22 
NATURE NOTES 
wait until I saw his master upon the matter, which I did, with the result that the 
boughs were saved. The owners of the two different properties on which these 
farms are situated are both ladies living in other parts of England, who, doubtless, 
are ignorant of, or indifferent to, the matter. Can any Selbornian suggest a 
remedy ?” 
A Pathetic Appeal. — The pupils of the School for the Blind 
at Woluwe St. Lambert, have appealed to the Belgian Chamber 
of Representatives and the Senate to interdict by law the bar- 
barous custom of blinding finches and linnets to make them 
sing better. The reqtiest, which is couched in touching terms, 
describing the horrors of blindness as experienced by the 
petitioners themselves, is written with the writing system for 
the blind, in relief type .- — Daily Mail. 
A Garden of Wild Flowers. — In view of the interest 
which the Selborne Society has always taken in the work of 
M. Correvon, at Geneva, and the attention which it is now 
paying to the question of protecting our own English flora, 
considerable importance will undoubtedly be attached to the 
following letter which we have received from Mr. Philip 
Cochrane, of 13, Marlowe Road, Anerley, S.E. There may 
be a difference of opinion as to the practice of attempting to 
re-introduce what are presumed to be the same species of plants 
into districts in which they are supposed to have become extinct; 
but there is none as to the preferability of the proposed system 
of cultivating rare species to that collecting which endangers 
their existence. From photographs Mr. Cochrane sends us, the 
little garden he has created appears certainly well worth a visit 
a little later in the year. 
“No doubt many members of the Selborne Society will be surprised and 
perhaps delighted to hear that a garden for wild plants, with any pretensions 
as regards completeness, exists. I have not heard of one where more 
than a few of these are grown, nor of any other devoted to them exclusively. I 
think such a garden supplies a real want, as such of these plants as are uncommon 
or rare are likely in time to become much more so, or even extinct, as far as the 
British Islands are concerned. A collection of these where seeds may be 
saved and plants rai.sed for distribution to localities where they have been 
known to (lourish but are now becoming scarce, seems to me very desirable, 
so that our rich native flora shall suffer no diminution as regards number of 
species. And further, if their requirements can be met, rare plants, which would 
require a long journey to obtain, may here be seen and specimens procured, as 
well as the names of the commoner species accurately asceitained. 
This garden can be reached from London by the Catford or Catford Bridge 
stations of the S. E. and C. Railway, thence by omnibus (or about fifteen 
minutes’ walk) to Castlands Road, I’eiry Hill, in which it is situated. I com- 
menced laying it out in March, 1899, and have prepared suitable habitats by 
forming pools, rockeries and rooteries ; a peat and a clay fresh-water marsh ; a 
sand and a clay salt marsh ; peat, chalk, and sand mounds ; beds and borders ; 
rustic arches, &c. It now contains about 700 species, labelled first with their 
English name, then the Latin name, and the Natural Order, thus affording a 
source of instruction and recreation to all who can avail themselves of it. 
“ But this collection cannot be completed and maintained without the assistance 
of a certain number of subscribers of a small sum, namely, 5s. annually. In 
response to an appeal which has lately been made for too annual subscribers, 73 
subscriptions of 5s. have been sent or promised, and the remainder are urgently 
