WILD PLANTS AND BIRD LIFE. 



THEIR PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION FOR THE BENEFIT 

 OF FUTURE GENERATIONS. 



THE AQUATIC PHENOGAMS OF IOWA. 

 By Robert Irvin Cratty, Naturalist. 



So large a proportion of our state is suitable for cultivation that our 

 native flora is being rapidly swept away, and while most of the species 

 may survive along roadsides, in hilly and stony localities, and along 

 streams yet many which are local or rare must eventually disappear en- 

 tirely. Most of the land too rolling for plowing is valuable for pasturage, 

 and here the destruction of the indigenous flora is nearly as rapid, the 

 introduced grasses, clovers and weeds appropriating the ground. While 

 the marsh and aquatic plants have a better chance in the struggle for 

 existence than the prairie flora,, yet the draining of ponds and marshes, 

 thus greatly restricting the area frequented by such plants, is certain to 

 sweep away some species which were formerly quite common. Those 

 who 'have lived many years in the state, now see the former haunts of 

 muskrats and aquatic birds covered with waving grain, and while from 

 an economic point of view this change may be desirable, yet to the natur- 

 alist it brings the conviction that if we are to secure a full representa- 

 tion of what our flora was, there is no time to lose. 



PRESERVATION OF WILD PLANTS IN IOWA. 

 By Mrs. H. J. Taylor. 



It is not so very long ago that children were sent to college, and even 

 to school, in the hope that they might not have to work as hard as the 

 parents. Education was thought to lift one above the plane of work to a 

 life oif ease. Those who went to college were on a separate plane. 



Today, education means larger vision, more tender heart, closer fel- 

 lowship with all mankind. Today education and service go hand in hand 

 and any school or college that is failing to fit its men and women for a 

 life of service, is not fulfilling its mission. Education does not lift one 

 away from his fellow men; it keeps him forever one of them, with a 

 closer and clearer understanding of all their needs. Any education that 

 is vital, broadens vision and holds us close to the pulse throb of humanity; 

 helps us to see and do for others what they cannot see and do for them- 

 selves. Education makes us seriously and thoughtfully minded toward the 



