April 2, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD , 
Horticultural Club. 
U-se and Abuse of Botanising. 
After the usual monthly dinner of this club, held at the Hotel 
Windsor oil Tuesday, the 8th ult., under the presidency of Mr. 
Harry J. Veitoh, the Rev. Professor Hems,low, M.A., F.L.S., 
etc., gave a most, interesting address on the “ Use and Abuse 
of Botanising.” Taking the abuses first, he severely criticised 
those amateurs, whom lie divided into' two classes, the mere 
gatherers who on so-called botanising excursions do so much 
to denude the country of its floral and ferny gems by indis¬ 
criminate rooting up, only to be followed in the vast majority 
of cases by subsequent throwing away or installations in 
gardens, followed by neglect, which leads to identical results, 
and collectors who do a vast deal of similar damage on more 
recognised but still unsystematic lines. Some of these latter, 
too, are guilty of criminal selfishness, their chief aim being 
the unique possession of rarities, to secure which they actually 
destroy any surplus, and in this way contribute to entire ex¬ 
termination. A noted station of Pinguicula grandiflora was 
instanced as a case in point, not a single specimen being left 
after a raid of this kind. 
Mr. Chas. E. Pearso.ii subsequently instanced similar cases 
of vandalism in connection with rare birds’ eggs and entorno'- 
logical rarities, and the gist of the discussion which followed 
the address, and in- which Messrs. C. T. Druery, Ge- 0 '. Paul, 
T. W. Sanders, Waterer, and H. J. Veitoh participated, was 
the absolute necessity of some more stringent laws for the 
protection of wild plants and wild birds, etc., from the raids 
now made upon their habitats by amateur sio-called botanists 
and collectors and gatherers, especially including those who 
for mere purposes of gain “ skin the planet,” as Shirley Hibberd 
put it, in order to supply the markets with this vandalised 
material. 
Mr. Druery instanced several cases which had come under 
his notice of unique Ferns which had been destroyed by the 
repeated collection of their fronds for the making of dried 
herbarium .specimens, so that now nothing remained of .such 
natural gifts to mankind but. a. few dried fronds in scattered 
herbaria, instead of, as in cases lie alluded to, not only herbaria 
generally, but collections of living specimens being perma¬ 
nently enriched by the careful transference of the rarity in 
a living state to culture, and it® subsequent propagation on 
an extended scale. He. also mentioned a, kindred case to. that 
of Pinguicula grandiflora., a habitat of a. rare Fern in Scotland 
being absolutely cleared by a, raid of students led by a. pro¬ 
fessor to the spot, which had, unfortunately, become known to 
them. 
Professor Henslow subsequently treated on the recognise 
and invaluable services rendered by herbaria on systemat: 
lines, enabling the comparison by experts of specimens derive 
trom all parts of the world, and thus facilitating that classit 
cation which is one of the most difficult botanical tasks. Tun 
ing to the evolution of botanical knowledge., lie went back t 
t ie old times when plants were only interesting on account c 
their actual or assumed medical virtues, when the herbalist wa 
practically the only botanist.; and as an exemplification of th 
ridiculous ideas prevalent in. those days, and apparently eve. 
rr , ie f 0 ’ P roduced a ' re, cent edition of Culpeper’s “ Britis 
eibal and Family Physician,” of which some 80,000 copie 
sJffictonTto Z ? € ' laSt fift * V y 0arS ’ and ^ich. sto 
£ Cie S \ n de ' mand to pay well for publishing. Hi thi 
influel klD ? f f '° ICCUU ' medioaI virtues are associated with th 
amusTncTf"i TTT pWs ’ in whafc ™ uld be a, mo, 
on +!,« 7 Vr 10n ’ dld lt: n0lt evolve a. very serious reflectin' 
on the intelligence of the purchasers and the progress of rea 
Mr T W dlS0Usslon ifl ^as announced tha 
to the Land ” Jib - L - S ; ; a entitled “ Bari 
A 0f tlhe cIuh ^ April 19th 
proceedings " 6 t ia rks to the Rev. Professor closed th 
283 
“What is Viburnum rotundifolium ? ” 
you ask, page 168. As I have grown this Snowball bush for 
over twenty years 111 tell you wliat. I know about it. It is a 
variety of V. plica-turn, and you will find it referred to in 
“ Bailey’s Cyclopedia, of American Horticulture.” If I mistake 
not it-jwas first distributed from Parsons’ Nurseries, Flushing, 
Ne w York. You will find a splendid half-page illustration of it 
in full flower in company with plication and Opulus sterilis—all 
By courtesy of Messrs. Dickscns 
Picea LOWIANA. (See p. 277.) 
three together in one big bed and in bloom, iu “ Gardening ” 
(Chicago), page 9, Vo-1. I., 1892. As this bed was planted (at 
Do-soris, New York), grown, bloomed, photographed and pub¬ 
lished by me, the following is wliat I then had to say about it: 
“ Our illustration is from a photograph of a, bed of Snowball 
shrubs in full bloom the first of last June. The bed is a large 
oval one, -and contains six plants in three varieties, namely, the 
American Snowball (Viburnum Opulus sterilis), which is the 
one the little .girl is standing beside; the Japanese Snowball 
(V. plica,turn), which is a large mass across the middle of the 
bed ; and the. Round-leaved Japanese Snowball (V. rotundi- 
