134 
NATURE NOTES. 
As was mentioned in the last two numbers of Nature 
Notes, an Association for the Protection of Plants, having its 
head-quarters at Geneva, is doing a good work. This it does 
by discouraging as much as possible the collection of roots for 
the garden, and by supplying, on reasonable terms, plants and 
seeds which are not only far more likely to grow, but which 
have been raised in cultivation for the purpose. Since 1883 
this excellent Society, so kindred in spirit to our own, has been 
carrying on its work under the direction of M. Henri Correvon, 
its active and enthusiastic President. I was fortunate in finding 
him at home when I visited the garden of the Association, and 
had the pleasure of his company in a walk round the grounds. 
The garden is not very extensive, but contains many plants 
of interest, in addition to the tiny Alpines for the propagation 
of which it was established. Here we saw any quantity of little 
pots containing small but healthy specimens of Edelweiss and 
other treasures of the Alps ; and, while selecting from the 
extensive seed list, I chatted with M. Correvon about his Society 
and our own, and exchanged good washes for the prosperity of 
each. It was pleasant to learn that it was from the Selborne 
Society, whose leaflet v r as reproduced in the last “ Bulletin ” of 
the Association, that M. Correvon took the idea of issuing 
similar appeals. A translation of the Swiss Society’s leaflet is 
appended to this notice. 
The “ Bulletin ” of the Association is issued yearly, and 
contains interesting papers upon the work and the necessity 
which exists for it. To the issue for 1890 is appended a list of 
members, among whom I am glad to notice a large number of 
English names, including Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. William 
Robinson, Mr. J. G. Baker, Mr. Nicholson, Sir Trevor Law- 
rence, Mr. Wilson, and others. 
The annual subscription to the Association pour la Protec- 
tion des Plantes is only two shillings, and I hope that many of 
the readers of Nature Notes will forward this amount to 
the Treasurer, M. Louis Lang, 23, Glacis de Rive, Geneve. 
James Britten. 
The following is the leaflet referred to above : — 
“ Protect the Plants ! 
“A Spanish proverb says, ‘If you would understand the importance of 
plants, imagine a world without them, and the comparison will terrify you, 
because the idea of death will immediately arise.’ 
“ Friends of plants and flowers, have you ever reflected what our vegetable 
carpet would be if it were despoiled of the graceful corollas which adorn it ? 
Have you considered what our mountains would be if the flowery clusters which 
brighten their slopes were suppressed, if the pastures were flowerless, the rocks 
without verdure, the forests stripped of those myriads of stars which shine on the 
sombre surface of the ground ? Have you ever reflected that there are species of 
plants, rare or sought after for their beauty, which may disappear from the flora of 
a country in the same way that certain animals have disappeared from its fauna ; 
that the treasures of nature are not inexhaustible, and that, however slightly 
destruction exceeds reproduction, the species is threatened with extinction? 
