SOMETHING MORE OR LESS ABOUT DAFFODILS. 



no 



theft, whichever word you like to use. Some of them are 

 thrown away by the robber because they look dead or are too 

 much trouble to carry home, while others are planted where they 

 have not the slightest chance of living. Few survive their ill- 

 treatment. In other places, nearer large centres of population, 

 sturdy beggars dig up Fern and flower roots to fill cheap wire- 

 baskets, which they sell at an*enormous profit, earning an easy 

 livelihood without work. And if this happens at home, people 

 may guess what happens in other countries. I suppose that land- 

 lords in Spain, France, Switzerland, and Italy love their wild 

 flowers as much as we do in England, and yet I believe many 

 a person who reviles the tourist who steals the Parsley Fern 

 from Snowdon, and who would imprison the tramp who steals the 

 Primrose roots from his hedgerow or his coppice, would poach 

 with an easy conscience the rare Narcissus from the hillside of a 

 foreign proprietor. I think that plant-collectors at home and 

 abroad should be compelled to have a licence like a game licence, 

 and, like that, it should*not protect them when trespassing. If 

 the propagation of rare species were the work of the market gar- 

 dener instead of the collection of a beefeating plunderer, it 

 would be better for the world in general. I should like to see 

 the old rule as to English feasting applied to many other things. 

 Enjoy as much as you can, but do not pocket anything. There is 

 a vast difference between the collection of plants in a tropical 

 jungle, which belongs to no one in particular, and the removal of 

 them in a civilised country from ground which is the recognised 

 property of someone. 



THE FLOEIST'S TULIP. 



By the Rev. Francis D. Horner, M.A. 



[Bead April 19, 1892.] 



The last paper upon a florist flower — the Auricula — which I 

 had the privilege to read at a meeting of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, received from illustrious quarters in the horti- 

 cultural press the distinction of being considered sermonlike. It 

 also took a line that was narrow, and set forth views that were 

 cramped. This mild and balmy criticism affected me so deeply 



