INTRODUCTION. 



cate of their vegetable treasures, the number of plants scot must be very few if (hey 

 are then to be sought for in the woods ; and it is probable that of these scarcely one 

 in ten would arrive in a growing state ; not to mention that of the numerous species 

 to be found in any given district, a very few only could be in a state sufficiently con- 

 spicuous to be found at any one season of the year; plants not in flower being gene- 

 rally overlooked : to which may be added, that the labour of searching through an 

 extensive district for plants, is too great to be carried on to any advantage upon the 

 mere spur of the moment, and if undertaken/would be very imperfectly done by the 

 natives of Hindoost han, who must be the person 5 ) employed to collect and bring 

 home the plants. 



But on the other hand, were any gentleman to appropriate, as above suggested, a 

 small spot for the reception of plants growing in his neighbourhood, it would be easy, 

 when riding about the country, to make some particular mark, or set up some sign 

 by any plants he might discover, or to point them out to his attendant; and on his 

 return to send a man or two to fetch and plant them in his nursery. By this means 

 the number would soon be very considerable; and they would be always at hand 

 when an opportunity of sending them might occur; and as the person who makes 

 such a collection would naturally bring several plants of the same species into 

 this nursery, he would always have it in his power to replace any that, might perish 

 on the passage, or even after being received at the Botanical Garden. 



It might render this mode more effectual, and at the same time more agreeable to 

 the collector, were he to make a catalogue of the plants collected, without giving 

 them names (unless he were a scientific botanist) only numbering them No. 1, % 3, 4, 

 &c; and writing opposite to the number the vernacular name, which in most in- 

 stances should be done by a native in the character proper to the language. The 

 name of the place where the plant was discovered might make another column, and 

 the kind of soil in which it grows a third ; to which might be added, remarks upon the 

 plant, either collected from the natives, or made by the person himself from his own 

 observation. 



The more effectually to secure success, these plants should be placed in boxes, 



