THE SEASON OF WILD FLOWERS 



WITH REPRODUCTIONS IN DUOTONE AND SUGGESTIONS REGARDING 

 CERTAIN SPECIES NEEDING PROTECTION 



THE BIRD'S-FOOT VIOLET 



If only for the sake of the little children of future generations, let us give personal care to the wild flow- 

 ers of America. They are fast disappearing through reckless picking and uprooting. Possession in the hand 

 is a satisfaction, but if we stop to consider, there is a greater satisfaction. All the beauty of field and wood- 

 land, the color, the fragrance, the song of birds, the wind — these are our possessions. We do not need to im- 

 prison the wind or kill the bird. We do not need even to own the land on which the sun shines and the tiow- 

 ers bloom. No power can dispossess us in this heritage or remove us from this intimate relation, for by right 

 of the life in ourselves, we are part of the whole. 



The bird's-foot violet (Viola pedata) grows in sandy places (exposed to full sunshine; compare its leaf 

 with the leaves of shade-loving species) and is the largest of the violet family in America. It has already 

 become e.xtinct in many localities. The common blue violets (Viola palmata) may be picked without com- 

 punction, for, like the fringed polygala, they produce seeds in the late fall from underground flowers 



