PLANT PROTECTION.* 



Of the numerous crusades that are being carried on 

 against the different evils that are recognised as rife 

 to-day, such as the killing of birds for plumage, the 

 inhumane slaughter of animals, the preservation of 

 ancient buildings, and so on, none are of more 

 importance than the one directed towards the 

 preservation of wild plants. 



The man in the street thinks, when he reads in the 

 press that a hawker has been fined for selling ferns 

 that have been carted wholesale from the woods and 

 lanes, that that is the only cause of the extermination 

 of beautiful wild flowers and ferns from the outskirts 

 of large towns, spots that, maybe, he has known in 

 his youth as a veritable paradise. 



But though this is a prevalent notion it is far 

 from being the truth, and, as everyone knows, a 

 half-truth is often worse than a lie. The publications 

 cited show that there are numerous and widespread 

 other causes at work, some, such as smoke, tree- 

 felling, golf-links — to mention only a few — equally 

 powerful in exterminating plants. Mr. Horwood has 

 collected information on a systematic plan from every 

 county in the British Isles, and is able to point to 

 some sixty causes at work in diminishing plants in 

 particular spots or exterminating them entirely. 



As Recorder of the Plant Protection Section of 

 the Selborne Society (with Dr. Rendle as Chairman, 

 and an influential Committee), Mr. Horwood describes 

 the work of that body already accomplished since 

 its formation in 1910. Not least in this direction is 

 the publication of the leaflets* issued to the public 

 and to schools, endeavouring to prevent over- 

 collecting owing to nature study, or by the public 

 in general. Fifty thousand leaflets were issued 

 alone to the schools. The object of the Section is 

 to create a public opinion in favour of a better treat- 

 ment of wild flowers. None will gainsay the need 

 of this. 



It is further desired to achieve certain definite 

 means of protecting plants or obtaining reservations 

 by the help of county councils, rural district councils, 

 landowners, and scientific societies. The last have 



recently been appealed to, and a fair measure of 

 success has apparently been obtained ; but it is 

 desirable that all societies should support so worthy 

 an object by the appointment of a corresponding 

 secretary to assist the Section in its work. In a 

 short notice of so important a matter as this it is 

 impossible to state, more than briefly, the ideals of 

 those who have set themselves the uphill task of 

 obtaining what in Prussia is known as State protec- 

 tion. To the few, probably, this would be distaste- 

 ful, as implying more officials and the intrusion of 

 bureaucratic methods in scientific affairs ; but without 

 the machinery of the State, in the absence of an active 

 and generous public support, there is apparently no 

 present medium for enforcing what is certainly the 

 public opinion in this matter — that is, a determination 

 to prohibit premeditated vandalism, or, what is as 

 bad, careless extermination from want of foresight 

 or knowledge. 



The general adoption by all county councils of 

 the principle of obtaining a local order for prohibit- 

 ing hawking on public highways would, we think, 

 come to much the same thing as a Wild Flowers 

 Protection Act, if, in addition, private lands could by 

 a consensus of assent on the part of all the great 

 landowners be protected by the framing of rules 

 relating to private property. 



In the meantime the work of this Section, which 

 Mr. Horwood describes, should have the support of 

 all who feel strongly about this matter. They can, 

 moreover, we may be permitted to say, by obtaining 

 copies of the leaflets cited, do much good in their 

 own districts in their own way by distributing them 

 and remonstrating on every possible occasion with 

 those who are guilty of vandalism. And there is 

 no doubt that any suggestions of a useful nature, 

 or actual cases of extinction or diminution coming 

 within the individual experience of readers of 

 " Knowledge," that may be sent to him will be 

 welcomed by the author of these cogent appeals 

 as additional evidence in support of this movement 

 for the public good. 



:t " The Protection of Wild Plants" (Selborne Society, Special Leaflet No. 1); "An Appeal to Nature Study Teachers" 

 (Ibid., Special Leaflet No. 2) ; " To the Public " (Ibid., Special Leaflet No. 3) ; " The Need for State Protection of 

 Wild Plants," Westminster Gazette, March, 1913; "The State Protection of Wild Plants," Science Progress, April, 

 1913; "The Preservation of our Wild Plants," School Nature Study, June, 1913. A. R. Horwood (Leicester 

 Museum), Recorder, Plant Protection Section, Selborne Society. 



t These can be obtained from the Secretary, 42, Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE PATH OF VESTA. 



To the Editors of " Knowledge." 



Sirs, — Professor Pickering, in an address to the British 



Astronomical Association, suggested last month that it would 



be an interesting and useful work for amateurs to trace the 



path of Vesta in the sky, and to compare its magnitude with those 

 of adjacent stars ; so we have made and verified a small map 

 (see Figure 355) with the path of the little planet for alternate 

 days in August, with all adjacent stars down to 7-5 magnitude. 

 The designation of star by number and zone is from the Harvard 

 Durchmusterung, and the magnitude of each is given in Tabic 



317 



