16 WILD FLOWER PRESERVATION 



such plants grow and develop from the tiny 

 seedlings greening the banks in spring into the 

 waving trails of summer foliage and the won- 

 der of flower and fruit. 



Many such amateurs may be town and city 

 dwellers, ignorant of the names of all but the 

 commonest flowers, yet eager to grasp every 

 chance of a few hours in the country ; to escape 

 from the din and strain of the streets into the 

 peace and the sweet air of flower-land ; eager, 

 too, to enter into the life of this glorious won- 

 derland. 



But some of you have been living in a world 

 of flowers for years, almost asleep to its loveli- 

 ness, its mystery and its joy. But in an idle 

 moment you peeped into the heart of a flower. 

 It "stabbed your spirit broad awake," and 

 ever since you have seen more of the world you 

 live in and have tried to learn something of the 

 miracles worked daily in the fence-rows and 

 by the common roadside. 



To all such readers I hope Wild Flower 

 Preservation will be a help and an inspiration, 

 not only through what you may learn from its 

 own pages, but because of the introductions it 



