THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 99 



But the fact that we recommend the study of the 

 plants in one's own localitj^ should not deter others in 

 specially favored regions froin giving us more general 

 articles upon their flora. Such of us as have never visited 

 the Gulf Coast, or Alaska, or the summits of the Rockies, 

 or the West Indies, or the prairies, or the Atlantic Coast, 

 or the desert region of the Southwest have an idea that 

 we would not have to go very far in such regions to find 

 plants of the greatest interest. Even the commonest 

 plants would be sufficient for us. To one who has never 

 seen a real desert with its many ft)rms of cacti, a single 

 prickly-pear cactus growing on a sandy plain is a wonder 

 and a revelation. And half the pleasures of a great con- 

 servatory are derived, not alone from the flowers in bloom, 

 but from the curious forms of the exotic plants there dis- 

 played. 



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Along w^ith the improvements in the contributed 

 articles there has gone a gradual change in our circle ot 

 readers. Those who \Aere interested only in collecting 

 and exchanging plants have dropped out to give place to 

 what we are pleased to believe are the real botanists — 

 people who know" plants and love them quite as much for 

 their individuality as for their possible value as specimens. 

 The collection of specimens is not criticised, but collecting 

 we maintain is only the beginning ot botany. One of the 

 first instincts of the child is to collect something, even if it 

 be nothingmore importantthan marbles, or tobacco-tags. 

 Later the collecting spirit may turn its possessor to some 

 branch of science, but if any collection does not inspire its 

 owner to know more about the subject in hand, and if the 

 knowing more does not incline him to a greater regard for 

 and interest in it, it has failed of the principal object of all 

 good collections. Most of our readers have been, or are 

 still, collectors of plants, but they are more than mere 

 collectors orthis magazine would not appeal to them. We 

 believe that this class will increase in numbers as the years 

 pass, and systematic botany no longer requires the col- 



