THE PLANT WORLD 201 



field and forest. Still, that would not account for abstinence on the part 

 of guests of other houses. Black-eyed Susans, whose number was legion, 

 and various berries were the only victims. Even at the annual fair the 

 decorations, which were very pretty, consisted of pond lilies. Queen 

 Anne's lace, asparagus, and the commoner ferns. 



At Atlantic Highlands and Long Branch, where one must go farther 

 afield for the flowers, it is less surprising that depredation should be almost 

 unknown. In Spring Lake, N. J., four years ago the site of an old mill 

 pond revealed a wealth of cardinal flowers, such as one might dream about 

 but rarely hope to realize. A long-planned visit to the spot, two years 

 after, resulted in bitter disappointment. The water had again come to 

 its own. 



Part of the summers of 1902-1903 were spent at Avon, N. J., where 

 the flora is quite remarkable. The first year the total absence of interest 

 in the flowers was noticeable. There were more lovers of the sea, the 

 river, the lakes, and the trolley than of the woods ; and these distractions 

 seemed amply to fill the day. The walks that were taken were for exercise 

 only. Here, where one had but to cross the street to find rare and beau- 

 tiful plants, and a walk around the lake disclosed flowers of every hue, 

 the water gemmed with pond lilies and bladderwort, not the slightest desire 

 for them was shown by either natives or visitors. The lilies were gathered 

 in more accessible places next to the trolley, under the bridge, by a 

 couple of young boys . These were sold . This past summer more interest 

 was shown, but as most of the flowers were gathered on the highways, 

 and would have eventually fallen victim to the mower, it seemed a better 

 fate to give pleasure for a few more days. Daily trips to nearby places, 

 Como, Belmar, Sea Girt, Manasquam, and Bay Head, showed the same 

 conditions. At the last-named place we saw two people with a bunch of 

 cotton-grass or pussy-toes, of which we also gathered a bunch. A lady 

 in the car, after admiring their tawny beauty, asked where we had found 

 them. 



There was but one house that I knew of where quantities of flowers 

 were used as decorations, and here the children told me they had looked 

 in vain for the hole which their gathering should have made. In this 

 whole region the highways and byways are full of flowers and free to the 

 public. In that part of the Catskills that we visited was the same absence 

 of vandalism, such teachers as were there gathering only what they were 

 compelled to for the next season's work. 



From a friend living in a well-populated town with woods quite ac- 

 cessible I gather that the picking of flowers is confined to the hepatica 

 and violet in the spring, to the daisy, and then, in fall, to the fringed 

 gentian, of which she says there is an unlimited supply and the desire 

 for which is created by the verses taught in school. 



