92 



have followed its publication, or whether the Boston public has 

 reached such a high degree of culture both moral and aesthetic 

 that no one makes an exception even of himself? 



But the climax has been reached in an advertisement which 

 has been printed in Rhodora, the Journal of the New England 

 Botanical Club, since May. It announces that on the Bangor 

 and Aroostook Railroad, there is to be had the "best botanizing 

 in the Eastern States," and proceeds to give the names of stations 

 and lists of rare plants to the length of two whole pages. We 

 ask with amazement, where did they get the information ? What 

 botanist sold his birthright for a few railroad passes ? For- 

 tunately, many of the plants listed are so rare that only the dis- 

 criminating and trained botanical specialist will be sure to find 

 them, and the general public will hunt a long time and not 

 know them when they see them. 



Mr. Redfield used to tell the story of Rafinesque that when he 

 first found Corona Conradii, he threw himself down upon it and 

 stretching out his arms, said "all that I cover is mine." It is 

 not always the most enlightened who are the most unselfish. 

 There have been botanists, even in the Torrey Club, who up- 

 rooted plants wantonly and made no good use of them after they 

 were picked. But the custom of carrying "tin trunks" has 

 been largely superseded by presses, and only a few duplicates 

 are now made of each species. 



The flora of Great Britain is, perhaps, the best known of any 

 in the world ; and there is more knowledge among the working 

 people of special and difficult branches of botany, probably than 

 in any other country, Germany not excepted. Dr. Braithwaite 

 told me that he had sold a great many copies of the British Moss- 

 flora to the Manchester weavers. 



But many of their rarest plants have been exterminated by 

 botanists, as shown by the following quotations taken from the 

 Journal of Botany for July : 



" The accuracy in general matters for which the Daily Mail has 

 long been conspicuous, extends to its botanical information. We 

 reproduce the most recent item in the hope that the publicity now 

 given to the methods of the ' professional botanist ' will cause him 

 to abstain from this nefarious means of adding to his income. 



" Four of the daintiest of English wild plants are rapidly dis- 



