

The Hand of Man 49 



town naturally introduces much abuse of the local flora. Children, using the 

 adjacent fields and by-ways as their natural playground in increasing numbers, 

 carry out an active campaign of destruction on all plant-life within reach. 

 Hedges are broken and trampled, more flowers are destroyed than picked ; 

 trees broken, rotten willows burnt out, aquatic vegetation damaged by sticks 

 and stones, become the general characteristic of the fringe of the inhabited 

 areas, together with a general devastation of attractive flowers wherever 

 available. Such mischief on the part of children is normal, and no one 

 grudges them the pleasure of picking nosegays of Buttercups and Daisies, 

 Caltha^Fritillaria^ Lychnis Flos-cuctdi, Cardamine pratensis, Bluebells, Prim- 

 roses, and Cowslips, or foraging for nuts and Blackberries, as these appear 

 in quantity, since there is enough for all : but adults who should know better, 

 with wider range, will equally devastate hedges and woodland, grabbing all 

 available specimens of rarer flowers of aesthetic value for alleged decorative 

 purposes, or expressing their delight at the return of spring-vegetation by 

 stripping all in sight, as if the supply were inexhaustible. Collectors also 

 show no compunction in taking any rare plant for their ' herbarium ' or 

 1 exchange ' ; hence rarities are ruled out of an ecological flora, however 

 interesting they may be as vestigial survivals. Indigent wastrels, again, 

 strip the countryside of flowers, fruits, and roots, as these may present some 

 slight commercial value (Fritillaria, Typha^ Fern-roots, Guelder-rose berries, 

 Spindle-tree, and even Phragmites). 



Everywhere within walking-distance of the town-area, general deteriora- 

 tion of the flora follows the effect of increasing population on cultivated 

 and enclosed land. Hedges are broken by picnic-parties in search of fuel, 

 and within recent times the holiday extension of Thursday afternoons has 

 had an effect which parallels that of the Saturday holiday of the children. 

 The extension of ' Summer-time ' has had a further noticeable effect on the 

 invasion of the countryside, and within the local district has emphasized the 

 destructive effect of the school summer-holidays. In such case it is not 

 surprising that the amount of agricultural and forest-land closed to the 

 public steadily increases. Hedges are liberally mended with barbed wire, 

 and notices bearing reference to the alleged fate of Trespassers meet one at 

 every turn. The wandering botanist is naturally mistaken for a tramp off the 

 beaten track, 1 or for an officious inspector of something or other. Hence 

 modern works on the flora can be eked out with floristic records of past ages, 

 now unavailable and useless : to give the locality for a rare or interesting plant 

 is to sign its death-warrant. As such changes are increasingly rapid in this 

 generation, a record may be useful for future reference. 



It may be admitted that the ever-increasing town-areas spread out as a 

 canker eating into the life of the countryside, that it is the natural instinct of 

 much of the human race to defile everything they come into contact with, to 

 destroy or enslave every other form of life, with only the blindest ideas of 

 improving their own. This is but the age-long story of natural selection and 

 the relation of the animal to the plant, the more obvious in a small district, 

 owing to the ruin and damage readily effected by a few unscrupulous or 

 ignorant agents, whose action, though deplored by their betters, remains un- 

 checked. Local areas are bought up to prevent exploitation at the hands 

 of the speculative builder, but the general public is ruled out or admitted 

 uncontrolled. Nature-sensitives admiring the beauties of the local flora are 

 not happy unless they can take away as much as they can carry with them ; 

 leaving behind in exchange ginger-beer bottles and orange-peel. Picnic-parties 

 also trample the undergrowth, damaging fences and lighting fires. These 

 restrictions are not confined to the district ; they represent the general tendency 

 of the age within all growing urban areas, and appear unavoidable. 



1 ' In hat of antique shape, and cloak of grey ', Matthew Arnold. 

 D 



