear from his communications in this volume, has 

 added various new plants from England to the Calcutta Garden. 

 He has also furnished us with an account (p. 429.) of the dis- 

 covery of the tea plant in Assam, which will probably lead to 

 important consequences in various ways. One of the first which 

 we anticipate is, the discovery of other ligneous plants in Assam, 

 equally hardy with the tea shrub, or more so, by which the 

 British arboretum will be more and more enriched. There is a 

 horticultural and botanical garden at Saharunpore, under the 

 care of Mr. Royle, which has been of great use in introducing 

 to that country the useful plants both of Hindostan and of 

 Europe ; and to that garden, and to the exertions of Mr. Royle 

 and of other botanists who have preceded him, the British 

 garden is indebted for many interesting Nepal plants, among 

 which are some of our finest hardy trees and shrubs. Great 

 expectations may reasonably be entertained from this part of 

 Asia, the botanical riches of which, and its susceptibility of re- 

 ceiving great accessions from the plants of other countries, ai'e 

 set forth in a scientific and masterly manner in Royle's Illus- 

 trations of the Botany, S^c, of the Himalayan Mountains. China, 

 though it has hitherto been a sealed country to Europeans, will 

 probably not long continue to be so ; and whenever European 

 botanists are allowed to explore the interior of the country, a 

 rich harvest will be reaped both of hardy and of bouse plants. 

 The rising generation may even live to see a railroad conducted 

 from Europe to the heart of China. In the meantime, the Bri- 



