418 



complete record and index of all that is done or discovered in British 

 Botany," can possibly be gained by such means, for the very fact of 

 these being excluded would show the * Phytologist ' not to be a com- 

 plete record. If such articles are to be excluded, I am fully satisfied 

 that many doings and discoveries would never be made known to the 

 world, but remain, to all intents and purposes useless, in the pages of 

 private note-books. For in a ramble many facts may be stated, and 

 interesting facts, too, which might never be supposed worthy of a 

 place in any journal in the shape of separate articles, and even pub- 

 lished in such a form, I hesitate not to say, that in very many, if not 

 in all cases, they would occupy much more space than if amalgamated 

 in the form of a ramble. I can therefore see no reason whatever for 

 the exclusion of rambles from the pages of the ' Phytologist.' 



The principal feature for tvhich I love rambles, is the much useful 

 information which through them is conveyed to the reader of the ge- 

 neral appearance of vegetation in particular localities, for although a 

 list of the rarer plants of a certain locality may be interesting, its in- 

 terest must be greatly enhanced by a knowledge of the plants com- 

 posing the greater portion of the vegetation of that locality, it being 

 not exclusively by observations on rare, and what is generally meant 

 by the term " interesting" plants, that science is benefitted. 



But besides this, and a host of other pleas for botanical " rambles," 

 there is the pleasure in reading a ramble, which to me, and I should 

 think to every lover of Flora is very great, and ought to be taken into 

 account. If there is a pleasure in botanizing, and few of the readers 

 of the ' Phytologist' will deny the fact that there is, then there must 

 be a pleasure in reading a ramble. By such we are carried in imagi- 

 nation to the scene of action — we gaze on the lovely flowers — we 

 cull the rarities, and all without pains or exertion on our part, being 

 all the while comfortably seated in our studio. 



1 cannot allow the present opportunity to pass without expressing 

 my heartfelt gratitude to the many able gentlemen who have so libe- 

 rally contributed " rambles " to the ' Phytologist,' for I consider the 

 rambles to be amongst the most valuable articles, and I sincerely trust 

 that some other means than the exclusion of that interesting portion 

 of the contributions will be found for the completion of your 

 ably-conducted Journal, as a full record of botanical discovery in the 

 British Isles, and it is almost such already. 



The only way in which the object in view can be properly accom- 

 plished is, I think, by the addition of a few pages sufficient to contain 

 the additional matter. A very few additional pages would suffice. 



