THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



23 



scarcely stop the destruction, for, as pointed out, a land 

 owner may do with his plants as he likes ; indeed, most of 

 the land on this planet is now held b^^ man for the plants 

 it produces or will produce. The trouble is not in securing 

 more laws, but in persuading land owners to enforce those 

 now in existence. If the owner of a woodland would ex- 

 change a bunch of arbutus for silver, who shall prevent 

 him ? Until he is made to feel that the plant is of more 

 real value than the money, the plants on his land will con- 

 tinue to be gathered. 



For every flower picked for a bouquet, ten thousand 

 are destroyed in the draining of swamps, the felling of 

 woodlands, or the bringing of other wild land under cul- 

 tivation. This cannot be helped and no time should be 

 wasted in lamenting it. If such lands happen to be the 

 home of rare species, an effort might be made to ensure 

 their preservation, but persuasion not force must be used. 



The foregoing has been presented, not to show that 

 the cause of plant protection is hopeless, but to point out 

 some lines along which efforts will be wasted. Recogniz- 

 ing the right of the individual to the plants upon the land 

 he owns, and recognizing also, the fact that he must often 

 destroy in his industrial operations the objects of our 

 solicitude, let us see what we have left that can be pro- 

 tected. First there are the country roadsides. At present, 

 country roads are in most parts annually "improved " by 

 cutting down all the wild things along the way. It would 

 be excellent to secure laws protecting these plants for cer- 

 tain distances from the property lines on both sides of the 

 road, the enforcement of which might well be left in the 

 hands of botanical clubs, municipal improvement societies, 

 park boards and the like. There are also thousands of 

 miles of sea-coast and river banks and lake shores which 

 should belong to the public and might be made into parks 

 of this kind and their plants carefully protected. There 

 are also many acres of land that are now parks in which 

 little protection is extended to the wild plants. Societies 

 for the protection of plants could first secure permission 



