1841.] Report 071 subjects connected with Afghanistan. 985 



am able to give it. Madder is confined, so far as I know, to western 

 Afghanistan. About Candahar it is common ; it is planted on 

 trenched ground ; the green parts are given as fodder to camels ; the 

 roots are allowed to remain untouched for two, three, or five years, or 

 even seven, the quality of those dug up early is inferior. The price 

 is, I was told, six Hindoostanee maunds for one rupee. Madder forms 

 an extensive export to Bombay; it is, 1 believe, the same species as 

 that cultivated in Europe. 



Tobacco, — Tobacco of excellent quality is grown about Candahar, 

 chiefly I believe in the valley of the Arghaiidab. This again is one 

 of the agricultural products, upon which detailed information, accom- 

 panied by samples, is necessary. 



Natural Grasses.— ^o valuable natural grasses occur, it would ap- 

 pear, in Afghanistan, except on the Chummuns. The doab.grass is 

 found throughout, but I do not think it is used by the Afghans. No 

 hay is made in any part of the country I have visited, throughout the 

 poorer and less favored districts, such for instance as the Hazarah coun- 

 try between Cabul and Bamean ; the wild plants of the hills are cut 

 almost indiscriminately, and when dry are carried to the villages, and 

 stored on the roofs of the houses and towers for winter use. The va- 

 rious kinds of thistles, the large leaves of the rhubarb, and indeed the 

 whole of such plants as are absolutely not too dry to aflford nourish- 

 ment, are thus made use of. 



Artificial Grasses. — To supply the wants of fine natural pasture 

 grasses, Afghanistan possesses very fine artificial ones in lucerne and 

 clover, these are extensively cultivated, requiring no great care, but 

 plenty of water. In the green state, they constitute the greatest, and 

 most valuable part of the food of the cattle, and in the dry state, in 

 which they are twisted into coarse ropes, they are extensively used 

 during the winter months. 



The lucerne is the same species as that cultivated in the North- 

 west parts of India and Europe ; it occurs throughout the country at 

 almost every altitude. 



The clover, which is unlike any of the English cultivated species I 

 remember, is a beautiful, and when in flower, a very fragrant plant, 

 it has long succulent tender trailings, stems, and heads of bluish 

 flowers. It first attracted my notice about Ghuzni ; it is common at 



