236 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



needed. Whenever possible, the annual mowing should come when it 

 will interfere least with the flowering and fruiting of our native plants. 

 Biennial mowing, when possible, would benefit many species, especially 

 the grasses. 



Rare and beautiful species should be protected by wardens at flowering- 

 time. In my locality these would include the pomme de prairie (Psoralea 

 esculenta), the anemone (Anemone patens) and the downy gentian (Gen- 

 tiana puberula), of the dry prairies, and the closed gentian (Gentiana 

 andrewsii), the small white lady slipper (Cypripedium candidum), the 

 Turk's cap and orange red lilies (Lilium superbum and philadelphicum), 

 of the moist prairies. 



I would be opposed to any artificial parking, to effect an "improvement" 

 of the landscape along the right-of-way. There is more absolute hideous- 

 ness visible from the railroad tracks in the towns and cities of our state 

 than there is in all the open country. Let the railroad parking be con- 

 fined to the towns and cities -where it is most needed and appreciated and 

 the most people receive benefit from it. 



The plants growing in the water or in marshes are harder to pro- 

 serve than any others, since so many of the lakes and swamps are being 

 drained and the general water level is lowering year by year. In my 

 locality the sweet-scented water lily (Nymphaea tuberosa), bladder-wort 

 (Utricularia vulgaris americana), the iris or blue flag (Iris veriscolor), 

 the water arum (Calla palustris), the pickerel weed or water hyacinth 

 (Pontederia cordata), and the white fringed orchis (Habenaria blephari- 

 glottis), are in special danger of extinction. 



Quill reed or reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), cat-tails (Typha 

 latifolia), great burr reed (Sparganium eurycarpum), arrow head 

 ( Aquatica) . 



I see no way to reserve water and marsh plants, except to set apart 

 special reservations, similar to the federal bird reservations. As an 

 illustration of the need of this, on Wall lake in Sac county an area of 

 about 70 acres was formerly covered with water lilies. In 1913 an area 

 of 8 square rods would include all the lilies remaining, and there was 

 only one bud and no flowers on the patch early in August. In the mean- 

 time, people had gathered lilies by the boat-load and wash-tub-full, cat- 

 tle had devoured them and drouth had fluctuated the lake level. These 

 lilies need total protection for several years, then a number limit on the 

 persons who gather them. Reservations for marsh plants should be so 

 located that they' will not be destroyed by the drainage of surrounding 

 land. 



Do we not need a law in Iowa providing that the state will accept 

 and care for gifts of land for forest, plant and bird reservations, when 

 the land offered is found by competent authority to be suitable for such 

 purposes? 



We surely need a law providing for a permanent Conservation Com- 

 mission, the appointment which should be as far removed from politics 

 as possible. All the natural resources of the state, not under the juris- 

 diction of the fish and game warden, the forests, wild plants, lakes and 

 streams, noted or curious natural formations, etc., should be under the 



