THE PRESERVATION OF WILD FLOWERS. 



249 



and this particular one can be eas- 

 ily, though slowly, accomplished 

 through nature study. 



The increasing interest in the 

 study of nature and the publication 

 of numerous illustrated popular 

 books on the subject have been much 

 feared by the friends of the wild 

 flowers, who feel that wanton de- 

 struction will follow in the path of 

 the enthusiastic young student. 

 This fear has been somewhat justi- 

 fied in towns and cities where, in 

 their eagerness to get specimens for 

 the class, the thoughtless pupils 

 have robbed the parks and gardens. 

 Perhaps, too, in the country, the na- 

 ture study program has been the 



Saebatia {S. stellaris). 



Aster {A. spectabilis). 



means of reducing the numbers of 

 our most attractive wild flowers. 

 This was a natural result of the 

 first step in a movement which will 

 develop into a more carefully di- 

 rected study. The popular teach- 

 ing of ornithology in America has 

 advanced farther than botany. In 

 its early days collecting 'sets of 

 eggs' and skins of birds were prom- 

 inent features of the work and the 

 extinction of the great auk was one 

 of the results. But now, partly 

 through nature study and partly 

 through the influence of the Audu- 

 bon Society, studying the habits of 

 i)irds, naming them without a gun, 

 photographing eggs in the nest and 

 Itirds in the bush are the most pop- 

 ular asoects of the studv. 



