156 
pens, there is quite a floral development. I noted a small goose- 
pen — occupied by an African goose — where ten species of wild 
flowers were in bloom with promise of a succession during the 
summer ; no childish hands could reach them. 
o person —parent, teacher, or would-be philanthropist — 
has any right to bring to the Botanical Garden more children 
than he can control. Like weeds in a new soil, city children in 
country surroundings are liable to escape from cultivation and 
run wild. 
The ignorantly lawless include children, foreigners who cannot 
read ior and the lazy or indifferent who fail to read the 
posted notice 
Simpler se more frequent notices would vastly reduce the 
destructive work of the ignorantly lawless. After my conversa- 
tion with the woman who never reads a notice if she can help it, 
I proceeded to the main entrance to note the effect of the present 
notice upon the passing crowd. 
The notice reads as follows : 
NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 
Leaving paper, sarbage or rubbish of 
any kind, or breaking, picking or carry- 
ing branches, plants or flowers, either 
WILD OR CULTIVATED 
within these grounds are expressly 
PROHIBITED 
Under penalty of the law 
By order of the Board of Managers. 
It measures thirty by thirty-six inches ; the letters are yellow 
upon a dark green ground. It impressed me as a comprehensive, 
dignified and artistic notice, mimicking its environment of yellow- 
flowered Kerria in a natural and unobtrusive manner. I watched 
to see how it impressed the crowd; for ten minutes it did not 
impress the crowd at all. Then a little old lady stepped out from 
the ranks, put on her spectacles, and began to study the notice. 
