156 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST’ 
edge can certainly be expected from a second survey, but its 
scope is confined to the common plants. Almost all of the rare 
plants will remain undiscovered. The place needing weekly 
visits for years can not reveal its secrets on the very day when 
the surveyor scans it. When writing this I have before me Public 
Document No. 45 with a report of a survey from Williams County. 
This gives 236 as a total of plants found. There is no doubt in 
my mind that at least twice this number could easily be col- 
lected within the area, and at the same time that there is no 
neglect on the part of the botanist. Wherever he went, he cer- 
tainly collected all there was to collect. Another striking fact is, 
that out of these 236 species all but 23 (7. e., 90 per cent) are 
common plants in' my home corner, 200 miles to the east of 
Williams County, and to an overwhelmingly large extent prob- 
ably in almost all the other parts of the state. A home botanist 
with an ordinary imagination would no doubt be able to make 
out a correct list of plants growing inside of any county not visited 
by him, with the exception of the rare or comparatively rare 
plants, of course. I would predict, that a majority of the 700 
undiscovered plants would remain hidden for 100 years to the 
botanist-surveyor! I have learned, that this survey has not been 
at work recently. 
It is surprising to me that so few people of means turn their 
‘attentions to the accumulation of botanical objects with their 
unlimited multiplicity, in place of storing buttons, canes, smoking 
pipes, stamps, etc. There are few things if any, so beautiful, 
so fascinating as an artfully preserved herbarium plant. To 
the true botanist the joy of collecting surpasses all other joys. 
The rich man can use his time as he pleases and could easily 
amass in one year a plant wealth larger than another mortal could 
accumulate in a lifetime. Is there any prospect that it would 
arise in this state a rich man turning his mind to the wild-flowers 
and taking up the task of trying to find those 700 plants unrevealed 
yet to all? 
At the present there is, if I am not incorrectly informed, no 
field work done within the state, except by Prof. O. A. Stevens, 
representing the Agricultural College, by Dr. J. F. Brenckle of 
Kulm, N. Dak., whose excellent work in mycology, made public 
in his Fungi Dakotenses, can not be overestimated, and by the 
writer. Prof. Stevens, having enjoyed the liberty of choosing 
Pa 
