In the vicinity of Sautjur, among the Eastern Ghattts, the great American aloe, Agave Americana, grows in great profusion. The district of India most destitute of trees is the barren sandy tract of the Carnatic. Here the only trees that grow spontaneously arc the Melia azadiracht or bread tree, and the Robcnia mills. All the three species of Molea grow in India. The R. Innis is also found among the rich muddy soil on the banks of the Ganges.
Of the fruit-bearing trees, we have hitherto noticed only such as are also valuable and useful in other respects ; but we must not omit the enumeration of a few of the most celebrated for their fruit alone. Of all the Indian fruits, the mango is generally deemed the most delicious. It grows both in a wild and cultivated state in almost every part of Hindustan, especially in the southern districts. Ma zagory, near Bombay, is celebrated for this fruit. Mrs. Graham informs us " that the parent tree, from which all those of this species have been grafted, is honoured during the fruit season by a guard of sepoys ; and in the reign of Shah Jehan, couriers were stationed between Delhi and the Mahratta coast, to secure an abundant and fresh sup ply of mangos for the royal table. At Battalah, in the Pun jab, a plum grows of excellent flavour, called by the na tives aloocha. At Jamboc, in Lahore, the white mulberry produces fruit of a large size, and remarkably fine flavour. The trees of this kind which are cultivated for the support of silk worms will be afterwards noticed. In the Silhit dis tricts of Bengal, orange plantations occcpy a considerable tract of land. They Form the principal export of the coun try, and are sold on the spot at 1000 for a rupee. Grapes have been long grown in Aurungabad, near Poonah, and in the province of Malwah ; and, latterly, they have been intro duced into Bombay. In the neighbourhood of Chickery, in the territories of the Paishwah, grapes of an extraordinary size are produced. Near Oogain, in the province of Mal wall, where the soil is very rich, the vine produces a se cond crop of grapes in the rainy season, but they are by no means of good quality, being very tart. In Bombay, in order to prevent the fruit from setting at the commence ment of this season, artificial means are employed to im pede the growth. The Jumboo, a species of rose-apple, is esteemed not only for its fruit, but also for its crimson flowers, which hang down with much elegance from every part of the stem. Besides the grape, mulberry, fig, and a few other fruits, there are not many European fruits that grow in Hindostan. There are some apple-trees ; the largest and best grow in the province of Lahore, near Bat talah. Two species of the pagan fig, "remarkable for the sweetness and rose-flavour of their fruit ; the sliondius dulcis, whose sweetness, pleasantly tempered with acid, ren ders it peculiarly agreeable in this hot climate ; the fallow, from the trunk and larger branches of which are produced fibrous bags, sometimes of the weight of 25 pounds, which are filled with nuts like the chesnut, and resembling the almond in flavour ; the dellenia Indica, remarkable for its beauty, and valuable for its large pomaceous fruit of a pure acid, and equal to the white lily in fragrance ; the averrhoa carambola, which produces three crops of fruit in the year ; and another of the same genus, which is in a manner co vered with large juicy berries of the size of a hen's egg, and resemble the grape ; and the elephant apple, almost equally a favourite with the animal whose name it bears, and with the native Hindoos," are mentioned by Mr.
Aikin as some of the most celebrated fruit•bearing trees of India.
After premising that the red lotus, the most beautiful of the nymph ceas, is common on the banks in the south of India, and that the sensitive plant grows spontaneously in the Amran district of Guzerat, we shall conclude our ac count of Indian botany, (with the exception of a short no tice or two regarding some of the with another extract from the author whom we have just quoted, in which he is describing some of the trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, that are remarkable for their size or beauty. " The hibiscus fir:I/neva is remarkable by its mag nitude and the profusion of its elegant blossoms ; and is of peculiar value in a tropical climate, as hardly any in sects are found under its shade. The cotton tree rises with A thorny trunk eighteen feet in circumference, to the height of 50 feet without a branch ; it then throws off numerous boughs, which are adorned in the rainy season with purple blossoms as large the open hand, and these ate succeeded by capsula filled with a fine kind of cotton. The shrubs and herbaceous plants are innumerable, and multitudes would be well worth recording for their beauty or use, if the nature of this work allowed an opportunity ; we cannot, however, omit the indigo and Indian madder, whence the beautiful colours of the Indian chintzes are procured. The nyetanthes hirsuta, and the jasminum gran diorum, boast the most fragrant blossoms of the whole Last, the former perfuming the night, the latter scenting the day. The gloriosa supe•ba, and Indian vine, form, by their union, bowers worthy of Paradise ; and the butea superba, a small tree, by the striking contrast of its green leaves, its biack flowery stalks, and its large scar let papilionaceous blossoms, attracts, with its ostenta tious charms, the notice and admiration of the most in curious." Of the Poas, the Poa cynosuroides, the kossa grass of the natives, deserves particular notice. It is regarded as a sacred grass, and is held almost constantly in the hands of such as are anxious to be regarded as particularly de vout ; it is used at sacrifices. It is also of considerable use in this climate, since from the roots of it a kind of mat called tatts is made, which are placed against the doors or windows, and constantly watered, in order to keep the rooms cool ; as its fragrance is pleasant, it thus spreads an agreeable scent as well as freshness through the apart ments. On the eastern frontiers of Bengal, there is au immense extent of land covered by a peculiar kind of grass, called by the natives the augeah grass. The soil on which it grows is sandy ; it grows to the height of 30 feet, and is as thick as a man's wrist. The jungle grass is very common in many parts of Hindostan. In the Ra gemal district of Bengal it attains the height of eight or ten feet, and on the top of it there is a beautiful and ele gant down, resembling the feathers of a swan.