102 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



native shrubber}- that is hardier and even more useful for 

 decorative work. But if it is desirable that the stations 

 be beautified with blooming herbs, shrubs and vines it 

 seems equally' desirable that the roadsides between sta- 

 tions be also. The first can onl^^ be accomplished Ida' the 

 landscape gardener, but the second will be ampW taken 

 care of by an ancient dame named Nature if the section 

 boss will only staj^ his scythe. If he must mow, let it be 

 late in the year when the dead vegetation might other- 

 wise be a menace to the fences if accidentally fired. 



By affording a sanctuary to many a hard-pressed 

 plant afield, the railwa3's preserve to us perhaps a better 

 representation of the original flora than is to be elsewhere 

 found in the neighborhood. This is especially true of 

 prairie and other scantily wooded regions. In others the 

 woods and fence -rows also afford protection. 



It is surprising how many plants one can identify from 

 a car window. Even when moving at the rate of nearly a 

 mile a minute, the dominant plants in the landscape are 

 recognizable. We cannot pick out single flowers, it is true, 

 but as thej' flash past in groups of var3'ing size, their color 

 and the way in which they grow give us clews to their 

 identity that are unmistakable. As we botanize in this 

 waj^ w^e appreciate more and more the superiority of 

 habit and habitat over form and color in our identifica- 

 tions. This, too, probably explains why it is so easy to 

 find a plant after one has once seen it growing and so 

 difficult before. Having seen just how and where a plant 

 grows w^e next time recognize it by these signs ; in fact, we 

 are often able to predict its occurrence before we see it. 

 But who is there, that, seeing for the first time a plant 

 about which he has read, finds it to exactl3^ correspond to 

 the mental picture he had formed of it ? 



Aside from giving us a good idea of the dominant 

 plants in the flora at a given time, the railway borders 

 afford most graphic examples of the distribution of plants. 

 One can scarcely travel five hundred miles in an^^ direction 

 without finding many changes in the flora and the longer 



