66 TREES AND FLOWERS OF 



the State; in a third, steel mills are wiping out a whole 

 sector of sand dunes to feed their smelters. Worst of all, 

 however, are the depredations of misguided folk who carry 

 home automobile loads of flowering branches, or dig up wild 

 flowers to plant in their back yards, where the poor things 

 generally die because of unsuitable conditions or even through 

 sheer neglect. Indeed, a considerable commercial traffic In 

 wild plants has grown up to satisfy this mistaken feeling, 

 which is rapidly pushing such exquisite plants as the trailing 

 arbutus, the moccasin flower and the fringed gentian to ex- 

 tinction. 



To such a pass have things come in some localities, that 

 laws have been placed on the books protecting wild flowers, 

 just as we have laws for the protection of game birds and 

 animals. Vermont was the leader in this movement, with 

 a protected list of several scores of her threatened flowers 

 and ferns, the collection is now wholly prohibited, except In 

 very small numbers for scientific purposes. Another means 

 for saving remnants of natural vegetation has been the es- 

 tablishment of wild-flower sanctuaries, which have usually 

 taken the form of state parks, because fortunately the rarest 

 plants usually occur in regions of unusual scenic value. In 

 this direction the prosaic prairie state of Iowa has taken the 

 leadership, closely followed by little, factory-crowded Con- 

 necticut. The development of state forests, as in New York 

 and Pennsylvania, has been a great indirect help in the 

 movement for saving some part of our wild flowers for the 

 pleasure and instruction of our children. 



Thus in a few places at least the people have acted to 

 keep for themselves a little of the poetic "sweetening" that 

 makes the prosaic bread-and-butter of daily existence "go 

 down easier" and there is good hope that the example will 

 be followed elsewhere. It is not a thing that does itself 

 automatically; some one is needed in each community to 

 take the lead, but once a start is made public opinion builds 

 itself surprisingly rapidly, and in the end the results are 

 always worth the effort. 



