4 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF 
distribution and uses of different families of plants, and in making the application to 
India of the result of our observations; for no where is the field more extended, 
and at the same time more favourable for acclimating the useful productions of dif- 
ferent countries. In the peninsula of India, and in the neighbouring island of Cey- 
lon, we have a climate capable of producing cinnamon, cassia, pepper, and carda- 
moms. The coffee grown on the Malabar Coast is of so superior a quality as to be 
taken to Arabia and re-exported as Mocha coffee; the Tinnevelly senna brings the 
highest price in the London market; and there is little doubt that many other valu- 
able products of tropical countries may be acclimated, particularly as several are 
already in a flourishing condition in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, such as the 
cocoa and nutmeg, as well as the camphor, pimento, cajeput, and cashew-nut trees. 
In the Neelgherries a favourable site might without doubt be found for the cinchona, 
as well as the different kinds of ipecacuanha; and as the potatoe has been intro- 
duced into almost every part of India, equal success and considerable benefit would 
probably result from introducing the different kinds of arracacha, so much prized for 
their roots as food for the natives of South America. 
Along the coasts of the Bay of Bengal the cocoa and areca-nut palms flourish and 
abound, and the continent every where produces indigo, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and - 
opium. The first, hardly of any note as an Indian product thirty years ago, is now 
imported in the largest quantities into England. The cotton, though indigenous to 
India, has not been in any way improved, though many provinces seem peculiarly 
well adapted for the culture, particularly Malwa, and those to the north-west. The 
tobacco brought home by Dr. Wallich from Martaban was pronounced by competent 
judges in England to be equal to the best from America; while the Persian tobacco, 
the produce of a peculiar species, the Nicotiana persica of Dr. Lindley, is celebrated, 
and commands a high price both in India and Europe. This, there is every proba- 
bility in considering, would succeed well in the N.W. provinces which are nearest its 
native country. The opium of Patna is preferred in China, and that of Malwa bids 
fair to rival Turkey opium in the European market. The sugar-cane is cultivated in 
every part of India, but very inferior sugar has hitherto been produced; lately, 
however, a manufactory has been established near Calna, a new mine opened in the 
Burdwan coal formation, and very superior specimens of sugar sent home. Here 
the occurrence of sugar at the surface of the soil, and coal only a few feet below it, 
in a country where labour is so cheap, ought to be attended with decidedly favourable 
results. If from these we turn our attention to other products, we shall still see 
that there are great capabilities even where we should least expect them: for though 
‘India is generally looked upon chiefly as a rice country, wheat has been imported 
into and sold at a profit in England from the northern provinces, and flour for 
making starch is now one of the annual exports from Calcutta. Of dyes, medi- 
cinal drugs, resins, and gums, there are great varieties, and more might be success- 
fully introduced. Timber of every kind is every where abundant, the coasts pro- 
ducing 
