Peach, nectarine, and apricot trees, are cut down early in February, much in the same way as willows are docked in England:  the new wood grows rapidly, and the fruit is ready for the table in the month of June.  A tree neglected to be pruned in this way annually, would the first year yield but little, and that indifferent fruit, the tree become unhealthy, and, in most cases, never again restored to its former vigour.

Apple-trees are found chiefly in the gardens of Europeans; they are not perhaps as yet understood by Native gardeners, or it may be the climate is not favourable to them; certain it is, that the apples produced in Hindoostaun are not to be compared with those of other countries.  Singular as it may seem, yet I have never met with more than one species of apple in my visits to the gardens of India.  I have often fancied a fresh importation of English apple-trees would be worth the trouble of the transfer.[26]

The apple-trees grow tall and slender, the blossoms break out on the top of each branch in a cluster; the fruit, when ripe, is about the size of small crabs, and shaped like golden-pippins, without any acidity, but the sweetness rather resembles turnips than the well-flavoured apple.  In the bazaars are to be met with what is called apple-preserve, which, however, is often a deception,—­turnips substituted for apples.

Mulberries are indigenous, and of several varieties.  The Native gardeners, however, take so little pains to assist or improve the operations of Nature, that the mulberry here is seldom so fine as in other countries.  The common sort is produced on an immense tree with small leaves; the berry is long, and when ripe, of a yellow-green, very much resembling caterpillars in colour and form.

Plum-trees would thrive in Hindoostaun if introduced and cultivated,[27] since the few, chiefly the bullace-plum, I have seen, produce tolerably good fruit.

Cherries, I have never observed; they are known, however, by the name of ’glass’[28] to the travelling Natives, who describe them as common to Cashmire, Cabul, and Persia.

Gooseberries and currants are not known in India, but they have many good substitutes in the falsah, American sorrel, puppayah,[29] and a great variety of Chinese fruits—­all of which make excellent tarts, preserves, and jellies.  Strawberries and raspberries repay their cultivation in the Upper Provinces:  they thrive well with proper care and attention.

The melon I have described elsewhere as an indigenous fruit greatly valued by the Natives, who cultivate the plant in the open fields without much trouble, and with very little expense; the varieties are countless, and every year adds to the number amongst the curious, who pride themselves on novelty in this article of general estimation.

The pine-apple requires very little pains to produce, and little demand on art in bringing it to perfection.  The Bengal climate, however, suits it better than the dry soil of the Upper Provinces.  I have frequently heard a superstitious objection urged by the Natives against this fruit being planted in their regular gardens; they fancy prosperity is checked by its introduction, or to use their own words,—­’It is unfortunate to the proprietor of the garden.’