164 
PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 
1919 
with more confidence than an uncritical criticism would at 
the outset inspire. 
H. J. Riddelsdell. 
It may be of interest to mention that Buckman’s Botanical 
Guide was suggested by him in the Cheltenham Magazine and 
West of England Journal for 1837, where (vol. ii., p. 31) he printed 
a letter on the advantages of botany and expresses the hope that 
“ the time is not far distant when its study will form an 
indispensable portion of every liberal education ; and as 
a list of the plants around the neighbourhood of Cheltenham 
will be desirable, any co-operation in procuring such list for 
the pages of this Magazine will be highly esteemed.” 
In the next number he printed (p. 64) a list of flowering 
plants found in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham in April 
and May, 1837. Under date June, 1837, Buckman addressed 
(p. 87) a second letter to the Editor — E. G. Wells, a chemist 
in Cheltenham — on the study of botany in Cheltenham, and 
there mentions that he had not extended his rambles farther 
than Leckhampton-hill and Hewlett’s-hill. He states that 
he will feel obliged by the correction of his lists, of which 
he appended another (pp. 88-89) °f plants found in June. 
Lists for July, August, September, and October are printed, 
pp. 116-18, 155-56, 188, and 215, and further letters on 
pp. 187-88, and 214-15. The Magazine ceased publication 
early in 1838. 
In an annotated copy of the Botanical Guide which lies before 
me the Rev. T. W. Norwood, a personal friend of .Buckman’s, 
writes that the latter recorded in the Magazine several plants 
which he omitted from the Guide. In another note Mr. Norwood 
writes : — 
“ It is plain that he was at this time [October, 1837] 
fresh to his Science, but he wrote modestly, and was doing 
very respectable work which we must not now [c. 1861] 
undervalue. What he rejected shows how much he improved 
between 1837 and 1844 ; and his last fist has been in the main 
