1834.] Note on the Branched Falmyra Trees, 114 



is to be found in abundance in all parts of the country. The paths 

 dividing the plots of paddy ground might be planted with palmy- 

 ras and cocoanut trees, which during their growth would be useful 

 in many ways and when old couid be cut down and cut up into 

 logs for the fires. To prevent evaporation as much as possible, the 

 form of the reservoir should be an oblong oval, the banks or bands 

 turfed and planted with the most umbrageous trees, the roots of 

 which striking into the earth, will give a stability to the soil, whilst 

 the branches shade the water from the direct rays of the sun. 



The situations best calculated for the plan of operations here 

 proposed, can be ascertained by consulting the maps of the several 

 collectors which have been framed upon actual survey of the country. 

 It might surely be advisable for the government to take the neces- 

 sary measures for ascertaining the probable result of the project, but 

 should government decline risking, if risking it can be called where 

 a certainty of gain based on accurate calculations is positively en- 

 sured, individual enterprise might, especially at the present tinrje 

 when it is difficult to get any return for capital, find it advantage- 

 ous to attempt an improvement on the old system, which, from its 

 not having kept pace with the progressive improvement of ages, now 

 yields inadequate returns — Surely no project can be more deserving 

 of the attention and encouragement of a liberal government, than 

 the introduction of steam engines for the purpose of improving the 

 agricuitural process in India, as it will be the means of bringing large 

 tracts of land into cultivation, which are now lying waste, and of 

 rendering these territories independent of requiring foreign aid, as at 

 present, in every occasion of scarcity. 



There are numerous other advantages likely to arise from the 

 adoption of this scheme, which are too obvious to require any length- 

 ened comment, and I am sure that every generous mind would 

 rejoice in the prospect of seeing India rise from her depress- 

 ed state and condition by the very means which has raised 

 England, to her present couimercial superiority. 



VI —NotCj by a Member, on Colonel Bowler s description of 

 the branched Palmyra trees. 



The occassional occurrence of these trees is a frequent subject 

 of surprise and remark, and being apparently inconsistent with the 

 established opinions on the structure and physiology of the family 



