34 NATURE [Marcu 12, 1914 
learnt to know the difference between “the The main objects of the Society for the Pro- 
country’ and the “wilderness,” and have dis- 
covered the rare and over-powering charm of the 
latter. The “country,” with its manured fields, 
its well-trimmed hedges, and artificial barriers, 
its parks planted with foreign trees and shrubs, 
its roadways stinking of tar and petrol, and its 
streams converted into chemical drains or else 
into over-stocked fish-stews, is only rendered less 
repulsive than the town by the survival here and 
there of a pond or a copse or a bit of ancient 
moor-land (happily too swampy for golfers) where 
nature is still allowed to pursue her own way 
without the arrogant interference of that prodigi- 
ously shameless barbarian, the “civilised”? man. 
Who does not know the charm of the real 
wilderness—far from the madding crowd—still 
accessible, even in southern England, to those in 
the secret? It is perhaps most directly to be 
found on a sea-shore bounded by sand dunes and 
marsh lands, or overhung by rocky cliffs on the 
untamed summits of which strange plants and 
legendary birds still linger. It is the real and 
effective absence of the marplot man which gives 
its vast beauty and fascination to that world 
protected by the great sea which is exposed as 
the tides withdraw from the rocks and _ pools. 
Here the passionate lover of nature seeks the 
unparalleled joy of contact with her, unsullied 
by human trail. And he finds it, too, in the 
desolate marshes, the remote sand-wastes of our 
coasts and estuaries, as well as in tthe still- 
surviving moorlands of the north. Plants of 
many kinds, the insects which depend on them, 
and timid birds—all of which perish in the 
presence of civilised man—are still to be seen 
in these precious and adorable sanctuaries. Even 
an old-time pond, undisturbed by man’s improve- 
ments, is for the naturalist who can use the 
microscope a real “‘nature-reserve”’ full of the 
mystery and beauty of isolation. 
It is proposed to secure by purchase or gift 
the right to preserve from destruction in this 
country as much and as many as possible of 
the invaluable surviving haunts ‘of nature. A 
society has been formed for the promotion of 
nature reserves. It is in cooperation . with 
societies and individuals having a like purpose 
in other European countries and in other con- 
tinents, and has already sent representatives to 
an international conference recently held at Berne, 
which was attended by delegates from eighteen 
countries, and was the means of effecting an 
important exchange of views as to purposes and 
methods. The Speaker of the House of Commons 
is the president of the Society, Mr. Ogilvie Grant 
and the Hon. F. R. Henley are its secretaries. 
Its official address is ‘The Natural History 
Museum, Cromwell Road,” and on its council 
we find such influential public men as Sir Edward 
Grey, and Mr. L. V. Harcourt, the two Secre- 
taries of State, and many of our leading naturalists 
such as Profs. Bayley Balfour, J. B. Farmer, 
Edward Poulton, Sir..David Prain, Sir Francis 
Darwin, and the Hon. Charles Rothschild. 
NO: 235) SVOl. 103) 
motion of Nature Reserves, more explicitly 
stated, are “to collect and collate information 
as to areas of land in the United Kingdom which 
retain their primitive conditions; to obtain these 
areas, and to hand them over to the National 
Trust, and thus to preserve for posterity as a 
national possession some part, at least, of our 
native land, its fauna, flora, and geological 
features.” It is hoped that naturalists and lovers. 
of wild life in every district will keep a watchful 
eye on primitive and unspoilt tracts, and bring 
them to the notice of the society by writing to the 
secretary at Cromwell Road. Often such areas, 
if sought in good time, may be purchased at a low 
rate per acre; often local interest and public spirit 
as well as individual generosity, will facilitate the 
acquirement of the purchase-money, whilst ‘the 
National Trust”? has proved itself a capable 
guardian, and will accept the trusteeship of such 
“reserves” with the necessary conditions imposed 
by the Society as to the absolute preservation of 
their natural conditions. No doubt there may be 
some care needed in arranging for the occasional 
admission of visitors to these reserved lands so as 
to avoid the access to them of too large a con- 
course, or of persons who are merely bent on 
holiday frolics—no less than of those who, -actu- 
ated by the cupidity of the collector, would root 
out and destroy, under the false pretence of being 
naturalists and nature-lovers, all the rarer living 
things, as they have done in so many unprotected 
spots. 
Already a beginning has been made in England. 
A part of Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire has been 
acquired for the nation; also the shingle and salt- 
marshes of Blakeney in Norfolk. Near Oxford, 
too, there is a ‘‘ Ruskin Reserve.” 
In foreign countries the government has long 
been active in the way of establishing “reserves,” 
especially where, as in the United States, there 
are large tracts of uninhabited country. In Ger- 
many there is a department of State to control 
and assist in the preservation of nature, having a 
very large annual budget. There are already 
Ioo reserves in that country. The yew and the 
holly are protected in the Government forests, and 
none may be cut: whilst the service tree is also 
protected. In this country we have no depart- 
ment of forestry, no knowledge or practice of 
forestry, and we shall very soon have no forests. 
The incapacity and want of authority in this sub- 
ject which has been allowed to grow up in the 
British official world is lamentable, and was char- 
acteristically exhibited in the proceedings of the 
recent commission on Coast Erosion. 
In Germany military exercising grounds and 
rifle ranges are made into nature reserves so far 
as is possible and consistent with their military 
use. The same thing might be, and should be, 
done in this country. There is no Government 
department in this country which can either advise 
or control in such matters. Commons, when taken 
over by public authority for preservation, should 
i not be utterly drained of water and converted into 
