THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 71 



the work of compiling in this office. Another item called 

 for by the Committee is a list of the wild plants that can 

 be used in medicine. Many of the medicinal plants in use 

 at present come from our own fields and woods and there 

 are many more that have real or reputed medicinal proper- 

 ties that might be further investigated. In supplying such 

 lists, we shall not only be advancing our own interests in 

 botany but helping our country as well, and we trust that 

 a very large number of observers will respond. There 

 are no dues or fees of any kind in the Correspondence 

 Club. Anybody interested in the subject which happens 

 to be up for discussion is invited to record his observa- 

 tions. 



* * * 



The prospect of an extended war has produced a num- 

 ber of nonsensical suggestions for economizing. One of 

 the first in this category is the proposal to do without the 

 productions of the florist until better times return. Those 

 who favor the omission of flowers at weddings, funerals, 

 commencements and similar functions do not stop to con- 

 sider that the florists not only have an immense amount 

 of capital tied up in their special industries, which cannot 

 be immediately turned to account in other lines, but that 

 the potter, the seed grower and a host of other tradesmen 

 depending upon them for patronage would find their own 

 businesses gone or sadly depressed were the florists to 

 cease operations. To us the proposition to begin a war 

 by wrecking the business of a considerable part of the 

 population does not look attractive. True economy con- 

 sists in making the best use of a thing, not in going with- 

 out it. If the country as a whole is to remain prosperous, 

 its citizens must buy about as they have been doing, but 

 they must see that what they purchase is used to its fullest 

 extent. This is no time to cut down on schools, books, 

 magazines or even vacations. 



