ee 
13 
between Seabrook and Hythe was not thought of); the slopes of 
Shorncliffe Camp were not cut about as they now are; the Upper 
and Lower Sandgate Roads and the cliff walk were not made as 
they now are; the Warren of 1873 was very, very unlike the 
Warren of to-day—in short, changes have been very numerous in 
all directions. The neighbourhood is, of course, called a growing 
and improving one, but it makes all the difference who is judge in 
such a matter. Trim, beautifully-kept roadsides and walks are 
right enough, no doubt, but they are a sore trial to the man who 
takes his walk, not to study asphalte, but to learn what wild nature 
has to say to him of Divine wisdom and power. The pleasure to 
be had by the man who simply goes for a walk is as nothing by 
the side of the delight which a student of nature finds in trying 
to read the story book, as he sits, so to speak, upon the knee of 
‘Nature, the old nurse.”” It may be that some of you mean to 
take more notice than you have done of things that grow about 
here, and mean to study them more, that you may be able to add 
to the interest of the meetings of the Folkestone Natural History 
Society. Let no one think that botany is a dry, unbearable sort of 
thing—that it is a thing not to be enjoyed until the hedge of long, 
ugly words and definitions has been broken down. It is a study 
that should be practical from the very first, no branch of it being 
attempted unless one hand holds the specimen and the pocket 
magnifier, while the other holds the book. But these general re- 
marks must ve sufficient, as you will be wanting to hear other 
things. The late Mr. H. C. Watson, the author of ‘‘ Topographical 
Botany " gives us a map of Britain, divided into 18 provinces, 38 
sub-provinces, and 112 counties and vice counties. Province [II. 
is the Thames province, of which the sub-provinces are the South 
Thames, the North Thames, and the West Thames. The vice- 
counties in the first of these three are East Kent, West Kent, and 
Surrey. Our concern is, of course, with only a part of East Kent. 
‘Topographical Botany ”’ is a very useful book of reference, as it 
gives the number of each vice-county in which any species has been 
reported to grow; vice-county No. 15, for instance, is East Kent. 
It is easy to see that in any attempt to put together a list of the 
plants growing round Folkestone or found in - this neighbourhood, 
some lines must be drawn somewhere, else the word “ local ’’ does 
not apply. How far afield may a botanist or an entomologist 
travel without getting too far from his starting point? Now, as 
the sea on the south says ‘Thus far shalt thou come” it 
seems only fair to deal literally with the rambler when he goes 
forth eastward, westward, or northward. If he should ask you to 
let Barham be the limit on the north, Dover on the east, and 
Westenhanger, or a place called Gibbons’ Brook, on the west, what 
will you say? And will you throw in the sea coast westward as 
