WILD FLOWER PRESERVATION. 
15 
tains is appalling, especially in Idaho, Montana and Washington, 
where the coniferous trees spread the flames over miles of terri¬ 
tory and destroy all other vegetation as well. He stated that 
fires had swept over thousands of acres in the San Francisco 
Mountains of Arizona, and that it was almost impossible to check 
it, owing to the sparse population. It has been shown by Professor 
Bessey that with the settling of the Prairie States, devastating 
Fig. 5. The solitary remaining individual of Sargent’s Palm, on Elliot’s 
Key, Florida. (Courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden.) 
fires have become less frequent, as settlers protect their homes. 
The only means of prevention seems to be a healthy public senti¬ 
ment. In the vicinity of Chicago', an effort is being made to set 
aside “ university reserves,” in order to preserve the most inter¬ 
esting ecological features such as typical swamps, beech woods, 
etc., including all the plants of these natural formations. 
Professor P. H. Rolfs, of the Subtropical Laboratory at Miami, 
