1 66 THE YOUNG NATURALIST. [September 



ing result was highly satisfactory. The search for the specimens could 

 not be otherwise than interesting and healthful, sharpening the obser- 

 vation and leading up to that quickened sense of preceptions that 

 discuss ultimately the beauty and significance of the external world. 

 The education and ennobling influence of such pursuits in a colliery 

 district cannot be too highly estimated. 



The idea of this flower collection competition is due to the ener- 

 getic Viewer of Messrs Pease's model collieries at Waterhouses and 

 Esh New Winning, J. G. Crofton, Esq., under whose able manage- 

 ment the Flower Show at Waterhouses is rapidly attaining a first-class 

 position as a Fete day for the surrounding district. 



The resources of Flower Shows for inspiring a love of Natural 

 History have not yet been fully developed. Why should not prizes be 

 given for the best collection of insects found in the district of the Show, 

 as insects and flowers are so closely associated in nature. The com- 

 petition for wild flowers might by a systematic effort be made to enlist 

 a very great number of young people. Let prizes "be given for the 

 best collection of British Plants, scientifically named, and open to all 

 comers. Let other prizes be given for the best collection of county 

 flowers open to all. Another prize for flow T ers collected within 5 or 6 

 miles of the show, to be competed for by the children of working men, 

 who might also compete for the best collection of grasses and mosses 

 of the locality, and another collection might be be made of rushes and 

 sedges. Again on the Art side, prizes might be given for the best 

 arrangements of wild flowers, of grasses, of rushes, &c, for decorative 

 purposes. 



The advantage of a little botanical knowledge is well set forth in an 

 old number of the ' Phytologist,' where it is stated that the crew of one 

 of our men of war was decimated with scurvy, but the surgeon of the 

 ship being ignorant of the properties of the plants on the adjacent 

 coasts, would not allow the crew to eat any plant except grass. If he 

 had known that all cruciferous plants were wholesome, and many of 

 them anti-scorbutic, it would not have been necessary for the unfor- 

 tunate seamen to enact the role of Nebuchadnezzar, who ate grass like 

 an ox. 



Durham, August, 1890. 



