EDITORIAL 



AA'e are often adjured by sentimentalists to "love the lily 

 and leaA'e it on its stalk" but it is hard to make such an idea go 

 doAvn with the urchin who reasons that to leave the flower on 

 its stalk is only to provide temptation for some other individual 

 and it therefore becomes his duty to remove both flower and 

 temptation at once. Everywhere in the vicinity of cities, the 

 showy wildflowers are sure to be harvested and the unselfish 

 individual who refrains from picking them may possibly be 

 buoyed up by the thought that by so doing he has given some- 

 body else the pleasure he might have had, but such thoughts are 

 not likely to bring much comfort to the averag-e flower gatherer. 

 The stubborn fact which is bound to obtrude itself into any 

 discussion of this subject is that so long as there is no law 

 expressly prohibiting the picking of flowers, it does little good 

 for a few people to agree not to pick them. Instead, therefore, 

 of teaching children not to pick flowers at all. it would be far 

 better to emphasize the fact that a bouquet cannot be valued 

 merely by its size, that a few flowers in a vase look better than 

 a large number and that a judicious selection of the best blooms 

 indicates taste and judgment and results in a bouquet that 

 will long outlast one picked without discrimination. If children 

 could be taught to select flowers with care they would leave 

 those that were past their prime and in consequence a much 

 larger number would be left to go to seed. One of the chief 

 dangers that threaten the wildflowers is due to the idea that if 

 a few flowers are good a larger number must be better. Adults 

 as well as children often pick more flowers than they can use 



