198 



^ilis, Cctcrach officinariim, with many other more common ferns. Among the 

 phanerogamous spoils of the day were TrifoUum arvense. Campanula trachelium, 

 Fedia carinata, &c. 



The members and visitors sat down to an excellent dinner at the Feathers 

 Hotel, at 5 p.m., the President occupying the Chair, and the Vice-chair being 

 filled by the Hon. Secretary. After the removal of the cloth the President gave 

 " the Queen," which was the only toast drunk. 



The Rev. J. D. La Touche, of Stokesay, was unanimously elected a member. 



Mr. Ballard laid upon the table some sections of an oak tree and a poplar 

 as illustrations of the different results of what he distinguished as natural and 

 artificial pruning. In the latter case, which was that of an oak, the decayed 

 stump of the pruned limb had remained, the tree having formed a complete box 

 all around it ; and the wood, which seemed from the outside perfectly firm, 

 revealed, when cut with the saw, a large cavity. He remarked that long ex- 

 perience convinced him that artificial pruning was altogether injurious ; the 

 new wood seldom unites with the old, and where it does a knot is formed. In 

 either case the value of the timber is lessened. In the case of natural pruning 

 nature had completely healed up the wound, without the solidity of the wood 

 being at all affected. The oak appeared to have been pruned about 30 years ago, 

 judging from the concentric rings. 



A brief conversation ensued, in which Mr. Lingwood seemed to express a 

 conviction that pruning of trees is sometimes necessary ; and the President 

 remarked upon the difference between the true bud, the design of which is to 

 produce a leaf or a flower, and the merely adventitious buds, which are sometimes 

 produced when the top of a poplar is cut off. He laid on the table an instance 

 of the kind in a lily, which had not only produced flowers and seeds, but had 

 also produced adventitious buds. 



Mr. Cocking, at the request of the President, gave a brief sketch of the 

 discovery of the Proiaster, or star-fish, in the rocks which they had been that 

 day visiting. He also exhibited specimens of P. Miltoni, and several other 

 species. 



The President subsequently occupied a short time not less usefully than 

 pleasantly in a brief but lucid lecture on the formation of the flower, in con- 

 tinuation of his remarks at Tarrington on the bud. He illustrated his observations 

 by a number of coloured diagrams of the different parts of the flower, concluding 

 amid applause. 



Shortly before 7 p.m., the party broke up, and the Hereford party reached 

 this city by train at 8-20 p.m. 



