Popular Studies of C_^forni}g Wild Flowers 125 



silence, an absence indicative of things that are no more, things that once 

 were in full battalion strength. Strange, if we were to amplify the story, 

 we should find that in both battles, man himself had been the most guilty 

 factor, the most sinister enemy of all forces combined. 



At this festive season, the behavior of this thoughtless and deadly ver- 

 tebrate in his "industry and ethics" towards certain types of wild life is_so 

 gruesomely active that it becomes a serious menace. The wanton destruction 

 and persistent pilfering of the berry-bearing shrubs is so much in evidence 

 that the woods are in danger of being despoiled of their claims and attrac- 

 tions, while their rightful dependents the birds are robbed of their food 

 supplies and vandalized of their home-lots and shelter. 



It is simply unpardonable to have truck and autocar loads of these 

 berries and branches stolen from our suburbs and foothills, season after 

 season, until many sections are absolutely destroyed, or so seriously injured 

 that several years of closed protection would be necessary to restore their 

 former productiveness. 



The intimate relationshp of these "berry-bearers" in their conservation 

 of bird life as an asset of urgent welfare to our agricultural and allied neces- 

 sities, is too imperatively associated to be ignored without manifest penalty. 

 It is high time that intelligent legislation be secured and utilized in the con- 

 servation and proper farming of these valuable shrubs. The present reck- 

 lessness is simply the death warrant to a native wild life that has State 

 claims of beauty; utility and service, which we should be loyal enough to 

 respect and intelligent and thrifty enough to utilize. 



Respectfully yours, 



FREDERICK W. D'EVLYN. 



An impressive editorial on this subject appeared in the San 

 Francisco Bulletin in December, 1919, from which I have extracted 

 the following paragraphs : 



Her wonderfully bright berries are the pride of the Golden State at this 

 time of the year. We write about them in books, magazine articles, tourist 

 advertisements and letters to friends in all parts of the world. Christmas in 

 California has been the theme of many beautiful poems, and in nearly all of 

 them you will find a glorification of far-famed Toyon berries. But soon, 

 very soon, we may have nothing but the poems left to tell the story of a 

 land once so beautiful at this season. The vandal who rides in an auto is 

 again abroad and taking not merely an armful, but branches and even whole 

 trees ; ... to the artist, a spray of berries is more effective than a 

 branch, while a whole tree is the very poster of vandalism and vulgarity. 

 Happily the Wild Flower Conservation League has the hope of securing 

 suitable legislation at the next session of the State Legislature, and among 

 its provisions there will be the power to arrest, fine and perhaps imprison 

 all persons guilty of wanton destruction of the crowning beauty of our 

 Christmas season. Certainly something should be done to curb those bar- 

 barians who destroy trees. 



I want to incorporate in this book an excerpt from a fine edi- 

 torial appearing in the San Francisco Call, last season : 



Christmas is coming; ... we have another reminder in -the bright 

 red berries the street florists sell, and the great branches of Madrone and 

 Toyon berries festooning the automobiles that come from the country. The 

 sight of these berries is pleasant. They symbolize Christmas to all of us; 

 . . . but lovers of the country are pained by the sight of these branches 

 of berries, particularly of the Toyon. They see beauty destroyed where it is 

 most charming. Both the commercial florists and the wandering motorist 

 rarely pick these berries carefully and considering the future. They tear 

 them down in great branches, carelessly and ruthlessly, and destroy the tree 

 when it would be almost as easy to pick them unselfishly and insure beautv 

 for another year. . . . Soon there will be no more berries at all to remind 

 us of Christmas. Even now there are great stretches of hills where once the 

 Toyon grew in abundance and now the berries cannot be found. 



