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Show Why Not "Save the Wild Flowers Dav"? WILD flowers are at the height of their beauty now, and the annual war to exterminate ex-terminate them Is In full swing. This war Is conducted mostly by city folk who love nature, but who unwisely woo' her by caveman tactics. Out to fields and woods the holiday makers go, and in a spirit of exalted abandon they proceed recklessly to pull up and tear off delicate blossoms. In this way. as the years go by, some of the loveliest of the wild flowers are being loved almost out of existence. The Idea that seems to seize people when they are confronted by a patch of flowers is that this beauty must be gathered up and taken home. They Imaglct the Rowers In a graceful bowl making spring in the house for several days. So they hasten to remove re-move the fragile flowers from their natural setting In an attempt to capture cap-ture and preserve the elusive spirit of outdoors. This desire Is perfectly natural. The trouble Is that so many people fail to show discrimination in selecting select-ing je wild flowers. SiL.e flowers are so delicate that they wilt a few moments after they ere plucked and can rJtver be revived. Such flowers are only wasted by picking, pick-ing, and as some of them are becoming becom-ing extremely rare, to pick and throw them aside is nothing less than vandalism. van-dalism. Other plants. less perishable perhaps, per-haps, and therefore especially attractive attrac-tive for home decoration are so rare through wholesale picking, or because of the advance of civilization, that the only reasonable course Is to leave tliem, also, entirely alone. There are a number of flowers that grow in such profusion In most parts of the country that they may be picked freely. Daisies, goldenrod, buttercups, common blue violets, and asters come In this class. Lastly there Is a group of plants which are not harmed by careful picking pick-ing that is, they should be picked sparingly, so that plenty are left to go to seed, and the roots should be left undisturbed. Some of these are so loosely rooted that a hasty tug brings up not only the blossom and Its stem, but the roots and other branches of the plant as well. The trailing arbutus is one of the rare wild flowers that should alwnys be cut carefully since the trailing stems which are needed to send up new (lowers are easily eas-ily torn from the earth. All of the flowering trees and bushes suffer because persons who want to pick branches generally pull at them with their hands or saw them off with a dull knife. The Wild Flower Preservation Pres-ervation Society of America says: "Do not break, or tear off woody flowering flow-ering branches. Cut them close to the base, so the wound may heal over and prevent fungus diseases from entering." enter-ing." Experience has further demonstrated demonstrat-ed that a clump of wild flowers cannot can-not be casually transplanted to a flower pot or garden and thrive. Cultivation Cul-tivation of wild flowers requires exacting ex-acting attention, yet amateurs pull up clumps of plants and expect them to live and bloom In whatever soli happens hap-pens to be available af home. Some states now have laws protecting protect-ing the rarer wild flowers. California, for Instance, protects the Christmas berry, and Vermont legally protects some forty-five flowers, trees, mosses and ferns. Now, a wild flower day Is suggested by a California nature lover, Albert E. Stlllman, who believes that much good would be done by focusing Interest in the subject for one day each year. He proposes that May 20 be designated and observed in the public schools of every state by a talk, pageant, or program pro-gram featuring wild flower protection. May 20 is suggested because it U the day of he annual meeting of the John Burroughs Memorial association, and because the great naturalist was a strong advocate of wild flower protection. |