48 
to get back to this Golden State. It is not a golden 
state to me from the standpoint of the mining in the 
mountains, but from the flowers. I am now giving all my 
spare time to those beautiful plants, the Lupines. It has 
encouraged me so far to give up college work and go into 
high school work so as to have longer vacations in which 
to study the genus in which I am specializing.” 
‘ ‘During the great war,” said the Toastmaster, “you 
will remember we heard a great deal about flowers that 
grew on the battlefields in France and Belgium. We have 
with us here a member from Belgium, Miss Scouvert, 
who is going to tell us about them. ’ ’ 
“Will you imagine,” said Miss Scouvert, “that you 
are walking with me from the seashore towards the 
country at right angles from the shore. We walk on a 
very bright sand, nearly white, and we have before us a 
range of dunes. These dunes are of moving sand. As our 
distance from the shore increases we see more and more 
dunes covered with various flowers, mosses and lichens. 
There is a moss which makes dark spots when dry and 
turns a beautiful bright green after rain. Some of the 
fixed dunes wear a cover of grass and can be used for 
pasture. Everywhere under the sand is a continuous 
layer of impervious clay that is very near the surface 
in the flat areas between the dunes. These areas are very 
wet and the plants are quite different from those found 
in the dry sand. These large areas are called pannes. 
Some pannes are more wet than others and there the 
plants grow a little higher and some in a beautiful sym- 
phony of color. Some extended pannes have been used 
for planting potatoes and rye. 
“The flat country beyond the dunes is, to my knowl- 
edge, special only to Belgium and to Holland. The level 
of the ground there is below the level of the high tides 
and must therefore be protected from inundation. In the 
polders the meadows and fields are separated by rows of 
trees — poplars and willows. These trees are pollarded 
every six or seven years and give the country its pecu- 
liar appearance. 
i 4 When we approach Ypres the aspect of the country 
changes. There is more variety. The soil belongs to 
quite different geological strata. It is still rich and 
composed of sand and clay, but we see here more trees 
and hills which is different from what we have seen 
before. The most beautiful wood was the Hothulst wood, 
There I picked one of the most lovely bouquets I have 
ever seen. It was a big bunch of heather and gentian. 
“I appreciate very much the cordiality with which 
Dr. Jepson and all the members of the Botanical Society 
have received me. I wish they could have enjoyed as 
much as I did the trips of the Extension Division of the 
University of Brussels. All the pictures which I have 
shown belong to the large work, 'Aspect de la Vegetation 
en Belgique,’ by T. Massart and I. Bommer. ” 
( Concluded in next issue ) 
