REPORT OF MEETINGS. 
35 
valence of pests, wrong’ methods of cultivation, and choice of 
unsuitable varieties. He then described the various types of trees 
obtained by pruning and the advantages and suitability of each 
type as deduced from experimental trees. When planting an 
orchard, varieties should be chosen which are suited to the soil, 
are not very susceptible to disease, yield good crops, and yield the 
best cider or the finest table fruits. It is well to mix the varieties 
to ensure cross-fertilisation. Light pruning is better than hard 
pruning, and root pruning should be resorted to when the tree is 
of vigorous growth but yields no fruit. When planting the roots 
should be set deep and the soil well rammed around them. 
Where possible no grass should be allowed to grow close to the 
trunk. 
January 21st. — Annual Meeting. The Forty-sixth Annual Meet- 
ing of the above Society was held at University College. Mr. 
H. J. Charbonnier, one of the oldest members, who is leaving 
Bristol, was elected Hon. Member in recognition of past services. 
Mr. J. W. White, F.L.S., then gave his presidential address 
on “The History of Bristol Botany, Part H.” This second part 
begins with John Ray (1627-1705), who wrote the first Flora of 
British Plants. He came to Bristol in 1662 and 1667, and he 
describes many rarities which he found. Dillenius (1687-1747), 
Sherardian Professor at Oxford, visited Bristol in 1726 and dis- 
covered some new plants. Among these was one he found on 
Brean Down, which he carefully described and preserved. This 
specimen was mislaid, but in 1904 it was found in the Oxford 
Museum. The finder visited Brean Down and found this plant 
growing there in fair abundance. It seems incredible that no one 
since the days of Dillenius had recorded this plant for the district. 
Hudson, in his “Flora Anglica ” (1762), was the first botanist to 
recognise Geraiiium rotuiidifoliiim of our district as a British plant. 
Withering, who published the first English Flora, written in English 
(1776), had many correspondents in our district, among whom 
may be mentioned Dr. Stokes, the Rev. G. Swayne, and Dr. Arthur 
Broughton, who was the first to print a list of our local flora. Sir 
Joseph Banks visited Bristol in 1767, and again in 1773 in the 
company of the Rev. John Lightfoot. W. Curtis, who wrote the 
“ Flora Londiniensis,” and W. Sole, of Bath, who wrote a treatise 
on “Mints,” both added new records to our local flora. Several 
of the plates in Sowerby’s English Botany are drawn from 
specimens sent to Sowerby from Bristol. Samuel Rootsey (1788- 
1855), the first lecturer on Botany in the Bristol Medical School, 
was a prominent local botanist. In the early part of the nineteenth 
century Dr. Stevens made an herbarium, which is now the property 
of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society. J. H. Cundall (1807 — 1883) 
gave in his “Everyday Book of Natural History” charming 
descriptions of local plants. He also left a herbarium, which con- 
tains, among many rarities, unique specimens of two plants never 
since recorded for this district. 
