107 



dren's Gardens, with side studies of birds with Dr. George M. 

 Reed, and of trees with Dr. Arthur Harmount Graves. After 

 a box luncheon in the Laboratory Building, a formal session was 

 held, with Dr. C. Stuart Gager, director of the Botanic Garden, 

 presiding. Dr. Arthur Harmount Graves, also of the Botanic 

 Garden, acted as secretary. Dr. R. C. Benedict, Resident In- 

 vestigator at the Garden, addressed the combined societies on 

 " Game Laws for Ferns and Wild Flowers." Representatives of 

 the White Plains Bird and Tree Club, the Garden Club of Eliza- 

 beth, the Tree Club of Flushing, and the Washington, D. C, 

 Pennsylvania, and Illinois chapters of the Wild Flower Preserva- 

 tion Society of America attended. 



Important action was taken in the election of a committee con- 

 sisting of one representative each of the four societies first named, 

 i.e., the Torrey Botanical Club, the New York Bird and Tree 

 Club, the American Fern Society, the Wild Flower Preservation 

 Society, to' draft a bill for New York State, looking toward the 

 conservation of our native flowers and ferns. The following 

 delegates were elected to this committee : Dr. R. C. Benedict, of 

 the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, from the American Fern Society, 

 Dr. Clyde G. Fisher, of the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, from the New York Bird and Tree Club, Dr. Homer D. 

 House, of the New York State Museum, from the Wild Flower 

 Preservation Society of America, and Dr. M. A. Howe, of the 

 New York Botanical Garden, from the Torrev Botanical Club : 

 also Attorney Augustus O. Bourn, Jr., a member of several in- 

 terested societies, was invited to serve on this committee to assist 

 as legal advisor in formulating the bill. The proposed new law 

 is to provide for the conservation of all native American plants. 



This timely action will be greatly welcomed by all thoughtful 

 citizens and flower lovers who have viewed with apprehension 

 the reckless uprooting and removal of our native plants from 

 woods and fields by automobile parties and others — a thoughtless 

 custom which is resulting in the rapid disappearance of some of 

 our most beautiful native American wild flowers. 



