4 i2 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



who are frequently not satisfied with a specimen 

 flower, or even plant, but who greedily tear up all 

 they see, flowers, roots, and all. The best fate 

 which can befall their hapless spoils is to linger 

 out a miserable existence in some sunless suburban 

 garden. Far too frequently are they discarded 

 ere they have faded. It is not so many years 

 ago that the fritillaria, meadow snowflake, grass 

 of Parnassus, and yellow loosestrife, flourished in 

 the neighbourhood of Oxford. The first and last 

 named may still be found in the water-meadows of 

 the Cherwell, though sadly reduced in number, 

 and they bid fair to become altogether exter- 

 minated ere many years have passed ; but I much 

 doubt if the most scrutinizing search would dis- 

 cover a single specimen of the other two beautiful 

 flowers in that part of the county. A rapid in- 

 crease of the population has occasioned a corre- 

 spondingly rapid decrease of wild-flowers in the 

 district. The case ought to be reversed. It is 

 the wanton waste of wild-flowers which is so 

 grievous ; and yet no steps are taken to prevent 

 it. The same deplorable custom prevails in the 

 vicinity of all our large towns and popular holi- 

 day resorts. Nothing escapes the rapacity of the 

 Graball class, who annex everything they see lest 

 others should do the same. 



Many of our commoner wild-flowers, frequently 

 unheeded because they are common, are the most 

 beautiful. The cow parsley grows in profusion in 

 well-nigh every hedge. Surely none of our wild- 



