14 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
THE WILD FLOWER PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF 
AMERICA. 
The annual meeting was held in Biological Hall of the Univer¬ 
sity of Pennsylvania, in connection with the meeting of the Amer¬ 
ican Association for the Advancement of Science, on December 30, 
1904. Mr. Joseph Crawford presided. Reports of officers were 
read and accepted, and Dr. Waters announced a balance in the 
treasury. The following officers were declared elected: Presi¬ 
dent, Professor Charles E. Bessey; Vice-President, Mr. Joseph 
Crawford; Secretary, Mrs. N. L. Britton; Treasurer, Dr. C. E. 
Waters. Professor F. E. Lloyd and Mr. C. L. Pollard were 
elected to serve for one year on the Board of Managers, and Dr. 
Wm. Trelease, Mr. Frederick V. Coville, Professor W. A. Keller- 
man and Professor C. F. Wheeler to serve for three years. 
The Plant World will continue to be the organ of the society, 
and the dues will be fifty cents without the Plant World, and 
$1.25 with it. 
The topic for discussion was “ The Destructive Effects of Fire.” 
Mrs. Britton opened the discussion by stating that she had re¬ 
ceived from the Bureau of Forestry of the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture copies of their circulars and posters relating 
to forest fires and the Annual Report from the Department of the 
Interior for 1904. Posters and maps were exhibited showing the 
extent of fires in the Adirondacks during the year 1903. The 
extent .of these may be judged when it is .stated that between 
“ April 20 and June 8, 1903, over 600,000 acres of timberland in 
northern New York were burned over. About $175,000 was 
spent in fighting the fires, which nevertheless were finally ex¬ 
tinguished only by the help of heavy rains. The total direct loss 
was approximately $3,500,000. No less serious, though incapable 
of money valuation, is the indirect loss due to the destruction of 
young growth which was to form the future forest. To this must 
be added the injury to the forest soil caused by the burning out of 
the vegetable matter indispensable to healthy tree growth/’ 
Dr. H. C. Cowles, of Chicago University, stated that the de¬ 
vastation caused by forest fires in the Rocky and Cascade Moun- 
