26 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



occasionally be found as the latest autumn bloomer upon the prairies. Now it is 

 no longer to be found. In swamps, the rich-colored Cardinal Lobelia could be 

 occasionally found ; in such places it may yet exist, but 1 have not seen it during 

 recent years. 



The Netumbeim luteum once so common is now rare, chiefly owing to the ravages 

 of the hog. Our Cowslip {Dodecatheon), some species of Phlox, the Mebrunthiuns , 

 the PhysosUgia and many other plants I have not seen for many years. Farther 

 south in Missouri and Kentucky early travelers speak of extensive cane-breaks, 

 now only found toward the Gulf. 



What have we in their stead? About 1870, the Solanum rostratium invaded 

 Missouri from its home in Kansas and gained a hold. It now abounds as far east 

 as St. Louis. 



Wo also have from the Sunflower State its characteristic tall sunflower intro- 

 duced into Missouri about 25 years ago from the West, it came to us just before 

 the advent of the Solanum above named. In 1S69 I first saw it in the southwestern 

 part of Cass. It now abounds at many places in Missouri. I might especially state 

 that it seems at home on the Wakenda praries, Carroll county . So do changes take 

 place. Our plants disappear, others are introduced. Some trees have even bt- 

 come so acclimated that many persons do not know that they are not indigenous. 

 The Catalpa, the Ailanthus, the Locust, and even certain pines, have been incorpo- 

 rated in a published list of the trees of Kansas, as if they were indigenous, when 

 they are not. 



The Catalpa is a native of Southeast Missouri and southwardly the Black 

 Locust, of Kentucky. Their seeds were brought here by early settlers, and the 

 trees are now found nearly everywhere. So of many garden plants. 



We should plant and cultivate our handsome wild flowers and they will return 

 to us in blossoms to please. 



I now have about eight species of our wild ferns growing in my yard ; pro- 

 bably only as many more are found wild in our State. But suppose we read the 

 record of past ages, we find enclosed in the coal shales of one county of Missouri 

 over 40 species of ferns, many of them very beautiful. 



In this way is preserved the record of past ages. Man did not destroy them. 

 They grew and flourished under peculiarly favorable conditions. They grew to a 

 luxuriance now nowhere to be found, except within the tropics. By their evidence 

 wonderfully preserved, we know that our climate was once difterent. Our fossil 

 plants relate to us a remarkable and an interesting as well as valuable history as it 

 is recorded in the strata as leaves within a book, each stratum a record within 

 itself of the wondeiful carboniferous age. 



They are preserved not only in their beauty of form and structure, but as 

 instructive records of past ages, and as an index of the riches of the age. But to 

 draw a parallel : Will our present living plants as they die be so preserved ? We 

 believe not. The conditions of their life are not such as to perpetuate their form. 

 They have grown ; they have bloomed ; they have died and crumbled to dust, and 

 still continue to do so. Many we may not again see. 



But we should not allow this destruction to continue. You, who know of and 

 where to find them, collect the seed, plant and grow them in your gardens or upon 

 your lawns. Preserve our native plants. Do this and you will have performed a 

 deed that future generations will thank you for. 



