1834.] 



Observations on Botany, ^c. 



320 



which the Nutmeg has been cultivated : Coffee of good quality is also 

 grown there, as well as in Mysore. We also some years ago, saw 

 a very thriving specimen of Cocoa or Chocolate plant inMr. Hughes', 

 garden; might not that plant be introduced into India with as 

 great a chance of success as the Coffee? we think it might, because 

 our climate assimilates in many points with that of its native coun- 

 try, and produces besides many other plants of the same order 

 particularly one the bastard cedar {Guazuma tomentosa) also a 

 native of America. 



These few examples will show the benefits to be derived from the 

 study of systematic Botany, as well as from Botanical geography, 

 and with them we shall close this very imperfect sketch of the ob- 

 jects of the science and proceed with our review. 



Mr. Royle observes in his prospectus, that in no part of India, 

 rich as it is in the productions of nature, is there greater variety, or 

 forms more interesting, than in the Himalayan mountains. " Their 

 western bases resting on the arid plains of India, abound in all the 

 animal and vegetable forms which are characteristic of tropical 

 countries, while their gradually elevated slope, which supports ve- 

 getation at the greatest heights known in the world, affords at 

 intermediate elevations, all the varieties of temperature, adapted to 

 the production of forms which are considered peculiar to different 

 latitudes." These having as yet been only cursorily noticed by 

 naturalists, it is his intention to give a connected, and illustrated 

 view, of the progressive transitions from the productions which 

 are characteristic of the plains of India, and which exist at the bases 

 of the mountains, to those found at different elevations on their 

 acclivities, where a gradual approach is made to the forms common 

 in Europe, America and Japan" noticing as he goes along, the soil, 

 or rock formation in which they exist, the atmospherical phenomena 

 by which they are surrounded, and the animal forms with which they 

 are associated ; and as opportunities offer, directing attention to the 

 useful and ornamental plants of the country, as well as pointing out 

 those which Europe might receive from India, or India from other 

 countries. To accomplish these various ends arrangement is ne- 

 cessary, and the one best suited for the purpose, being, from the 

 facilities it affords of comparison with other countries, the Natural 

 System, is that which will be adopted. Such are the leading objects 

 of the work, and if they are executed in the spirit in which they are 

 conceived, it will undoubtedly prove a model, lor all future writers, 

 who wish to present a general view of the Flora of a new country. 



