and general economy of the civilized world as had been followed in some memorable instances-we might not look for another root, like the potato, with which to feed millions-nor to any unused plant from which to strip leaves which should so captivate the taste of man as the tea or the tobacco,-nor find a berry that shall compete with the coffee in its beneficial qualities-still it would be strangely to misinterpret the past, if, from its fertility, we were to infer the barrenness of the future. It was justly remarked, that little is known in India of what is required here, and little is known here of what India does and can produce. On the whole, the conclusion seemed to him inevitable, that it was in the highest degree desirable that some new scheme should be instituted which should collect, digest, and combine the necessary facts in both countries; which should open to men of science new scources of information, and new channels for the diffusion of their speculations; and which should give to men of enterprise new facilities for the prompt ascertainment of all the particulars on which they may desire to be informed. This task he thought the society might with great advantage undertake, forming, as it naturally did, the recognised medium of communication between India and Europe. The gentlemen at the India-house appeared readily to recognise the benefits to be derived from the proposed plan, and their accumulated materials would doubtlessly be placed at the disposal of the society, and it might confidentially anticipate the cooperation of many gentlemen connected with this city.

Mr.Royle, after acquainting the meeting with the circumstances which led him to turn his attention to the materia medica of India, and to forming the collection on the table, read from his notes a very lucid detail of the manner in which the sciences, partieularly those of botany and meteorology, might be applied to the acclimation of plants exotic to the country in which we would introduce them. He did not think he was too sanguine in believing that we might increase the comforts and resources of the natives of India, and give a stimulus to their internal and external commerce. That these views were not chimerical we might be convinced of by looking to the

rise and progress of the trade in indigo, opium, lac, silk, cotton, and, more recently, catechu, safflower, linseed, and even rape seed. Time would not allow that he should detain the meeting with even the shortest notice of what had been done elswhere; but he could not help alluding to the cultivation of the beetroot in France, and the manufac ture of sugar from it, as one of the triumphs of science. The discovery of the tea-plant in Upper Assam,would, he hoped, also be allowed to be a very strong confirmation of the theoretical views which led him to recommend its cultivation in different parts of the Himalayan mountains. In proposing, therefore that the society should investigate the productions, and inquire into the processes of cultivation in the East, and apply to their improvement the science of the West, he considered that he was taking the only satisfactory and legitimate means of attaining the object in view, the improvement of the resources of India.

The thanks of the meeting were unanimously voted to the Right Hon. Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Royle, for their valuable communications.-Times.

We earnestly hope that the patriotic plans so ably developed by Messrs. Mackenzie and Royle, in the papers, of which the above is an extract, will not be lost sight of, but matured and carried into effect with the least delay possible. The true way to make India valuable to England, is not to exact money-tribute from her (which would only be to make her every year poorer and poorer, till át length she would not be worth the keeping), but to do all we can to promote the cultivation of her internal resources-to make her rich in exchangeable articles, in order that she may be the better able to buy from us the multifarious products of our superior manufacturing skill-to merge, in short, all ideas of conquest and dependence in a perfect reciprocity of advantages. To show how suitable the climate and soil of India are for the production of articles of the first European necessity, and, at the same time, how much its natural capabilities have been hitherto neglected, we subjoin an extract from Mr. Royle's admirable work on the botany of the Himalayan mountains, in relation to the article tobacco: it con

tains some curious and interesting details:

"East-India tobacco holds the lowest place in the English market, and is described as being too high dried, or as ali stalk and powder, fit only for the inferior kinds of snuff, or for re-exportation. The inconveniences of this are not so much experienced in India as elsewhere, for both natives and Europeans use the tobacco for their hooqqas, only when beat up with molasses, conserves, and spices.

"That it is not owing to any inherent defect in the climate of the British possessions in India, that the tobacco is of such inferior quality, I am happy to be able to prove by extracts from official documents, with which, owing to his kindness and anxiety to assist in improving the resources of India, I have been favoured by Mr. William Johnson, of the East-India House. First, with respect to that which obtained considerable repute under the name of Martaban tobacco, Dr. Wallich states, that the sort is from Arracan and not from Martaban;' and describes it as having a fine silky leaf: tried by many people, it had been pronounced the very best they had ever tasted, equal to, nay, surpassing the finest imported from Turkey and Persia.' An extensive tobacconist says, "a finer and better flavoured tobacco he never saw or tasted in his life.' One of the first brokers in the city says, 'the sample of leaf tobacco is certainly of a very fine quality, and appears to have been produced from some peculiar seed, and a greatly improved cultivation and cure.' By many manufacturers' it was supposed to be from the seed of Havannah or St. Domingo tobacco.' For smoking, it is compared with Maryland tobacco, having the same qualities, except the flavour, which is better, and more like Havannah.' The colour and leaf are moreover pronounced excellent for cigar-making;

but if any thing is against it for that purpose, it is the largeness of the principal stalk, and coarseness of the small fibres in the leaf.' The commercial gentleman by whom the tobacco was transmitted to the brokers, pronounces it very superior, and the leaf as very fine, adding, that the price of 6d. or 8d. might readily be obtained, perhaps more, with the improvements suggested.

"As it is interesting, if possible, to ascertain the peculiarities of climate and country where so superior an article is grown, we have a communication from Mr. R.Hunter, the gentleman who brought the tobacco from Arracan, who states that the Sandoune tobacco grows on the sloping banks of rivers not overflowed while the crop is on the ground, but inundated during the rains. The best is that grown above the influence of the tides, about thirty miles from the mouth of

the river. The ground receives apparently great attention in cleaning and in breaking the clods. The tobacco is all transplanted about November, and the crops are cut about March.' Here we see the coldest season is selected for the cultivation with respect to climate, it may be inferred, from the province of Arracan extending along the western side of the Bay of Bengal, and included between the coast and a range of mountains, that it must have alternations of temperature, and of land and sea breezes; and that though Arracan Proper is low, inundated, and shut in by low hills, at Bassein the climate is described as neither oppressive nor unhealthy from November to May (Encl. Met. Pegu), and Sandoway as mountainous, and not subject to inundations, enjoying a cool sea -breeze, and temperate nights nearly through the year. It is, however, probable, that the superiority of the tobacco is owing to careful eultivation and cure. This was probably taught by Europeans, as Arracan was the seat of a Roman Catholic mission in the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is pleasing to find here, as in the vicinity of Ormuz, the arts continuing to benefit a country long after the conquests of those who introduced them have passed away.

"Of other tobaccos which have some repute in India, Dr. Ainslie states, that the finest kinds in India, and perhaps in the world, is grown near the village of Woodanum, in the Northern Circars,'' and in some of those low sandy islands formed at the mouth of the river Krishna (from which is made the famous Masulipatam snuff); also in the Delta of the Godavery, where the soil is peculiarly rich and fertile.' Dr. Wallich, in his evidence before the Committee of the House of Commons, states that some excellent tobacco was grown at Boglipore, from Havannah seed, and that some very esteemed kind is grown in Bundelcund. The tobacco

of Chunar is celebrated in India, as is more especially that of Bhilsa, of which a great portion, I am informed by Dr. Moore, is sent away in presents by the Raja of Nagpore. It is to be regretted that we are unable to ascertain the commercial value of any of these, as they do not appear to have been sent to the English market. The only exception is that mentioned by Mr. Ritchie, of one bale of the fine tobacco grown in the northern districts of Bombay selling for 6d., while American sold for 5d.; but the average of the experimental exportation being found defective in the curing, sold only for Id. and 2d., and did not pay, as is frequently the case with importations of tobacco from Bengal and Bombay.

"Such appears to have been the state of the ordinary Indian tobacco, when the EastIndia Company determined on endeavouring

to induce cultivators to improve the culture of tobacco by importing seed from Maryland and Virginia, which was to be freely distributed to those inclined to make experiments ⚫on the subject.

"These experiments, I regret to say, seem, with one exception, to have been undertaken only in the southern parts of India; at least it is from thence only that samples have been sent to the India House. Importing seed from 35° to 40°, and with territory from 8° to 320 of North latitude, elevated from 0 to 13,000 feet above the sea, it is greatly to be lamented that experimenters should have been confined to between 120 and 1o, that is, to the districts of Cuddapah, Guntoor, and Coimbatore. The object being to get an article similar in properties to that already esteemed in the market, the plan would be to make the first attempts, as failure is so apt to discourage, in the soil and climate most like that whence seed is procured. Though the above districts may by a different treatment be enabled to grow very good tobacco, there is no doubt that the soil was (either too rich for the Virginia seed, or the climate too moist and warm, or perhaps both conjoined; for the plants have grown so luxuriantly, that the stalks and fibres have attained a size and coarseness, fitting them better for twisting into cables than for putting into a pipe. One cultivator, indeed, states that the plants grew so well, as to be twice the size of the country plants. The tobacco was besides so badly packed, and worse cured, that the brokers describe the different samples as too dark in colour,'-' thick and coarse grown,'-'nearly all stalk'-and when the leaf is well grown, it is pronounced

over large, with a thick coarse stalk,' unpleasant or musty in flavour,'-' wormeaten, not properly cured,'-' packed in a damp state, and that, as articles of commerce, they are not marketable,' or ' of no value ;'-and of the best it was said, that some tobacco from Holland of much better quality, had been sold under 2d. per pound.

"These facts are sufficiently discouraging, and were it not for the author's confidence, that they are the necessary result of inattention to principles, it might perhaps be considered more prudent to withhold them when recommending a new culture. But as others might commit the same mistakes, it is proper at once to meet the difficulty, that we may at the same time suggest a remedy. Besides, the tobacco of Arracan and that from Bombay has shown that, even without the aid of foreign seed, some of very superior quality may be grown in India; while the following facts prove that, by careful management, Virginia seed may be made to yield a good crop, even in the rich soil and climate of Bengal. This tobacco was im

ported in the Sir T. Munro, and produced from Virginia seed sown in the garden of the Agricultural Society of Calcutta: 'the method pursued in its cultivation and preservation is that generally adopted by the Americans.' This specimen was submitted by the Court of Directors to the examination of some dealers and manufacturers in London, who pronounced it to be the best sample of Indian tobacco they had ever seen.' In flavour and general appearance of the leaf, it approaches the descriptions which are usually selected here for manufacturing into eigars, and for smoking in a pipe, viz, Havannah, St. Domingo, and Ameersforth (Dutch): all of which command high prices in relation to other kinds of leaf tobacco. A portion of this sample has been made into cigars here, which are much approved; and it is probable that if a moderate supply of tabacco of the like quality were in this market, it might be in some request for making into cigars, and would come into competition with the tobacco of St. Domingo, which is at presentt worth from 6d. to 8d. per pound in bond."

"The successful result of this experiment will, it is hoped, remove any unfavourable impression produced by the former, and prove, as might be inferred indeed, from the Arracan and Bombay samples, that there is nothing in the climate of India unfavour able to the production of good tobacco, when it is attempted with careful treatment in a good climate. The more temperate élimate of N. America, and the modified one of tropical situations, is attained in India by the cultivation being commenced in the cold weather, and the spring temperature equalling the summer one of more northern climates is sufficient to bring it to perfection. That it may also be grown of a superior quality in more southern provinces, is very probable, for it is not a puny seedling which is to be nursed into healthful existence, but the gross-feeding weed, luxuriating in rankness, which is to be reduced to more moderate dimensions, and starved into fineness-objects easily affected by a less rich nourishment, and a drier and more open atmosphere, both attainable in poorer, though good soils, or the more elevated parts of the Peninsula, and in many parts of India, as along the banks of the Ganges, as well as in Tirhóot, Rohilcund, and the Doab; and across India, in Bundelcund, Malwa, and the northern provinces of the Bombay Presidency. cess will still depend upon the skill of the agriculturist, in suiting the richness of his soil to the dryness of his climate, diminishing the former in proportion to the moisture of the latter, though it is doubtful whether as fine tobacco can be grown in a moist as in a dry climate. It must be remembered,

Suc

that the present excellence of American tobacco is not the spontaneous effusion of the soil, but the result of the unwearied attenetion of both the Government and cultivators -to the improvement of its produce; for some of the American planters seemed to think in former times, as Indian zumeendars appear to do at the present day, that any thing was good enough for the merchants,' (Tatham, p. 141.) The Government, jealous of the good name of Virginian produce, issued rules for checking over-luxuriance, and appointed officers to see them enforced, as well as for rooting up inferior plants: while every hogshead of prepared tobacco was taken to Government warehouses, to be inspected by competent officers before it could be exported; and all of an inferior quality condemned to be burnt. (Tatham, p. 69-106; and 138, 207.)

"It is unnecessary to dilate on the cultivation and cure, as these are detailed in the instructions sent out to India by the Court of Directors, in 1819, and may be seen fully described in works easily procurable; as Loudon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, which gives, in an excellent article, the cultivation in a variety of places; and The Tropical Agriculturist," which includes the most valuable portions of Tatham's Essay on Tobacco,' as well as the cultivation of Shiraz tobacco, from the Hort. Trans. v. 1. n. s. p. 205: it is hoped that the remarks in this article on the necessity of paying attention to the strangely-neglected subject of climate will not be without their use. It must never be lost sight of, that the Americans pay equal care and attention to the soil, the seedling nursery, the transplanting, earthing up, keeping the ground clear, removing inferior leaves and side shoots, topping so as to leave only eight to ten leaves on each plant, airing, fermenting, drying, prizing, and packing, It is to be wished, that the effects of good culture and careful curing should be tried upon seed produced from Bhilsa, Arracan, &c., as well as upon that of foreign growth, but at first in situations as similar as possible to to them, in climate, soil, and production. This, however, can be hoped for to any extent only, when more attention is paid to inferences to be deduced from a comparison of scientific data; for the empirical attempts of purely practical people, though sometimes attended with success, are as frequently followed by failure. It is to be hoped that my friend Mr. James Princep, will persevere in getting good accounts of the climate in every part of India; and it is to be wished that good specimens of colonial produce could be sent to the several parts of India, so that cultivators might get an idea of what they had to rival, as well as of the

prices which would reward their successful exertions.*

LLOYDS".

The times have arrived when every institution of the country is fated to undergo the most searching scrutiny, and when monopolies and societies injurious to the general welfare must be swept away, however they may heretofore have been enveloped in mystery, fostered by inveterate prejudice, or upheld by power. Amongst institutions of that description, which have lately been exposed to public view in treatises, reviews, magazines, pamphlets, journals, the daily press, and petitions to Parlia ment, is that of Lloyds'. Although the effects of this institution are to be con

demned, we do not mean to reflect on the members composing it, individually. Wherever money is to be got, mankind will assemble, exactly as armies and navies are provided with men, who never trouble their heads for a moment about the cause in which they are engaged. From the exposures which have lately -been made, it can no longer be concealed that Lloyds' flourishes as an institution by the wreek of ships, and the waste and destruction of merchandise in the sea. It is certain, also, that effective measures are taken to insure wrecks and waste of property taking place; and, in short, it is clearly demonstrated, not only, that were there no wrecks, there would be no sea insurances but that to multiply losses at sea, as it is the means by which underwriters derive their living, however incredible it may at first sight appear, is the underwriters' great aim. This arises from the fact, that underwriters, although apparently the insurers, are not so in reality, since they have previously derived the means of paying for any losses which may take place, from the merchant and shipowner, who again charge it to the public in the freight and charges of conveyance of merchandise; and thus the public, and not the under

*Having sent the foregoing remarks to Mr. W. Johnson for perusal, he has been good enough to send me the gratifying intelligence, while the previous sheet is passing through the press, as a strong corroboration of my views respecting the capabilities of the country,' that tobacco has actually arrived from India, and been sold in the London market for 8d. a-pound.

writers, as is generally supposed, are the real insurers. It is further demonstrated that the greater the number of wrecks and waste of property, as a matter of course, the higher the premiums of insurance rise, and the better for the underwriters, and that human life is recklessly sacrificed to this system, to an appalling and incredible extent. But it is clearly impossible that such an institution can continue to exist on the present plan, after public attention has been successfully directed to it. So long, indeed, as it was enveloped in mystery, it might continue to flourish; but the exposures which have lately been made, and are still making, and above all, the strong and striking contrast proved to exist in the safety of our ships of war, which is clearly traceable to their superior construction alone, over our merchant ships, proves the mischief arising from such an institution; and it will be in vain to attempt to defend it by any appeals to the wisdom of antiquity, or denouncements of the dangers of innovation.

We regret to add, that there has been an indisposition on the part of government to forward inquiry on this momentous subject; and a periodical, expressly devoted to maritime subjects, and ably conducted, states that the most influential prints of the day have shrunk from a discussion of the principles of marine insurances, as now conducted. Yet, against every opposition, from whatever cause proceeding, so strong is truth, that a conviction is gradually forcing itself on all classes of society, that a monstrous abuse exists, and which must speedily be reformed. The many and powerful interests, however, deeply involved in the present system, and which have, in the course of years, grown with its growth, and strengthened with its strength, will make the reform a work of difficulty. Publicity is unfortunately effected with difficulty, and not without expense; and the public, the party really interested in the matter, is in complete ignorance of the practises. Ship-building, wherein we consider nearly the whole evil to lie, is an art almost totally unknown to the public, and in which, unfortunately, it considers itself to have little or no interest, thinking that safe ships must be an object to shipowners, and that they (shipowners) will insist on ship-builders

making them safe; and, not seeing the case in its true light, that the cheaper a shipowner can get a ship, the less interest of capital he lies out of, and the less insurance he has to pay, in proportion to the cheapness, and that as he keeps his vessel fully insured, and in general the freight also, he does not care a straw about safety, or whether his vessel be lost or not. This is the real state of the case, and as the merchant can cover, not only the value of his goods, but also a profit on them by insurance, he is in much the same situation as the shipowner; while to the shipbuilder, the loss of every vessel is clearly a demand for him to build another, and the whole loss of vessels and merchandise must, in spite of all pretences to the contrary, fall on the consumer, or in other words the public. But the numerous wrecks of merchant vessels, and drownings consequent thereon, more particularly of emigrants and convicts, of late, is awakening the public from its lethargy, and the safety of vessels of war, in similar circumstances, has become indisputable. The Pique frigate, Racer brig, and Lightning steamer, are strong proofs of this, when compared with the Amphitrite, George the Third, and Neva convict ships, to say nothing of the scores of emigrant and timber laden ships, lost every season, with the emigrants, crews, and contents. When, too, it is considered that, whilst every other art and science has been rapidly improving and attaining to perfection in Britain, and shipbuilding in the royal dock-yards has been keeping pace with these improvements, merchant shipbuilding has positively been retrograding, and that this fact is proved, by the circumstance of shipwrecks having been greater per cent. of all classes of merchant vessels of late years than they were at the beginning of this century, not a doubt can exist that merchant shipping lies under some incubus, or is under some malignant influence, to which other things are not subjected. Where this influence does not exist, as in the case of the Royal Navy, safe vessels are built, which are seldom lost, even in the most exposed situations. The test of the use of an engine, is the working of the machinery; and as by the present system of classification of merchant shipping, all motive is taken from a shipowner to have a