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PARK AND CEMETERY 
lection in the United States, although his collection 
is of recent date. We find many rare trees in the 
ground set aside for this collection and at other points 
in the park. Unfortunately I did not note down all 
of the coniferje I saw there in a recent visit, but re- 
member to have seen the following ; The natives of 
the Pacific coast, that wonderful country for conifers, 
include Abies grandis, A. concolor, A. amabilis, A. 
nobilis, Pinus contorta, P. Coulteri, P. flexis, P. I're- 
montiana, P. insignia, P. Lambertiana, _P. Wuricata, 
P. ponderosa, P. Sabiniana, Picea Menziesi, P. pun- 
gens, Thuya gigantea, Tsuga iXIertensiana, Libodedrus 
decurrens, Sec[uoia gigantea, and Sequoia semper- 
virens, Pseudotsuga Douglasii. Among the conifers 
foreign to the coast were : Abies balsamae, A. firma, 
A. cephalonica, x\. Nordmanniana, A. pectinata, ik. 
Pindrow, A. pinsapo, A. polita, A. Alcoquiana, Picea 
alba, P. Engelmanni, 1 ’. excelsa, P. orientalis, Picea 
nigra, P. Smithiana, Pinus Austriaca, P. cembra, .P. 
densiflora, P. excelsa, P. Mughus, P. Halepensis, P. 
pinaster, P. pinea, P. strobus, P. sylvestris. Thuya 
Americana and a number of varieties of same. A 
number of Juniperus and Cryptomerias. The beauti- 
A Plea for Otir 
Champions of bird and beast came none too soon, 
and the ruthless destruction of bison on the plains and 
birds in the woodland is now being atoned for by 
sympathetic and intelligent protection ; yet it is to be 
deplored that this protection comes still slowly in 
many places. Forestry preserves, either under the 
protection of the nation or the state, are fast increas- 
ing in numbers, though the importance of preserving 
the smaller members of our American flora is as yet 
little appreciated. 
America is rich in wild flowers, flowers that are 
to strangers marvels of beauty. Familiarity alone 
renders us only partially sensible to their charms. 
The exquisite modesty and grace of the vernal blos- 
som give way in time to summer’s more pronounced 
types, while the glow of autumn is seldom equalled 
and never surpassed in any foreign landscape. 
But encroachments are being made on all sides, 
and the protection of park and private grounds are 
alike needed. A general appreciation of the beauty 
of the endangered flora is necessary, and a suitable 
home of individuals fastidious in taste is highly es- 
sential. Intelligent private culture will in many in- 
stances prove satisfactory ; but in the park, with its 
diverse resources and scientific management must rest 
the main hope for a perpetuation of the species. 
The plow is constantly encroaching, and this 
builder of agricultural industry becomes in manv in- 
stances an iconoclast to the scientist or lover of nature. 
If some of the upturned roots or bulbs were carefully 
transferred to an adjacent fence row they might there 
serve to brighten the spot. Within the memorv of the 
ful umbrella pine of Japan, Sciadopitys verticillata, 
Arancaria Bidwillii, A. brasilensis, A. excelsa, A. im- 
bricata, Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana, and Retinosporas 
in variety. A great many of these conifers are now 
large trees. The coast species make a much more 
rapid growth than the natives of the eastern part of 
America or Europe. The eastern varieties do not 
grow any faster there than in their native habitat. I 
have raised seedlings from eastern species, European 
species and native California species and found the 
above to be true. Norw'ay spruce and white pine, two 
of the most rapid growers of Europe and eastern 
America, were 4 to 6 inches high at the end of two 
years. Pinus insignis at the same age had been twice 
transplanted and were fine bushy plants two to three 
feet high. The first transplanting or “pricking ofif” 
was made when the seedlings were from ten to sixteen 
days old, about 18,000 being thus treated. I have 
known a specimen of P. insignis to make the aston- 
ishing growth of thirteen feet in one growing season, 
and very often they have two growing periods in one 
year. 
T. H. Douglas. 
Native Flowers. 
writer, the pink-budded Mertensia, changing to laven- 
der as it opens ; the Dicentras, known locally as Dutch- 
man's breeches and squirrel’s corn, and the graceful 
Canada lily have entirely disappeared from old 
haunts through this agency alone. Yet no one of 
them would have objected in the least to being trans- 
planted. In fact, all would have grown in increased 
luxuriance with the added fertility of garden soil. 
Progress from the human standpoint ofttimes still 
more seriously impeded the chances of our native 
plants. Thus it is stated that irrigation in the desert 
regions of the southwest bids fair to render extinct 
that characteristic plant of the region, Ccrciis gigcin- 
tcus. To the world the rich fields thus opened up are 
much more valuable than the spiny plants towering 
in midair and crowned with fruit so eagerly sought 
by the Aborigines. But esthetic and scientific pro- 
clivities demand that specimens be transported to a 
plot where the needed requirements for their preser- 
vation can be supplied. 
Vagrant root-diggers have in many localities com- 
pletely exterminated every plant of real or reputed 
medicinal value, their mercenary nature being so bal- 
anced as to have small regard for the nicuin and tiinni 
in the matter.. Ginseng is especially enticing to these 
pilfering rovers, who might be respected if they would 
enter systematically into the culture of the root. 
Aside from the professional root-diggers who 
make a business of spending their summers ravaging 
the woods of other people, there are others in almost 
every community whose faith in roots as a cure-all 
is al:)iding, yet who fail to see the folly of a promiscu- 
