Woolljope Hataralists' JFultr «lnb. 



LADIES' DAY, JUNE 18th, 1889. 



To-day the members and their friends, half a hundred in number, enjoyed one of 

 the happiest days which the annals of the Woolhope Club have been able to place 

 upon record. Accommodated with a special carriage to convey them to Newland, 

 in the Forest of Dean, they owe thanks to the officials of the Great Western 

 Railway for running a special return train, leaving Monmouth at 6.15 p.m., thus 

 enabling those who came from the north, the east, and the west to return to 

 Hereford in time for the evening trains in those directions. 



Upon arrival at Ross, the first surprise to the party was the announcement 

 that the President had some carriages in readiness to convey them to his hardy 

 perennial garden. Although the time was limited, the seats were soon occupied, 

 and a heureux quart d'heure was passed in the survey of this carefully tended, 

 valuable, collection of rare plants, towards which each individual of the family 

 appears to have contributed his and her share of attention and interest. Thirty- 

 seven years' labour of love devoted to this flower garden has enabled Mr. Southall 

 to collect within a small area such rarities as botanists would go far to see in their 

 native habitats, the unpleasantness of sea voyage, and the toils of mountain travel 

 notwithstanding. Here, however, plants appear to have been educated to 

 acclimatise themselves to the situation, soil, and climate, for not only do they 

 grow, but they thrive and multiply. 



Arrived at The Graig, the members on entering the garden found them- 

 selves in an enclosure where their attention was attracted by plants from Alpine 

 regions. To commence ; upon a lower spur was growing a healthy specimen of 

 the Edelweiss of the Alps, or the Lion's paw cudweed, Gnaphalium leontopodium ; 

 Linaria alpina and pallida, two dwarf Alpines allied to the snapdragon ; Linnsea 

 Borealis, allied to the honeysuckle ; several Alpine pinks, including Dianthus 

 alpinus, fragrans, sylvestris, arenarius, and Fischeri ; also the Cheddar pink, 

 Dianthus coesius, and two rare British pinks, Dianthus plumarius and deltoides ; 

 finally various smaller rock plants of Alpine regions. 



In striking contrast to these must be mentioned a truly gigantic variety of 

 Cow parsnip or Hogweed appropriately named Heracleum giganteum, which 

 grows majestic in the tropics. Gentiana lutea, another native of the Alps, whose 

 roots have centuries ago acquired, and to this date have maintained, a well- 

 deserved reputation for their tonic effects on the digestive organs, seemed to 

 have donned its gaudy robes of yellow wheel-shaped flowers especially for this 

 occasion, seeing that it has not hitherto, during its ten years of cultivation in this 



