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NATURE STUDY. 
Wild Flowers and Vandalism. 
BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 
We hear so much about clear, logical reasoning, that we are 
apt to lose sight of the fact that it is all too rare. It is so easy 
to think in a jumble, and to get our ideas confused and tangled, 
and so difficult to disentangle them again, that most of us fall 
into the habit of jumping at conclusions. Take, for example, the 
attitude of a great majority of people toward the wild flowers. A 
little thinking will show any one that a plant can be a weed only 
when it is out of place ; the daisy, in the cultivated field, is a 
weed, unquestionably ; but the daisy by the roadside is a thing 
of beauty, an object of delight to every appreciative passer-by. 
The farmer is not greatly to be blamed if he fails to make 
fine distinctions. A day of hoeing in the field or of weeding in 
the garden is likely to fix the conviction that there are just two 
kinds of plants — those which we must encourge to grow, and 
those which persist in growing in spite of everything. The re¬ 
sult is, the cultivator comes to recognize only crops and weeds, 
and to include nearly all the vegetable creation in the latter 
category. But if the farmer is in some sort excusable for his 
abrupt and sweeping classification, there is nothing that can be 
said in defense of the barbarism of those who, while profess¬ 
ing love for the wild flowers, ruthlessly hasten their utter de¬ 
struction within a considerabie radius of every city and popu¬ 
lous village. From the appearance of the blossoms of the 
Shad-bush and the Arbutus in early springtime to the passing 
of the frost flowers in autumn, outrage and vandalism are per. 
petrated upon the helpless innocents of the roadside, field and 
woodland under pretense of affection for them. 
Nor is the blame to be laid wholly upon children, or upon 
those who may stroll on foot for a little way into the country. 
A gentleman of this city, a few years ago, secured an afternoon 
from business and hastened away to a patch of woodland where 
the Lady’s Slipper was wont to be found. He wished to 
