ol9 Observations o?i Botany, ^-c. [Oct. 



lection of Iloniaii letters, employed to represent the native sounds, 

 carefully mark iiitT those that are sounded long or short &'C. and that 

 the same name distinctly written in native characters should, if pos- 

 sible, always accompany. Specimens of the plants in tlower and 

 fruit, should also be preserved, as any botanist can with them yeri- 

 fy the description, and determine their places in the system of plants. 



It appears from what has now been said, that systematic Botany 

 is the key which opens to us the accumulated treasures of the sci- 

 ence, and is equally necessary to those who would either add to, 

 or take from its stores. This we trust will satisfy those who ask ; 

 •* why we bestow so mu( h time and study on naming and clas- 

 sifying plants and not rather study their properties and uses;" that 

 the one is labour in vain without the other, since without the naine we 

 can neither learn what our predecessors knew, nor tell our successors 

 what we know. 



To the agriculturist, a knowledge of the laws which govern the 

 distribution of vegetables over the earth's surface, is of primary im- 

 portance, if he would endeavour to extend and vary his productions, 

 by the introduction of new plants, we thence learn, that particular 

 orders and genera, as well as individual species, affect particular 

 latitudes, or proportional elevation above the level of the sea; and 

 if we would cultivate them in countries where they are not in- 

 digenous we must bear that in mind, and compensate as far as pos- 

 sible by artificial means, for the change to which we subject them. 

 If we cultivate them for the sake of products they afford in their 

 native country, other circumstances require our attention ; for it is 

 not enough that we can rear a plant; to make it perfect its products, 

 we must give it a climate approximating in dryness or humidity 

 as well as in heat or cold. The tea plant for example, has been 

 cultivated to a considerable extent in the eastern Islands, but the 

 tea wants the flavour of the Chinese plant; showing that the 

 climate is not adapted though the shrub grows vigorously. Again, 

 the mangosteen* has been attempted to be cultivated at Madras, but 

 unsuccessfully, perhaps on account of the dryness of the climate. 

 We believe it would succeed at Courtallum, and Malabar where the 

 climate is more moist, where several other plants of the same natu- 

 ral order, and even of the same genus grow, and where several 

 plants common to the eastern Islands grow spontaneously, showing 

 a similarity of climate, which is further proved, by the success with 



* The mangosteen mentioned by Ainsley as growing on the Malabar Coast 

 is a different species, perhaps Garcinia Cowa Roxburgh. 



