r 
It is the intention of the publishers of this magazine 
to send extra copies of each number to all writers of 
articles and notes appearing therein. If by any chance a 
writer is overlooked we shall be glad to have our atten- 
tion called to the fact. If your contribution is only a 
short note, w^e shall be glad to send you extras for your 
friends if you w^ant them. 
It cannot be denied that there is a pleasure in collect- 
ing plants and making an herbarium that can be obtained 
in no other way. The plants ot the greater part of the 
United States are now fairly well known and the large 
herbariums are so well supplied with our common species 
that no more are desired, and yet we continue to collect 
these common plants and to enjoy the labor. Most of us 
have a more or less sharply developed instinct for collect- 
ing something and if w^e must collect, what appeals more 
to us than the flowers ? It is probable that every nature 
lover is better off for the making of an herbarium if he 
does not become a slave to the collecting habit. There 
are some private herbariums that are of great value to 
their owners but to many others the plants they amass 
are scarcely more valuable than so much hay. It all 
depends upon whether one makes such a collection for use 
or to satisfy the collecting instinct. Unless you are a 
systematic botanist, interested in a comparison of the 
differences between species, we maintain that every plant 
added to your herbarium by exchange is in some measure 
a loss. Every specimen accumulated by the true collector 
should be collected by himself ; to allow someone else to 
collect it for him is to deprive himself of that much 
pleasure. To be sure such a collection will not grow as 
fast as others but the pleasure of making it will last longer 
while the species not yet included in it will stand as so 
many reasons for further excursions into new regions 
which bring with them all the delights of discovery. 
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