468 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
total for 1896 for the same months was about 70inches ; for 1895, 
about 81 inches. In October 1894, on October 5 and 6, it 
was 18 inches; on October 17, 1898, 12^ inches. This year it 
may break the record: it did indeed, as it rained 18 inches in 
eighteen hours, 12 inches of which fell in six hours, on Sep¬ 
tember 26 and 27; on July 13 it registered 5 inches, and the 
following day 13, in the two days nearly 18 inches. Fancy 
half the yearly rainfall of England in two days ! The winters, 
too, are sometimes very severe ; as much as 6 feet of snow some¬ 
times. Last year there was over a foot about Christmas. Then 
the weather is delightful, the air sharp and bracing. That is 
really the time for “ Britishers ” to enjoy this magnificent hill 
station. 
On the east of Naini Tal Lake is a hill about 1,000 feet high, 
on which many of the houses of Europeans are built. From the 
top of this hill is a place called Snow Seat, surrounded with 
Rhododendrons, Lespedezas, beautiful Grasses and Dahlias. In 
front, as you rest on Snow Seat, is one of the grandest views 
of the “Roof of the World.” The big mountain to the right 
is Nandi Devi, the highest mountain in British territory. I 
have heard all sorts of stories of the beauties of the place, and 
of the wonderful plants found there. As the vegetation on this 
side of the Himalayas is so totally different from the Sikkim side, 
I have no doubt that at proper seasons there are some wonderful 
flowers still to be found there; but one should stay a whole 
summer to see the flora properly. Botanists generally in India 
only go in “ fine weather ”—fair-weather botanists. I don’t 
know a single instance of any botanist collecting a whole season 
in the interior of the mountain district. The out-of-the-way hills, 
twelve or fourteen days’ march away, are the places to visit. 
The gardens of Europeans contain all our favourite English 
annuals. One sees large bushes of Hydrangeas, Scented Ver¬ 
benas, Heliotropes, Geraniums, Solanum jasminoides flowering 
profusely ; Gladiolus and Dahlias simply wild, the latter having 
acclimatised themselves on all the bare slopes and waste ground. 
It would well repay a Dahlia fancier to see the masses of single 
flowers found on the waste spots ; every shade of colour may 
be seen, and many large and splendid flowers ; they have 
become a pest in Naini Tal. Geraniums and Violets grow 
well, and nearly all English vegetables thrive fairly well. The 
