99 



Already violets, orchids, May aj)ples, l>loodrof)1, jacks in the 

 pulpit, spring beauties, arj)utus, colunihine, and many other 

 flowers which once were plentiful niiisl iiave i)n;tection or they 

 will be? as rare as i)rairie chicken in these parts. 



Already people who see what the destruction is are endeavoring 

 to restock the woods and fields, where it is possible to keep them 

 under scrutiny. If the damage were being done by people to 

 whom considerateness is unnalurjil, the case might be hopeless 

 except so far as fences and threats of prosecution might deter, 

 but the enemies of the wild flowers are really their misguided 

 friends. 



They do not know that indiscriminate picking prevents the 

 flower from continuing its kind. Regions in which once fringed 

 gentians and speckled tiger lilies were numerous now present 

 them as rare phenomena. The country hereabouts will lose half 

 the charm of its spring invitation unless the destroyers of flowers 

 have their attention called to the destructiveness of their fond- 

 ness. (From an editorial in the Chicago Tribune, i8 April, 1915.) 



The following is from the Rome correspondent of the London 

 Daily Chronicle: "Whence does Germany get the special sub- 

 stance used for the manufacture of the lachrymatory and 

 asphyxiating gases? Sicilian correspondents recount that an 

 Italian business man, who has returned to Syracuse after a long 

 sojourn in Venezuela, has cleared up the mystery. ' In many 

 regions in that country,' says the traveler, 'there grows in 

 abundance a species of seed in form and color like oats, and 

 locally known as sabadilla, which, when stored, emits a piquant 

 smell so strong as to cause the eyes to water copiously*, besides 

 making breathing very painful. Sometime before the war 

 Germany began ordering huge quantities of these seeds, which 

 till then had no export sale at all. For a long time neither the 

 bands of natives employed in the new industry of sabadilla 

 gathering, nor the forwarding agents themselves, could discover 

 the uses to w^hich this merchandise was being put, and the matter 

 remained one of eager speculation. Lately, how^ever, the secret 

 leaked out.'" The plant from which these seeds come is Asagraea 



