THE PLANT WORLD 177 



a period when the matiirer mind of the pupil would lead him ever to pre- 

 serve rather than destroy. 



Of the necessity of the knife in the identification of a strange or puz- 

 zling fruit or flower I am fully aware ; but placed in the hand of a child, 

 what surer guide could be afforded to the manifold habits of destructive- 

 ness afield that real lovers of the flowers so much deplore and the society 

 is fighting so hard to overcome ? 



Magnitude and quantity, distinctive features of the age and typical to 

 a degree of New York conditions, makes the work of the economist in 

 any line especially difficult. In no department is this more true than 

 along the lines of the self-imposed task of those who are urging saving 

 ways in the enjoyment of the wild flowers. 



Nature studies in the schools, where the classes average anywhere 

 between forty and sixty pupils each, and the modern school house is a 

 goodly town of from one to three thousand rising young citizens, inclu- 

 ding their future wives and sweethearts, demand such quantities of living 

 greenery and blossoms as can not fail to impress the individual with the 

 boundless prodigality of Nature, rather than with the power of man to 

 overcome even Nature's bounteousness by his careless destructiveness. 



Urge the teachers then to impress the scholar with the fact that every 

 leaf and twig and blossom is far more beautiful in its native wild than he 

 can possibly make it on paper, and is likely to have, if not positively 

 known to have, numbers of utilitarian purposes other than its needful 

 subservience at times to educational ones. 



Above all, urge the teachers to impress upon youthful minds the rare 

 merit of unselfishness in their rambles through the wilds. If a favorite 

 flower, and children early learn to know their favorite blossoms, is found 

 blooming alone, teach the child the merit of leaving the dainty little 

 recluse to fulfil the law of its being and multiply its kind ; and no one 

 will be more delighted than the child who, later on, discovers that the 

 fragile little waif has succeeded, thanks to the lesson of human self- 

 restraint, and is no longer a lonely dweller among alien blooms. 



If the favorite blooms are of more sturdy, prolific habit, teach the 

 child the true kindness of leaving some of even the best beloved blossoms 

 for the delight of late comers who may love them still more dearly. And 

 last, but perhaps most valuable of the lessons afield, teach the children to 

 know and love the flowers which can best withstand indiscriminate pluck- 

 ing and will best repay the task of carrying to city homes ; for no lover 

 of flowers, and least of all those who are striving to protect them, wishes 

 to limit the delights of woodland rambles, but rather to enhance them in 

 all ways possible, and the most direct way is through the gateway of 

 knowledge. 



They would have all who best enjoy God's gracious gifts of sunny 



