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THE fl/)^ERIDp BOTpiST. 



Vol. VI. BINGHAMTON, N. Y., JUNE, 1904. No. 6. 



RAILROAD BOTANIZING. 



BY WILLARD N. CLUTE. 

 J^ TRIP by daj'liglit through a picturesque region is 

 <^ -L something that is likely to appeal to all travellers ; 

 but when the road runs through a flat and monotonous 

 country the experienced are likely to so time their travels 

 that the journey through it is accomplished at night when 

 they are absent in a country called dreamland. To the 

 botanizer, however, no countr\^ is monotonous, provided 

 he crosses it during the blooming season and while he ma3' 

 prefer the more attractive country he would doubtless be 

 able to find something of interest even in a desert. 



In all parts of the country" the railway is recognized as 

 an excellent botanizing ground. May the day be long in 

 coming when we fall into the British custom of allowing 

 no trespassers upon the right of way! The railway's do 

 more, albeit unintentionally, to preserve the native flora 

 than all the plant protection societies put together. Rail- 

 way lands are neither plowed nor cultivated nor grazed 

 and in consequence manj'of the wildlings maintain afoot- 

 hold here long after they are driven out of the fields ad- 

 joining. Would that we might add that railway' lands 

 are not mowed ; but the average railwa3^ oflScial has the 

 same ideas of "improvement" that characterizes the coun- 

 try road -maker and both express them in the same wa3^. 

 Therefore, at frequent intervals the verdure and beauty 

 that clothe the unsighth-- railwaj^ embankments are ruth- 

 lessly removed and the traveller gazes out upon heaps of 

 d^'ing vegetation instead of the flowers that once grew in 

 the region. At the same time, in order to make the rail- 

 wsijs more attractive, exotic shrubs are planted about the 

 stations as if the borders of the entire line were not full of 



