Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



157 



X. Extract of Letter from William Jameson, Esq., Surgeon-Major, 



Saharunpore, to Professor Balfour, July 9, 1863. 

 I send two small packets of seeds. 



1. Seeds of the Folel or Phulwah {Bassia lutyracea) which is now just 

 ripening here. From the seeds of this tree a kind of butter is extracted 

 which is valuable in rheumatism. It is used in lamps, and as it gives a 

 fine inodorous light, it is prized for night-lights. The tree grows to a 

 height of from 30 to 40 feet, flowers in October, and ripens its seeds in 

 July. It was supposed to be confined to Eastern Kumaon and Nepal, 

 but this is a mistake, as it is common at Bhimtul, where I have an exten- 

 sive tea plantation. Bhimtal is ten miles from the plains and twelve 

 from the Sanatarium at Nynee Tal. The Folel or Phulwah is met with 

 growing at altitudes of from 4000 to 4500 feet. It will do well therefore 

 in your green-houses, but it is not sufficiently hardy to withstand your 

 winters. Where it is met with snow falls annually, but only remains a 

 short time on the ground. 



2. Seeds of Bamboo {Bamhusa arundinacea), which flowered this year 

 in the garden at Sa.harunpore. Other plants of Bamboo also flowered last 

 year. As the flowering of the Bamboo rarely occurs in our gardens, and 

 as the seeds appear to be good, a small supply may be useful to you. 



I also enclose a few seeds of Eremostachys sui^erha, which may be a 

 novelty. It flowers in April, and is met with in hot, low localities, as 

 at the Chowki, in the Mohur Pass, in the Sevalik range, and at Jewalah 

 Moki in the Kohistan of the Punjab. 



The museum building in the Saharunpore garden is now progressing 

 rapidly, and I trust to see it finished about the end of the season. When 

 filled with specimens, it will, I trust, be one of the most interesting collec- 

 tions in India. I am collecting botanical specimens useful in the arts and 

 sciences from all parts of India, and as soon as the collection is sufficiently 

 extensive a catalogue will be printed. 



Two great exhibitions of arts and manufactures are to take place in 

 India, — one at Lahore in November and December 1863, and the other 

 at Calcutta in January 1864. In these we have a move in the right 

 direction, as, under one roof, all the raw products and the articles manu- 

 factured in the respective countries will be brought together, and the 

 wants and requirements of each district ascertained ; at the same time 

 will be shown what each can give in return, and send respectively into 

 the market. 



To open up the country, railways are rapidly extending ; but amongst 

 the engineers the cry is — We have no sleepers. Over hundreds of miles 

 in the Himalayas the Cheer {Pinus longifolia) is met with in millions, 

 forming trees from 10 to 18 feet in girth four feet from the ground, and in 

 height varying from 80 to 120 feet. These noble trees are every where, 

 I might say, met with in the mountains at altitudes from 3000 to 6000 

 feet — occurring in two varieties, — one with the wood white and twisted, 

 and easily acted on by the weather, and thus useless in architecture or 

 for railway sleepers ; the other, generally met with on the northern 

 slopes of mountains at altitudes of from 5000 to 6000 feet, has reddish- 

 white timber, close-grained and highly resinous. This timber, of which 

 millions occur in the Himalayas, is admirably fitted for architectural par- 

 poses, and if kyanised or creozotised would also make first-rate sleepers 

 for railways. Nothing, however, has been done, and the cry of the 

 engineers is, — We cannot get on with our work, because the trees met 

 with in the country yielding timber, fitted for sleepers, are limited. To 



