THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 
417 
! March 8. 
j light and dry, but all the insterstices, and all the tubes 
j of hay and straw, will be filled with enclosed air, and 
I thus become a non-conducting medium. Need we say, 
that to lessen radiation of heat from such a cover in 
winter, and to prevent it being half-charred if used lor 
diflereut other purposes in summer, the colour should 
approach a white rather than a black. Those who have 
none of these things, but depend upon keeping plants 
in frames and pits, chiefly by the assistance of litter of 
various kinds, must, in such weather as we have had 
recently, see that either they have plenty of it, or turn 
and shake it frequently. The time, and the circum¬ 
stances under which plants may be shut up from light, 
has been lately alluded to. F. 
FORSYTH MSS. 
{Continued from paye 378.) 
The two next letters are from Dr. George Y^ouno, 
Physician to the Royal Hospitals in the West Indies. 
Of this gentleman we have no other particulars than 
that the Society for the Encouragement of Arts gave 
him a gold medal for his cultivation of the Cinnamon 
in the Island of St. Vincent; and that he died on the 
11th of March, 1803, at Hammersmith. He was then 
in his 70th year. The following letters were addressed 
by him to Lieutenant-General Melville :— 
London, Feb. 8th, 1785. 
I am happy to find that the same motives which first in¬ 
duced you to cause a piece of ground to be set aside for a 
botanic gai'den at St. Vincent still continue ; and I make 
no doubt but it will still flourish. I am glad to learn that 
there is a probability of Mr. Anderson’s being appointed to 
the care of it, as I do not know a more proper person for 
that trust. I have lately sent him out some Assa foetida 
seeds, and shall soon be able to send him a plant of the 
true Jalap, which drug we are obliged to get from the 
Spaniards; a plant of Lechea, an exceeding fine East India 
fruit; a plant of the Marking Nut, of wliich the Chinese 
make their ink; the Camphor Tree, Scammony Seeds, and 
other articles. And I assure you, that while I remain about 
London, I shall make it a point to procure everything, either 
curious or useful, that is to be got in the Botanic Gardens, 
or in its environs. I shall likewise make out a list of what 
things are useful, either in commerce or in medicine, and 
send it to you, as you may have it in your power to send it 
to diflereut parts of the world, where your friends may be 
going, in order to procure those articles. 
In the margin of the plan of the botanic garden which I 
gave you some time ago, you will find the names of the 
plants that were in the garden when it was first made, but 
there have been many introduced since ; it must, however, 
be confessed that several have been lost during the time the 
French were in possession of the island, but they may be 
easily replaced. What is w anted chiefly, are the spices from 
the East Indies (which are all in the hands of the Dutch, 
except the Black Pepper) and drugs. The plants which 
j produce some of our most valuable drugs we know very 
I little about. The Bread fruit would be a valuable acquisi- 
j tion for the West India planters. I am told the trade in 
I walking and other canes is very considerable, insignificant 
i as it may appear at first sight. I have often wished to have 
I got the Cochineal Insect introduced into the West India 
Islands; there are several plants of the Opimtium maximum, 
on which they feed, in the Botanic Garden in St. Auncent; 
and I have seen some of them in Grenada and Barbadoes ; 
this last island is peculiarly adapted to the 'culture of Cochi¬ 
neal, as it is a dry soil, and has a great number of poor 
white people in it. The Opimtium maximum is easily pro¬ 
pagated, as the least bit cut from the plant anil stuck in the 
ground takes root immediately. 
It is amazing what a foundation for commerce the intro¬ 
duction of a new plant may lay ; instances of which are the 
Sugar Cane, Coflee, Cacao, Indigo, and Bice. About fifteen 
or sixteen years ago, I obtained a single root of the Curcuma ' 
(Turmeric), which multiphed to such a degree that I was 
enabled to spare a good many roots of it to a Mr. Robley, at 
Tobago, who, before the island was taken, used to send to 
England several thousand weight of it annually. Some per¬ 
sons, at Barbadoes, had roots from the Botanic Garden, and 
I find they send some hundreds of it home likewise. 
After you left the West Indies, I got, by accident, a plant 
of the true East India Mangoe, from an officer, who was 
retmuiing from thence to St. Kitts; and Dr. Jackson got 
another, which both grew; and now there are above fifty 
plants in St. Aunoent, so that, I think, we have secured that 
valuable plant, of which I brought some home with me for 
his Ma,jesty's Garden at Kew. The Tallow trees, of which 
the Chinese make theh candles, thrive very much; there 
are above fifty in the garden above twenty or twenty-five feet 
in height, which, in July last, were loaded with green fruit. 
The tallow envelopes the seeds, and, I suppose, is separated 
in the same way as the Myrtle wax is done in N. America, 
viz., by throwing the seeds into boilmg water, and so skim¬ 
ming off' the tallow. 
London-, 10th February, 1785. 
As you are sometimes with the Secretary at AA'ar, and that 
I hear there are some regiments going out to the AVest 
Indies, I should be very glad if you would endeavour to pro¬ 
cure an order for the commanding oflicers of them to send 
a roll to the AVar Office, specifying the age, complexion, 
size in feet and inches, former trade or way of life, colour 
of hair, eyes, &c., of the men. The only roll of that kind 
I could ever get was of the .32nd regiment. I found that, 
in the first four years of their stay in the West Indies, those 
of a certain complexion died at the rate of two to one of 
another complexion ; and other curious particulars were 
observed, which had not been expected. If a roll, such as 
the above, were to be had here, one could make observations 
from the returns of the dead. AVere private application to 
be made to the commanding officers, very probably they 
would agree to this; but,perhaps, never think more about it, 
as I have experienced several times, unless there is an 
order from authority. On this subject I must say that I 
think it a great pity that so many tine chikfren should be 
permitted to go to certain destruction in the AVest Indies; 
almost all of three years of age, and under, constantly die, 
and those from three to seven perhaps at the rate of one- 
half or two-thirds. Is there no workhouse or hospital 
whither they might be sent, and so a number of lives be 
saved to the community? As to the women that go with the 
troops, they are allowed on the notion of their being useful 
to them in washing, nursing the sick, ifec., the contrary of 
all which I can safely affirm ; for they either soon get sick 
themselves, and so add to the calamity, or they keep suttling 
huts and dram shops, where they poison the men with new 
rum, and other bad liquors, and are the cause of almost all 
the irregularities that happen in a garrison. To prevent 
any discontents amongst the troops, if the women were all 
refused, perhaps it might be best to permit a certain pro¬ 
portion to go out with each company. 
COA'^ENT GARDEN. 
As was to have been expected, the supjflies of all 
kinds have fallen very short since the severe frosts set 
in, and the consequence is, all produce has materially 
risen in price. It has been hardly possible for the 
market-gardeners to find even what they have managed 
to bring to market, where, in some instances, the 
grounds have been subjected to a frost varying from 
10“ to 12°. 
As an instance of the sudden and great rise, we may ' 
mention Greens, which could not be had under from 4s. to 
