16 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 13. 
clean dry bottles. Cover the bottles with leather (no cork), 
having holes pricked through it. Two bushels of flowering 
heads will yield about eight quarts of this fine powder. 
Thus preserved it will keep to a second year. The leaves 
may be eaten as other cress. The juice expressed from the 
whole plant is considered an excellent antiscorbutic in 
northern countries, where salt meat is much used. The 
double-blossomed variety is an elegant ornament to the 
flower-garden.”— (Smith. Withering. Gerarde. Parkinson. 
Ray.) 
None but those who have lived within the tropics can 
appreciate the lingering desire which is there felt for 
the cool fruits and fresh crisp vegetables of our temperate 
climate by those who in early life had been accustomed 
; to them. The Guava, the Litchee, and the Shaddock, 
| are hut poor substitutes for the Grape, the Peach, the 
I Apple, the Pear, and the Gooseberry; and no sooner 
does a ship from North America laden with ice anchor 
before the Gauts of Calcutta, than the earliest en¬ 
quiries are for the Apples and Pears packed among her 
conservative cargo, and rapidly are they sold at prices 
which would appear ridiculously high, if wo did not 
know what a luxury they are there, aud that every 
luxury is costly in proportion to its rarity. Peas in 
December, and ice in June are enormously high priced 
even here, because they are then rare, though if the 
months he exchanged they are cheap enough. 
This lingering for the garden produce of their native 
land affects all classes in India; and as an evidence 
of this, we have just received the following from a 
Birmingham correspondent, who subscribes himself 
“G. P. T.” 
“I have a friend, a soldier (a corporal), who is in the 
Punjaub, in the East Indies, at Seeakote, about forty miles 
from Jumna, in the Vale of Cashmere. He wants a few 
vegetable and flower seeds, and you will oblige me by 
publishing a short list of those most desirable for the 
climate.” 
This is just the individual we shall he most gratified 
by being able to aid, and it is cheering to think that, 
“ sitting at home at ease,” we can help to add to the 
comfort and gratification of a cottage gardener on the 
hanks of the Chenab. Seeakote is not far from that 
river, and on the road that leads from Wuzeerabad to 
Jumna. It is in latitude 32° 5', and longtitude 74° 5'. 
Its temperature, from notes before us, we conclude to 
average in winter 54°, spring 81°, summer 87°, and 
autumn 72°. We remember very well a Committee of 
the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, 
assembling at Calcutta in 1810, aud the results of their 
enquiries were published by the late Dr. Spry, entitled 
“ Suggestions for Extending the Cultivation and Intro¬ 
duction of Useful and Ornamental Plants into India.” 
That volume does not contain many documents which 
■ were brought to the Committees notice, among which 
were several papers relative to the productions of the 
i Punjaub. Those papers left little doubt upon our 
' mind that all the productions of Europe could have 
localities found for them in the Punjaub where they 
would flourish. In the plains near the Himalayah 
might he found a climate resembling that of Italy, and 
Seeakote is not much hotter. 
We should send to the corporal seeds of various 
Broeolis, Cauliflowers, Lettuces, Kidney Beans, Red 
j Beet, Carrot, and Celery ; and of flower seeds, those of 
i Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, Cinerarias, Carnations, and a 
collection of one hundred varieties of annuals, all of 
which annuals may he had for fifteen shillings of the 
Florists who advertize in our columns. 
In return for these suggestions, we wish the corporal 
would give us some information. Among the papers 
brought to the notice of the Committee we have men¬ 
tioned was one from the traveller, Mr. Moorcroft, on 
“The Fruit Trees of Kashmeer and the neighbouring 
countries.” It is so full of interesting particulars that 
we shall publish it nearly entire, and the information 
we covet, is whether the names of the varieties of fruits 
which we print in Italics are similar to any varieties 
we have in England. 
“ The fleshy and pulpy fruits of Kashmeer consist of 
Apples, Pears, Quinces, Peaches, Apricots, Plums, Cherries, 
and Mulberries. 
“The shell and stone fruits of Kashmeer, are Pome¬ 
granates, Walnuts, and Almonds. Altogether the collection 
of fruits is highly respectable, and announces an attention 
to Horticulture of no insignificant order. 
“ The Apples may be divided into cultivated and unculti¬ 
vated varieties ; the former are named as under : 
“ Knddooseree , Sufur-kundee, Ambree, Kei~man.ee, Khatoon, 
and Moe-ambree. 
“ The wildings, or those not grafted, are, Suffed, or white 
Trela, Soorkh, or red Trcla, Jambazee. 
“ Among the former, some have the acid, and others the 
sweet principle largely developed, whilst others again pos¬ 
sess an agreeable union of both qualities; but in general 
flavor all the apples that have come under my notice are 
inferior to those of France or of England. 
“ The form of this fruit varies considerably in character 
betwixt oblate-round and conical, and there is also a consi¬ 
derable variety in their coloring, which is of green, yellow, 
and red, in distinct and different propoi-tions of commixture. 
The size, form, and colour of the Ambree entitle it to be 
held as one of the most beautiful of the apple family, and 
though thin-skinned and ripe in October, I have seen it in 
high preservation in April. 
“ The apples of Kashmeer are generally inferior to the 
most favoured kinds of apples in Europe for the dessert, 
yet for baking some seem almost equal to the Codling ; and 
many are of special promise for the press. 
“ Were it necessary to indicate particular varieties, for 
the latter purpose it may be said, that if tire red Trela retain 
its qualities when acclimated in India, its juice will yield a 
beverage perhaps rivalling that of the Red Streak, and that 
of the white Trela one emulating that of the Golden Pippin. 
“ On the modes of extension, it may be sufficient to ob¬ 
serve that budding and engrafting are both practised, and 
that of the latter, the process called stock or crown grafting 
is simple and successful. 
“ Pursuing a similar division of Pears, here called Putung, 
the cultivated varieties are the following, viz., Nnkh, Gosh- 
buggee, ICoturml, Goolabee, Kaghzee, Nashpatee. 
“The wildings are, Seikatung, Tanjeh, Vetanjeh, Khur 
tanjeh. 
“ I found only one variety ripe, and which approximated 
in qualities to the white Beurree, though inferior in quality. 
“ In Ladakh the Jargonelle and Oressanne were met with; 
and as the wild pear is not indigenous to this country, it is 
presumed that these varieties were introduced from Kasli 
meer. 
“ The Quince, or Boomzoontoo, is of three varieties, viz.. 
Toorsli, Shereen, and Bedana. 
“ The whole of the apple family of Kashmeer seem to be 
free bearers, and this remark applies especially to the 
Quince, of which the peculiar flavor is so much higher than 
any I have seen in Europe, that it is likely to afford a 
