184 Report of Meetings for 1888. By J. Hardy. 



proposed at this meeting — " The Club" and " The Ladies" — 

 were given ; to the latter of which Mr Muirhead, the only gentle- 

 man whose wife had accompanied the excursion, suitably 

 responded. New members were proposed, including Sir Edward 

 Grey, Bart., Falloden, M.P. ; Mr R. G. Huggup, Glo'ster Hill, 

 Warkworth ; Mr John Turnbull, Hawick ; Mr John Roscamp, 

 Shilbottle Colliery, Lesbury; Rev. W. D. La Touche, Warkworth; 

 and John Thomas Carse, Amble, Acldington. The President 

 read Mrs Cadogan's reply to the letter sent by the Club, condoling 

 with her on the loss sustained by the death of Mr Carlogan. 



I observed that the baulks above Heathpool were neither 

 equidistant nor parallel to each other ; nor were they uniform in 

 the strength and thickness of the retaining walls and protecting 

 banks. Some of these occupied broad spaces ; others were 

 narrow rims, and with very steep almost downright slopes. The 

 pastures were dry, and the grasses fine, and free from Nardus 

 stricta, and suitable for Cheviot sheep. This hill-country is well 

 adapted for young horses running out, as they do not get hurt 

 or bogged. Orobus tuberosus (Lathyrus macixmhizus, Wimm., 

 not Lathyrus tuberosus, L.) and Hieracium pilosella were in 

 blossom. The base of the old peel tower at Heathpool was over- 

 run with the "Mother of Thousands" (Linaria cymbalaria). 

 Good King Henry was a domesticated weed round the steading. 

 At the Linn the company were on the wrong side for reaching 

 its botanical treasures, some of which could be seen beyond the 

 watery turmoil, at present in an incipient state of growth, as 

 most of them bloom in autumn. The Redstart was darting here 

 and there among the adjacent stone-walls near the Linn, where 

 T never before remarked it. Numerous young Wheat-ears of 

 the early brood were perched on stones and stone-walls, pre- 

 paratory for shifting their ground. The Fox-glove was very 

 prevalent on the gravelly upper banks of the Glen, and along 

 the Railway about Akeld. Verbascum Thapsus grew on the north 

 bank of the river where the ford crosses above Lanton. 



There was not much time for viewing the contents of Mr 

 Culley's ample library. It was well supplied with historians of 

 the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the older gems was a 1551 

 edition of " Gammer Gurton's Needle," perfect. With the 

 precious article in one's hand, estimated by the owner as " worth 

 its weight in gold," one recollects Pope's lines in his "Imitations 

 of Horace :" 



