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thoughtlessness which can be reached through the usual channels 
of popular education, the lecture, the newspaper, and the school. 
There is a right way and a wrong way to pick flowers. Many 
kinds if properly gathered can be picked continuously through- 
out the period of bloom without materially injuring the plants. 
Others must be picked sparingly, and some not at all. 
If rules something like the following were iterated and reiterated 
in the public prints with fairly complete lists of the local plants 
in each of the classes mentioned (for the composition of these 
lists would vary greatly in different localities), I believe it might 
do much to save our native wild flowers from needless and thought- 
less destruction, And we of the city might still enjoy our bouquet 
of wild flowers with a clear conscience. 
Flowers of any kind should not be gathered near walks or 
drives. They give the most pleasure to the most people in their 
natural situation and they are most exposed to injury from thought- 
less people and vandals. 
As little as possible of leaf or leaf-bearing shoot should be 
gathered with the flowers, and underground stems or roots should 
never be disturbed. The violation of this rule is responsible for 
much of the damage done the trailing arbutus. 
Rare or unusual flowers found near a city should not be gath- 
ered except for strictly scientific purposes. This of course does 
not apply to plants which are plainly weeds or introduced plants. 
n the case of annuals, flowers enough to furnish plenty of 
seeds for next year must be allowed to remain on the plants. 
Flowers with long stalks like water lilies and violets, which 
can be picked without injuring other portions of the plant, can 
usually be gathered freely with little danger of injury to the plants 
asa whole. It is well known to floriculturists that flower pro- 
duction is much less exhausting to the plant than the production 
of seeds and that to get the greatest yield of flowers the blooms 
must be picked as they open. This principle will apply to wild 
flowers as well as to those under cultivation. 
Experience, moreover, bears out this belief, for violets are 
gathered as freely as any of our wild flowers, yet they seem to 
thrive and increase even in the places where they are likely to be 
