158 Proceedings of Societies. 



remove this impression, so far as the North- West Provinces are con- 

 cerned, I am doing mj endeavour, and ere long I trust to see the so- 

 called difficulty to the rapid progress of railways overcome. When once 

 the railways are finished, Government, particularly that of the Punjab, 

 will, through time, find difiiculty in feeding the engines, unless every 

 where measures be taken to plant the finest tracts which are now being 

 felled. In the Punjab, only two short lines are open, — one at Moultan, 

 the other between Amritzur and Lahore, — and, with this small drain, 

 firewood has risen 150 per cent, in value. Timber has from time immemo- 

 rial been felled in the most reckless manner; and only now are the forests 

 beginning to receive the attention that they deserve. Madras and Bom- 

 bay have for a time been doing something ; but as yet no regular plan 

 has been pursued in the North- West Provinces. Numbers of parties 

 were allowed to fell timber, and did so recklessly ;'so much so that first- 

 class timber of Sal {Shorea rohustay — a timber admirably fitted for rail- 

 way purposes — had, in many of the fine forests at the base of the Hima- 

 layas, become scarce, and hence the outcry of the engineers. But there 

 are many other timber trees, admirably fitted for railway purposes,, 

 which, through sheer ignorance, have been passed over, such as the Sar 

 {Pentaptera tomentosa), Backha {Anogeissus latifolius), Dhowlah {Lager- 

 strcemia parviflora)., Huldou {Nauclea cordifolia), &c. In the Kohistan 

 of the North- West Provinces and Punjab there is no chance of coal being 

 found, the formation being altogether wanting. 



I have now established the Cinchona plant in two localities in the 

 Himalayas, in Gurhwal, and the west of Mussouree, at altitudes of from 

 4800 to 6000 feet. The following species have thus been introduced : — 

 Cinchona Gondaminea^ C. succirubra, C. peruviana^ C. nitida, and C. 

 micrantha. 



XI. Mr M'Nab's Report on Plants in Flower in the Botanic Garden. 



To give some idea of the mildness of the present season, I beg to lay 

 before the Society dried specimens of 220 species of plants in flower, 

 collected from the open air in the Royal Botanic Garden since the 1st 

 day of December ; the largest proportion being the summer and autumn 

 annual and perennial plants, the others chiefly composed of trees, shrubs, 

 and spring flowering plants in the following proportions :—- 



Annual plants (summer and autumn), . 34 species. 



Perennial plants, do. 

 Trees and shrubs, 

 Ferns, 



Spring flowering plants. 



do. 



118 



38 

 8 

 22 



220 



The 220 species are spread over 50 natural orders in the following 



proportions : — 



Natural Orders. 



Ranunculaceae, 



BerberidacesB 



Fumariacese, 



Cruciferae, 



Resedacese, 



Violacese, 



Polygalaceae, 



No. of 

 Species. 



9 

 2 

 1 



17 



2 

 4 

 1 



Natural Orders. 



Caryophyllaceas, 



Hypericacese, 



Geraniaceas, 



Rutacese, 



Rhamnaceae, 



Leguminosae, 



Rosaceae, 



No. of 

 Species. 

 11 

 1 



3 

 1 

 1 

 7 

 17 



