752 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



away must be taken from private property. Something may be done to hinder 

 the traffic if those in sympathy with plant-protection refuse to buy any wild 

 tiowers in the streets or to purchase them from those who advertise them. As 

 time goes on, no doubt the nurserymen will find that it will pay them to culti- 

 vate wild flowers, at any rate in order to dispose of the plants. 



The last of the main causes is collecting. There is the indiscriminate col- 

 lection by the lover of wild tiowers, who likes to get temporary pleasure at the 

 expense of those who come after; the children who pick showy tiowers care- 

 lessly, and thus often decimate some struggling species. There is also the 

 scientific collector who is greedy, or cannot resist the temptation of securing 

 specimens when it would be advisable to take none at all. Of course, it is 

 very often difficult in this respect not to have one rule for yourself and another 

 for other people, and I have heard a statement made that a botanist who has 

 been a strong advocate of plant-protection helped himself in one case so 

 lavishly to a rare plant, that it was never seen again. Surely it should be 

 possible at this stage to discredit people who destroy rarities, by introducing 

 some rule into the societies to which they belong, but, unfortunately, there is 

 no general biological council that will determine how naturalists shall behave 

 and keep them in order, as is done by the associations which look after the 

 doctors and solicitors. 



Of the twenty-eight minor causes set out by Mr. Horwood, most may be of 

 importance in special localities and under particular circumstances. One or 

 two are of general interest, such as the burning of furze and heather, which 

 is often done by keepers to prevent pheasants from straying on to common 

 land, and the clearing out of ditches, or cutting down of hedges, which is 

 often carried out to an unnecessary extent. These are among the causes that, 

 with trouble, might be lessened as time goes on, but if much is to be done in 

 the way of plant-protection some organisation must take the matter in hand. 

 I may say at once, that one already exists which may be able to do so effi- 

 ciently. As the result of Mr. Horwood's paper to the South-Eastern Union, 

 the Council of that body approached the Selborne Society, which by the issue 

 of leaflets and in other ways has for the last quarter of a century been quietly 

 urging the public to protect animals and plants as well as places of natural 

 beauty and historic interest. The results of its work may be measured in 

 some directions by- what other societies have done which have followed its 

 example, except that they have directed the whole of their energies to one 

 object. 



Plant-protection, except by Local Societies, has been left to the Selborne 

 Society, and quite recently a special section has been appointed to deal with 

 the matter in a militant way, but it will not be able to do much unless it 

 gets the cordial co-operation of naturalists all over the country, of the Press, 

 of the schoolmasters, and of the clergy and landowners, and I take this oppor- 

 tunity of reading a few paragraphs drawn up in the way of a report as to the 

 means which should be taken to the end in view : — 



' We are quite satisfied as to the need for plant protection, and we have the 

 support of a number of eminent naturalists. The first step to be taken is to 

 influence public opinion on the subject of the wholesale destruction of wild 

 plants with a view — 



' (1) To persuading other county and borough councils to follow the lead of 

 those of Devon, Essex, and Surrey, who have applied for local orders for pre- 

 serving wild flowers, though apparently they only refer to road-sides and public 

 places under the jurisdiction of the Council. 



' (2) To obtaining further powers for the county councils with reference to 

 the grubbing up of plants on private grounds. 



' (3) To introducing a Bill on the subject into Parliament on the lines of the 

 one drawn up by Professor Boulger; Lord Avebury being of opinion that the 

 time is ripe for such a measure. 



' f t is suggested that opinion should be influenced by appealing to the Press, 

 by correspondence with the natural history societies and the clergy in country 

 towns and villages throughout the country, and by the distribution of litera- 

 ture as well as by the giving of lectures and the publication of reports detailing 

 the extent of extinction in each county. 



