Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/132

 Mr. Hume, and after some demur at the labour which it would entail, and because neither he nor I would live to complete it, he consented to my starting it in the spring of 1904. The herbarium now contains mounted seed- lings, taken at progressive stages, of 1200 species, representing 385 genera and 64 natural orders. As a collection, so far as we know, it is unique in Europe, and it is being added to every year as seeds can be obtained. The addition of horticulture to my herbarium and clerical work rendered it necessary to obtain additional assistance in mounting plants and cataloguing, and when the herbarium and library were removed from Mr. Hume's residence we were employing four young women in pressing, mounting, and clerical work, and a youth as assistant in horticultural work.

"During the summer of 1904 Mr. Hume made frequent short excursions into Kent, Surrey, Sussex, etc., to collect species in which the herbarium was deficient. In 1905 he collected plants in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and South Wales from April until May, and in North Wales, in company with Mr. C. P. Hurst, one of the most active of English field-botanists, from June to October. In 1906 he was at Folkestone in August and September, and collected largely in that part of Kent. In 1907 he made Eastbourne his headquarters during August and Sep- tember, and did much field-work in company with the late Mr. T. Hilton, of Brighton. In 1908 he only left home during the month of September, when he went again to Folkestone. In 1909 and 1910 he was at East- bourne during August and September, and made many excursions for collecting Sussex plants, frequently in company with Mr. Hilton.