26 Capture of Covenanting Town of Dumfries. 



other light compost, kept moist. It has also been found that the 

 production of these is fostered by removing the flowers before 

 thev open, thus driving the strength into the production of the 

 little bulbs we desire. It has also been discovered that lilies 

 which will not in the ordinary course produce these bulbils on 

 the stems which are without layering will do so to some extent if 

 the flower buds are removed. I believe that the Madonna lily, 

 lilium candidum, is a good example of this, although I have not 

 tested this particular lilium myself in this way. The cause of 

 the production of these bulbils is simple, when we recognise that 

 these little bulblets are merely modified buds, which are dormant 

 at the base of almost all leaves, and which only require some 

 special conditions to develop themselves. In the case of some 

 plants these are more readily developed than in others, these 

 being modified to suit the conditions of the time. 



20th November, 1908. 



Chairman — Dr J. Maxwell Ross, V.P. 



The Capture of the Covenanting Town of Dumfries by 

 Montrose, the King's Lieutenant-General, in the 

 Year 1644, and his Ejection Therefrom. By Mr James 

 Barbour, F. S.A.Scot. 



I purpose in the following paper to submit a short account of 

 an episode of the time of the Covenant and the seventeenth 

 century civil wars, connected with the town of Dumfries, of 

 which history takes meagre note. The event will, I think, be 

 considered of sufficient importance here, where it took place, to 

 merit a more expanded record. I refer to the capture of Dum- 

 fries in the year 1644, by a person no less famous than the Earl, 

 afterwards Marquis of Montrose ; and his ejection thereafter from 

 the town. The troubles emerging on these operations, which 

 illustrate in a remarkable way the peculiar relationship between 

 ecclesiastical and civil proceedings prevailing at this unsettled 

 period, will also come under notice. I will first outline the 



