CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 751 



Gf reservations of considerable area, so far as possible, left in their natural 

 •State, where plants generally may nourish ; and the special protection of small 

 enclosures in which rare or local species may grow undisturbed, and, at the 

 same time, some of the showy and striking of our commoner plants find a sanc- 

 tuary until such time as legislation and public opinion may permit of their 

 remaining undisturbed in unguarded places. 



It has always seemed to me that a number of landowners would only be too 

 glad to help in the matter if a movement in its favour became general, and 

 there already exists a large number of open spaces which have never been 

 Common Lands, on part of which it would be easily possible to make the small 

 enclosures suggested. I may here add that some little time ago I had a con- 

 versation with Mr. Nigel Bond, when he was Secretary of the National Trust, 

 and more recently with Sir Robert Hunter, Chairman of the Executive 

 Committee, and l" am authorised to say that the National Trust would be 

 willing to consider the suggestion in connection with many of their properties. 



It is, however, likely that the authorities responsible for open spaces would 

 not have funds at their disposal which they could spend on fencing and keepers, 

 but special subscriptions might be raised generally or locally, and it might be 

 found possible to grow such impenetrable hedges round the chosen spots that 

 in course of time little attention would be needed. 



The next causes come under the heading ' Industrial.' Smoke and injurious 

 gases, for general as well as special reasons, are being dealt with by smoke- 

 abatement societies, and it might be possible to strengthen their hands. The 

 putting up of buildings may be taken for all practical purposes as meaning 

 the entire destruction of the local flora on the spots concerned, whereas agri- 

 cultural operations only damage it, and this reminds one of the fact that with 

 towns come municipal bodies, which do not always recognise that it may not be 

 necessary nor advisable for the whole of every open space to be converted into 

 a park or recreation-ground, and made into a flat field or a series of gravel- 

 paths and flower-beds. It is too often the case that as soon as a district or other 

 council obtains possession of a piece of land they begin to fill in all the ponds, 

 p]atn little patches of trees, and put up a bandstand in a position where it 

 cannot but be an eyesore. 



Mr. Horwood's next heading is that of Sport. He urges that the formation 

 of golf-links, cricket-pitches, and race-courses has often destroyed the habitat 

 of some rare flowering plant, moss, or lichen. At the same time, it must be 

 remembered that if it were not for sports many of the spaces which remain open 

 would have been covered with houses before now. In cases where open spaces 

 are about to be used for purposes of games, it should surely be possible for 

 properly organised scientific opinion to make itself felt, and if it is known 

 that rare plants are restricted to a small area, this knowledge should have suffi- 

 cient weight to prevent any cricket-pitch or putting-green being made on that 

 habitat. It seems strange that the educated people in a small place should 

 have less to say in the matter of its amenities than those who are presumably 

 less cultured. 



The next cause of extermination is the plucking of flowers and the digging 

 up of plants by hawkers who sell them in the streets, and by other gatherers 

 who dispose of the roots to dealers or to private persons. 



This would not go on if there were not a demand for wild plants, and if the 

 taste of the public had not improved so far as to prefer the natural blossoms 

 of the wayside to the cultivated and often monstrous flowers of the garden, but 

 if things go on as they are, there will soon be no wild flowers to admire. There 

 is no doubt but that legislation is the only thing which will lessen the evil, 

 though it may not cure it altogether. Several county councils have already 

 passed by-laws on the subject. 



At the request of certain parish councils the Kent County Council has been 

 taking steps to pass a similar by-law, but the Home Secretary has delayed the 

 matter by asking for further information. 



These by-laws refer only to roads, commons, and other public places, as 

 the councils have no jurisdiction over private property. At present the owners 

 have no power to prevent wild plants from being removed from their land, and 

 it is certain that most of the ferns and many other plants which are carried 



