78 THE PLANT WORLD 



Editorial. 



Elsewhere in this issue we print the prize essay by Dr. F. H. 

 Knowlton, to which reference was made in the last number of The 

 Plant "World, and which has already been published in the Journal of 

 the New York Botanical Garden. The letters of appreciation received 

 from all parts of the country and the many requests for reprints indi- 

 cate that there is a widespread popular interest in the subject of plant 

 protection, a fact of which we have always felt confident. It is, there- 

 fore, a matter of pleasure as well as pride to us that the suggestions 

 made in this essay have borne fruit, and that an organization, to be 

 known as The Wild Flower Preservation Society of America, has been 

 founded, with the object of appealing to public sentiment through lec- 

 tures, the distribution of leaflets and other means, in order to secure the 

 preservation of our rarer native plants from destiTiction. We have had 

 occasion in these columns to refer to the work of the New England 

 Society for the Protection of Native Plants in terms of high commen- 

 dation ; but a society purely local in its scope cannot hope to accom- 

 plish all that might be done by a larger working body of national 

 renown. So also an ofiicial organ for the publication of reports, notices 

 and other matter is an absolute necessity in carrying on a labor of this 

 kind, as the experience of the Audubon Society has amply demon- 

 strated. In recognition of this, the charter members of the new society, 

 after electing ofl&cers and managers representing all sections of the 

 country, and adopting by-laws somewhat similar to those of the Audu- 

 bon Society, designated The Plant World as the official organ, and an 

 agreement between the society and and the Plant World Company is 

 now in course of preparation, whereby this journal, in consideration 

 of a certain percentage of the annual dues, which are fixed at one 

 dollar, will be sent without further charge to all members, and will 

 print in its columns all chapter reports, official notices, etc., and fre- 

 quent essays on the subject of plant preservation which will be after- 

 ward issued as reprints and widely distributed by the society. 



The first formal public launching of the Wild Flower Preservation 

 Society will be through the medium of a public lecture, in Washington 

 city, May 22d, by Dr. N. L. Britton, of the New York Botanical Gar- 

 den, on the subject, " Some Wild Flowers in Need of Preservation." 

 The lecture will be illustrated by colored lantern slides i^ainted from 

 life. It has been decided by the board of managers that all persons 



