CHERISHING NATURE’S GREAT GARDEN 
Game Laws for Gardeners with an Eye to the Future— 
Conserving Our National Treasure ot Flowers and Trees 
“In a great democracy of free people the protection of wild life and the preservation of all other natural resources, which underlie 
national prosperity and happiness, must depend finally, as does the stability of the government itself, upon the support and willing 
service of every citizen .”— Theodore Roosevelt. 
jjHE great garden that was America before cities and 
suburbs began to bite into its beauty is slowly shrinking 
under the restless tread of “civilization” and dropping 
its treasures one by one into the thoughtless grasp of a 
motoring public. When riches are plenty there’s no need to 
count, and so the word “conservation” is only just taking its 
place in the vocabulary of our people. We have learned to re¬ 
spect our forests, our mines, and our fields because they keep us 
from hunger and cold, but are only just beginning to appreciate 
the need of protecting from wanton inroad the loveliness which 
was America’s natural birthright and to realize the unobtrusive 
ministry of such loveliness to national health and happiness. 
Splendid pioneer work is being done by the Wild Flower Pre¬ 
servation Society in gettingover the facts to the public. Pamph¬ 
lets and posters are being issued by this society and by garden 
clubs and groups of horticulturists sympathetically affiliated for 
the furtherance of this important educational campaign. Atten¬ 
tion is arrested by such pointed appeal as Mrs. Wright’s “Wild 
Flowers and Ferns—When and How to Gather Them,” prepared 
and distributed by the Wild Flower Committee of The Fairfield 
(Conn.) Garden Club—a pamphlet worth quoting: 
To strip the public highways of their flower-hedges, or to bare the 
runnels of their protecting ferns is theft—the theft of the pleasure these 
things give to every passer-by. 
With flowers, as with all other things, don’t take the last piece on the 
dish. It is not polite, indoors or out! 
We will trust you in all your pursuits of the wild to be true sportsmen 
and not pot-hunters. 
A" 
, MONG the states Vermont is the most re¬ 
cent to aid in protective legislation, hav¬ 
ing passed a law in 1921 to save rare plants 
from undue commercial exploitation. Con¬ 
necticut and Maryland are long since on the 
honor roll and Illinois has a bill pending—why 
does New York lag? The problem of con¬ 
serving wild plants is treated with refreshing 
common sense in Dr. A. C. Benedict’s “Game 
C 
phlet distributed jointly by the Brooklyn Bo¬ 
tanical Garden and the American Fern Society. 
Massachusetts also is awake to the necessity 
of taking steps to protect the traditionally at- 
mosphered Mayflower and laws are now pend¬ 
ing, sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticul¬ 
tural Societyunder the activeleadershipof Mr. 
W. C. Burrage. In the spring of last year Mr. 
Burrage staged a complete wild flower land¬ 
scape in Horticultural Hall (Boston) of plants 
which had been grown in his garden and green¬ 
x, J » j H 
' JW I m » 
SAVE 
WILD 
BY NOT 
& 
AMERICAS! 
FLOWERS i 
PICKING THEM $ 
PROTECT 
OUR TREES 
DO NOT BREAK 
THE BRANCHES 
GARDEN CLUBS TAKE NOTE! 
A very effective poster in green, white 
and black (18x24 in.) being put to 
good use by one of the New Jersey clubs 
house near Boston. This exhibition drew over seventy thou¬ 
sand visitors—evidence,indeed, that Massachusetts is awake! 
The establishment of Flower Sanctuaries advocated by Dr. 
Benedict is, in Pennsylvania at least, already an accomplished 
fact. On February of this year the State Forest Commission 
threw the protective mantle of a few simple rules over nearly 
1500 acres of “State Forest Monuments, established by Act of 
Assembly for the Purpose of Preserving for Future Generations 
Unusual or Historical Groves of Trees or Natural Features.” 
E NCOURAGING echoes of activity come to us from every¬ 
where. The Plainfield (New Jersey) Garden Club, for in¬ 
stance, is making Wild Flower Preservation the initial feature of 
this season’s programme and nearly all the clubs are now tak¬ 
ing active part in this work. 
Very opportunely, too, appears “The Burgess Flower Book 
for Children” (Little, Brown & Co.) dedicated “to the awaken¬ 
ing in children of love for our wild flowers and the desire to pre¬ 
serve them in their native habitats for the beauty and joy 
they give to the world.” Grown-ups as well as children will find 
this book a friendly summer companion and a profitable one. 
More than a hundred flowers “chosen because of their wide dis¬ 
tribution,” are adequately pictured, many of them in color; 
and Peter Rabbit as he goes lippety-lopping about over field, 
woodland and a little hill or two, discovers a lot of things that 
all of us are glad to know: where the Saxifrage got its name; 
that the Indians used Bloodroot juice for paint and its kin¬ 
ship with the California Poppy; how the 
Anemone, so slender-stalked and delicate 
in look, is securely anchored against rude 
winds; the story of the fragrant White- 
heart, with its quaint cluster of names, 
Dutchman’s-breeches, Soldier’s-caps, Ear¬ 
drops. No need to elaborate further, Mr. 
Burgess’s gift of presenting commonplaces in 
such picturesque fashion as to make them 
memorable long ago won him a wide circle of 
readers. 
Over and over in all sorts of ways truths are 
driven home and we are glad that Mr. Bur¬ 
gess has chosen a young audience at whom 
primarily to aim, for it is the youngsters who 
will carry on the great work of conservation 
now successfully launched. 
Straws in the wind perhaps, these fore¬ 
going instances, but proving that there is a 
wind—a fair wind blowing in the right direc¬ 
tion. Tell us what signs you see, garden 
neighbors all—what is happening where you 
live? 
Inaugurate competitive growing and public exhibitions of interest¬ 
ing wild plants raised from seed in gardens. 
IVHAT TOU C AN VO TO HELT 
Teach your children to enjoy and not destroy Nature’s Garden. 
Gather the seed and spare the plant. 
Cut cleanly with scissors or a sharp knife when gathering specimens. Urge legislative measures of protection if needed in your own state. 
Establish a sanctuary for the rare plants of your own region. 
Pass on the rules of true sportsmanship in wild flower hunting to 
the pupils in your local schools. 
Choose a state flower that is characteristic of your section and 
inculcate a civic pride in its conservation. Connecticut has 
already claimed the Laurel and Massachusetts the Arbutus. 
