( 80 ) 



in gardens about Bombay, Tanna, &c. The largest are to be found 

 on or near to the Esplanade, Tanna. In our climate this tree 

 ajjpears to afford but a small supply of caoutchouc, as compared to 

 that obtained from the same tree in Kastern Bengal. This is pro- 

 bably owing to the greater dryness of the air in Western India. 



3. F Carica, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 3, p 528. " Unjeer," Hindoostanee, 

 Blackw. ^ 12.5; Gaert. 2, <. 91, /'. 7. — The common cultivated 

 Fig. In gardens, but chiefly above the Ghauts, where it is culti- 

 vated extensively. The fruit is inferior in size and flavour to the 

 Smyrna Fig. Does this arise from caprification not being practised 

 in India ? This process consists in drilling the half ripe Fig with a 

 thorn or a needle, in imitation of the same process as done by an 

 insect with its probosis. The scientific pruning of the Fig tree is 

 well understood, especially by the Mussulman gardeners. 



MORUS, Linn., Monoecia Tetrandria. Derived from moria or 

 moron, a Greek name of the Mulberry (1st Maccabees 6, 34 — " The 

 blood of grapes and mulberries") ; Gaert. 2, < 126 ; Tourn. t. 362; 

 Lam. t. 762. — According to the elegant fable of Ovid, the Mulberry 

 bore a snow-white fruit, till stained by the blood of Pyramus {vide 

 Meta. Book 4, Fable 4. 



4. M Indica, Roxb. Fl. 3, p 596; VVilld. sp. 4, p 370; Spr. 

 syst. 1, p 492; Rumpli. Amb. 7, t. 5. — Roxburgh says this is the 

 species cultivated in Bengal for feeding silk-worms, and that it is 

 usually cut down four times a year, and kept down as a bush. The 

 system was tried in the Ueccan by Dr. Graham at Ahuiednuggur, 

 but without success, as might have been anticipated, fiom difference 

 in soil and climate. We may add that the tree system as tried by 

 Signor Mutti and others at Poona, and many other places, proved 

 equally abortive. After about 12 years of patient trial, during 

 which the expenditure by Government must have been close upon 

 two lacs of rupees, and extensive correspondence as to the relative 

 value of the tree and bush Mulberry, it was finally determined, by 

 a committee assembled in 1846, that both were in our climate 

 equally worthless as regards the profitable production of silk. 

 Medals, watches, and land had, in the progress of tliis experiment, 

 been lavishly bestowed on candidates whose success was deemed 

 to be undoubted, and the most brilliant anticipations had been 

 indulged in as to the productive benefits of this cultivation (vide 

 reports of the Chamber of Commerce of Bombay, and Transactions 

 ofAgri. and Horticultural Societies of Western India from 1836 

 to 1843). 



5. M Alba, Roxb. Fl. 3, p 594 ; Willd. sp. 4, p 368 ; M itahca, 

 Poir. — A tree ; leaves cordate-serrate, entire or variously lobed ; 

 fruit rather small, white; in gardens. This, the Doppia foglia, 

 formed the great staple tree for the tree cultivation. We doubt if 



