44 



THE PLANT WORLD 



DESTRUCTION OF A FARM FLORA. 

 By H. S. Pepoon. 

 I HAVE been much interested in the movement that seems to be gath- 

 ering added force as the months go by, and that has for its object the 

 preservation of our wild plants. It certainly will receive my hearty co- 

 operation in every possible way, the more so because I live in the midst 

 of a people who are waging the most relentless war of extermination 

 against a number of the most beautiful of our native orchids and lilies. 

 It might surprise the reader to learn that I have seen 300 showy lady- 

 slippers {^Cypripedmm reginae) gathered by a thoughtless trio in two hours' 

 time ; but so it is, and these plants are now numbered by tens when five 

 years ago they were in troops of hundreds. 



SC4l« ''•». a j(jmJ>t. 



Fig. 1. A farm of 226 acres in 1876. There are 120 acres of woodland, 9 springs, and a 

 " living" stream. The farm contains 355 species of plants. 



Fig. 2. The same farm in 1904. There are only 18 acres of woodland, no springs, and 

 no stream. The plants number only 200 species, 155 having been exterminated in 28 

 years. 



In this same line it may be of interest to relate the history of my old 

 home farm in northwestern Illinois. It was a woodland originally — with 

 several ' ' sloughs " as we called them — low-lying ravines or small valleys, 

 very wet along the lowest level, running through from north to south. 

 The woodlands were oak — with many ' ' flat openings ' ' near the heads 

 of the ravines. The soil varied from a rich black loam in the heavy 

 timber to a thin clay on the hillsides. Every hollow had a spring, and 

 the main valley always possessed a fine running stream. This was at a 

 time when 120 acres of the 226 were in forest growths. 



