Iviii. THE FLORA OF HALIFAX. 



deposited in the Belle Vue Museum in 1897. This has 

 enabled me to examine and re-arrange the herbarium, and to 

 incorporate all the local records in this Flora. These represent 

 about 230 species, gathered between 1823 and 1848. The 

 specimens as a whole are in a fair state of preservation, but 

 are not so well mounted, being merely preserved loose between 

 sheets of paper, nor so well labelled as King's and Leyland's. 

 The sedges are the best section, and the brambles are also 

 well represented, but there are no ferns at all. A " List of 

 Desiderata," which Gibson printed for purposes of exchange, 

 shows by its shortness that the herbarium was then almost 

 complete, and that it included the mosses in its scope as well, 

 though none now belong to it. 



The third herbarium at Belle Vue was formed by Samuel 

 King. The youngest son of John King, he was born at Lane 



House, Midgley, on June 12th, 1810. Lane 

 Samuel House was then a farm, on the road from Ludden- 

 King. den Foot to Luddenden, and John King also 



carried on there the manufacture of plush cloth by 

 hand loom. Samuel King looked after the farm in his 

 younger days, but being passionately fond of flowers and wild 

 plants, he made a nursery garden between the house and the 

 brook, and used to show herbaceous and alpine plants at the 

 flower show at Pye Nest. At one time he was gardener at 

 the Hollins, Warley, when tulips were still in favour, and the 

 collection under his care was a valuable one. The nursery at 

 Lane House he handed over to his nephews, William and 

 Charles Eastwood, 'in the year i860, as he was becoming 

 incapacitated for work through failing eyesight. Eventually 

 he became blind, but in spite of this he remained for many 

 years minister at Butts Green Baptist Chapel, Warley. 



Shortly after giving up the nursery King went to live at 

 Bank Bottom, Luddenden. In 1865 he was elected a 

 pensioner of the Halifax Tradesmen's Benevolent Institution, 

 and this ultimately led to his Herbarium being presented by 

 him to the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society. The 

 following letter, signed by him, accompanied the gift, and 



explains the arrangement of the Herbarium. 



Bank Bottom, Luddenden, 



Nov. 21st, jj6. 

 To the President and Council of the Halifax Literary and Philosophical 



Society. 

 Gentlemen, 



As a token of gratitude to the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Halifax 



