INTRODUCTION 15 
touch it and always be on the lookout for it. It 
has three leaflets to each leaf while the common 
woodbine or Virginia Creeper, which is not a 
poisonous plant, has five leaflets. 
And one more point all should bear in mind. 
Many of these wild flowers are much scarcer 
now than they used to be, because people have 
pulled them up so ruthlessly, forgetting that others 
who were to some later would care to see them 
and love them. So let us all be careful to pick 
but few of them, learning to enjoy their beauty 
as they grow and leaving them to develop seed 
for the next year’s plants. 
You will want to illustrate your wild flower 
booklets by careful drawings of the flowers. In 
general these drawings may be made by means 
of a well-sharpened lead pencil, interpreting 
through the pencil point the delicate lines of 
growth shown in stem, leaf, and flower. See 
how carefully you can make these drawings and 
try to get the proportions of the various parts as 
nearly like those of the plants as possible. In- 
stead of the black lead pencil, colored crayons 
may often be used to advantage, and if you have 
sets of water colors you can get very attractive 
illustrations by making careful outline drawings 
with a lead pencil and then filling in with water 
colors. Good drawings may also be made by 
means of pen and ink. 
