THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 131 



casions. 1)iit there are tlmse wln) have neither flower tj^ardens 

 nor ni()ne\" with which to sati.sf\- the florist thouiji'h the\- may 

 ha\e a hi^yii a|)[)reciation of floral heauty. There (l<»es not 

 -eeni, howexer, to he any essential difference hetween flower- 

 ,ii^atherin,y" in the garden and the same practice in wood and 

 meadow, far renioxed from cit\- and town, except that in the 

 latter case the plants grow wild and would cxentuallv he d'e- 

 \<»ured hy the unappreciative cow or plowed under 1)\- the 

 e(|ually unapi)reciative agriculturist. That the show\- violet 

 hlossoms rarely produce seeds is well kn(»wn, hut for one to 

 gather a nosegay of \ iolets in a country lane makes him a 

 floral hootlegger in the eyes of the e\er-increasing arnn- of 

 "thou-shalt-nots". We helive that there shouUl he stringent 

 laws protecting the land owner in the possession of his 

 flowers, if he desires protection, hut we also helieve that there 

 is nothing i)articularly sacred ahout the flowers growing in 

 wiUl lands whose owners care nothing ahout them; in sliort 

 that there is nothing wicked in flower-gathering itself, 

 though taking flowers \alued h}' the owner ma\' well he. It 

 cannot he denied that a \ast numher of show\- flowers are hy 

 necessit}' destroyed each \ear. When we wish to produce 

 ftiod or found a town their room is hetter than their comj)any 

 juid out they go. lUil nohody raises a protesting xoice when 

 the supervisors decide to tid}- up the countr\- roadsides or 

 the railroads now down acres of loveliness along the riglit of 

 waw altliough much ot ihi.s is unecessary. Tlie people most 

 active in preventing all flower-gathering, usually fail to see 

 that those who love the flowers rarel\- gather them in <|nanti- 

 tv. A new atul more eltecti\e wa\- of [)rotecti!ig the wild- 

 flowers would he to spread a wider appreciation of their 

 heaut\- afleld. hut it must he confessed this would rcmo\e 

 some of the spectacidar effects of flower-protection and in- 



