A PLEA FOR THE WILD FLOWERS. 
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A PLEA FOR THE WILD FLOWERS. 
It is to the interest of everyone that beautiful and characteristic 
plants be guarded from extermination. It is believed that every 
one will be ready to aid in this work if once he or she fully realizes 
the danger with which these plants are now threatened. 
It is not our wish to discourage unnecessarily the gathering of 
wild flowers and ferns for decorative purposes. We ask only that 
they be picked with care and discrimination. Such a flower, for 
example, as the blue-bell should always be cut with the scissors 
or a knife, rather than picked, to prevent its being uprooted; and, 
even when cut, care should be taken to gather it only where it 
grows most abundantly, that no picturesque tuft be so completely 
done away with as to set no seeds for another year. Where there 
is an especially fine plant or colony, or where there is a single 
plant or a small colony, why not leave at least half the flowers 
for seed, in the one case giving nature a chance to perpetuate and 
develop the best, and in the other helping nature to extend her 
work of beautifying our surroundings ? 
The pink lady’s-slipper, or moccasin-flower, the purple fringed 
orchid, the calopogon, pogonia, and indeed all the orchids, should 
be cut (not picked) fairly high up the stem, leaving, whenever 
possible, the lower leaves intact. 
If these flowers are not to be exterminated, they should not be 
gathered at all unless found growing very abundantly, and then 
only in moderation. Such fragile blossoms are more effective if 
not heavily massed, but arranged in a few sprays by themselves. 
From the purchase of the rarer flowers, especially of the purple 
fringed orchid, sabbatia, fringed gentians, or mayflower, we 
urge every one to abstain. Children sometimes offer them for 
sale, innocently enough, but those who buy, and so induce the 
gathering and selling, are the most dangerous enemies of all rare 
salable flowers. 
The bunch-berry is another plant which is less abundant now 
than it was a few years ago, owing, we fear, to careless uprooting, 
and stands in need of protection. 
Ferns, also, should be picked with care, and not too freely, 
