42 
regulations governing their disposition have been most prominent. 
Beyond restrictions regarding forests and a relatively few plants 
of economic importance, plants as they occur in nature were, and 
are even at the present day, looked upon largely as common 
property. It is thus seen to be difficult, indeed impossible, to 
estimate the impress that these countless generations of license 
have left on the present generation. To stem the tide seems 
well nigh impossible, but as certain of our more delicate or 
showy plants seem on the verge of extinction, as the result of 
thoughtless, not to say wanton, destruction, it would seem that 
the time had come when steps must be taken before they are 
numbered with the relics of the past. The problem is how this 
end may be accomplished. 
As already suggested it is practically only those plants and 
animals that enjoy a real or fancied economic importance that 
have been the objects of protective enactment, and even in this 
respect laws for the protection of plants have lagged far behind 
those safeguarding animals. More or less rigid laws have-been 
in force in England for several centuries, having as their object 
the protection of the so-called game mammals and game birds. 
hen America was first settled by European races, game of all 
kinds was found so abundant that its supply seemed inexhaust- 
ible, and it is only within the past two or three decades that the 
public conscience has been awakened to the danger of its total ex- 
termination, and as a result of this awakening every state and 
territory in this country now has, for the most part, a carefully 
drawn game law, and within the past year we have had the first 
effective national legislation—the so-called Lacey act—which 
makes the transportation of game of all kinds, or birds used for 
decorative purposes, from one state to another, a crime against 
the United States. 
Parallel with this in large measure is the case of our forests. 
This country is so vast and the forest area was so enormous that 
the supply seemed illimitable. But wise heads long ago foresaw 
the parallel between this country and the various European states 
regarding forest denudation and sought to stay the tide of de- 
struction. But it was only when the actual end was in sight that 
