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trailing arbutus a rarity, and have altogether exterminated it 
in the vicinities of our eastern cities. The pretty cardinal flower 
is another victim; and still another, and the last one I will discuss 
here, is the charming arethusa, which is doomed to total extinc- 
tion in its wild state, because of the relentless war being waged 
against it by the “orchid hunters’ who sell its bulbs. 
I have given you but an inkling of the destruction of our most 
beautiful wild flowers by an ignorant public and a gold-greedy 
class of flower venders, for fear that, should I attempt.to portray 
to you anything like the real condition of affairs, I would soon 
tire you. Let it suffice to say that there are hardly any wild flow- 
ers, excepting the weeds, which have not suffered from these 
causes. How curious that the majority of the people show their 
appreciation of a flower’s charm by selfishly and ignorantly 
tearing it out! 
For years and years this wanton destruction of the most beauti- 
ful in nature has been going on without any signs of its ever 
abating. Must then the wild flowers be exterminated, as needs 
must happen if things continue in their present course, and with- 
out a dissenting voice? True, every now and then somebody 
in a position to know warned the nation of the inevitable exter- 
mination of the wild flowers, but he was quickly put down with 
cries of ‘‘pessimist.’’ Of late, however, there has been grow ing 
grow until it has accomplished its purpose and our most beauti- 
ful wild flowers have been saved. 
It is very well to say the wild flowers must be saved, but how? 
Before we attempt to consider the remedy, let us first discover 
the causes. One of the chief causes of the disappearance of the 
wild flowers is the class of people who depend on the money 
they can secure from the sale of those that they pick for their 
livelihood. Perhaps the best and only measure that can be used 
in this case is the enactment of a law forbidding the picking of 
wild flowers for business purposes. It has been urged against 
the possible enactment of such a law that it would deprive 
a multitude of men of their means of earning a livelihood; 
