20 



plants. Mr. Sage went on to refer to the great 

 dangers encountered by collectors in their search 

 for specimens in every part of the world, and to 

 point out that, as year by year the amount of 

 unexplored land diminished, it followed that 

 in time we should liave to rely almost solely 

 upon the hybridist for new varieties. 

 Happily, great strides had been made in 

 cross fertilization, and a vast number of most 

 beautiful hybrids, which could hold their own with 

 the best natiu-al species, was the result. It seemed 

 probable that as the cultm-e became more 

 generally understood, and the price of the plants 

 more popula.-, it would be possible for almost 

 every aniateiu- to have a small collection of these 

 peers of the floral world. While probably a single 

 plant had in some cases realised some hundreds of 



pounds, that could bi> taken as no criterion of the 

 actual commercial value of a variety. For instance, 

 Odontoglossom Crispiun was worth, if of good 

 average type, say JCl, but should it be heavily 

 blotched witli good rich claret or chocolate mark- 

 ings, the value was enormously enhanced, and it 

 was quite possible that it would realise ^5(X>. The 

 reason was, that though there were thousands and 

 thousands of Odontoglossom Crispum in cultiva- 

 tion, the best blotched forms were jjrobably below 

 100 in number. 



Subsequently a number of highly interesting 

 photographs, showing the beauty of form of 

 various types of orchids, were thrown upon the 

 curtain. 



Mr. W. H. Hammond also showed a number of 

 excellent slides. 



EIGHTH WINTER MEETING.^MARCH 13th, 1907. 



•SOME HEMINISCENCES OF THE BLACK ^[OUNTAIN EXPEDITION ON 

 N.W. FRONTIER OF INDIA.'— By Rev. J. TAYLOR, M.A., BD. 



On Wednesday, March Kith, the Rev. J.Taylor, 

 M.A., B.D., Chaplain to the Forces, Dover, de- 

 livered a lecture to the members of the Society 

 on '* Some E-eminiscences of the Black Mountain 

 Expedition on the North-West Frontier of India 

 in 1891." When ordered on active service he was 

 stationed at Calcutta. He gave a short account 

 of some of the physical features of the winter 

 capital of India. The country in and around the 

 city is a dead level. Indeed, some parts of Cal- 

 cutta are below the level of the banks of the river 

 Hooghly. These facts have made the problem of 

 the drainage of the city an exceedingly difficult 

 one to solve. Recently the municipality has in- 

 cm-red considerable expenditiu'e in improving the 

 drainage. The result is that the capital is now 

 much more sanitary and much sweeter than it 

 used to be. The lectui-cr maintained that Rud- 

 yard Kipling, when he speaks in " From Sea to 

 Sea" of the big Calcutta stink, is guilty of gross 

 exaggeration. The lecturer next gave a brief 

 account of Rawal Pindi, in the north of the Pun- 

 jab, where he joined the Second Battalion of the 

 Seafortli Highlanders as theii- chaplain. This is the 

 largest uiiliiary cantonment in India, and it is 

 historically famous, because it v/as here that the 

 Sikhs finally siu-rendered to the British. Next he 

 gave some account of the march from Rawal Piudi 

 to DarVjand, where tlie frontier Wiis crossed. At 

 this stage he gave an account of the different 

 coi-ps that made up the force on tlie British side, 

 and of the tribes against which the expedition was 

 conducted. The enemies were Pathans, who are 

 well-known for their love of fighting and of plun- 



der. It was an unprovoked attack upon a party 

 of oiu' ti'oops marcliing along our side of the border, 

 when two officers and a number of men were killed 

 and others wounded, which gave rise to the expedi- 

 tion.The lecturer next described the campaign itself. 

 There was not very miich fighting, but there was 

 considerable hardship, inasmuch as the soldiei-s 

 had no tents. They lay on the ground in bivouacs. 

 The country which was the scene of the operations 

 is very mountainous. At the close of the cam- 

 paign the Seaforth Highlanders were encamped at 

 an elevation of 7,500 feet above sea level. The 

 mountain tops were covered with tall firs, which 

 made the scenery look more Canadian than Indian. 

 He next gave a short account of the flora of the 

 district. Beside the last camp he found Edelwess 

 ( Gnaphalium leontopodium ) and white peonies 

 (Pxonia o^cinalis). He exhibited the dried plants 

 he collected during the expedition. One remark- 

 able thing about them was that thirteen of them 

 were British plants, namely : Tholictrum alpinuni, 

 Th/asju arvcuse. Primus padus, Sonchus arvensis, 

 Gnaphaliuni hiieo-nlhum, fussilago furfara, Car- 

 dlnlsnutay\s, Anagrillis arvensis, Hyosfyamusniger, 

 Tinntagn laticeolata, Polystichmn aculeatum, Pofy- 

 poiliurn drypheris, and Lastrea /flix--iiias. 



The lecture was illustrated by lantern views, 

 many of them from photos taken dm-ing the cam- 

 paign. 



The la^t winter nn-r-iing was ht-ld on March 27th, 

 when Mr. Eadic, of Kod:4.k, Ltd., gave a very 

 interesting demonstration of time development 

 in the Kodak tank, etc. 



