File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17973037688).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo17amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
'
Text Appearing After Image:
The Conservation of Wild Flowers Decoration from pliolof/rajths (bij Munj (j/iitliid Dhkcrsoii) of a feir wild Jloicvrs irliich stand in need of our t/rcatcxt c<irc; liepaticu, trailiiif/ <ir1)i(tiix, Indiun movvasin ftoircr, partridf/e lirrri/, ozalca, and frimicd (jcntiun arc in dixprralr nicd,for then arc iilrt'odi/ nrorlii v.rtiuri orcr hirf/r xcrtionx of the coinitri/ irlicrc jircrioiixlii (dtundiDil THERE a)ipearcfl in the JS'civ York Tribune of May 5, 1901, the follow- ing unsigned notice: "Now that spring is really here, the picnicking parties are invading the woods north of the Harlem, and have begun the annual systematic de- struction of a large proportion of all wild flowers within reach. The authorities of the Botanical Garden are on the lookout for them, and within their own precincts will guard the blossoms as thoroughly as possible under a well-planned system; but the rest of the Bronx will be at their mercy, and that means death to many a poor little plant. It is not that these ruthless explorers fail to appreciate the beauty of flowers—they 'just love them' in all probability. The trouble arises from their ignorance of the extent of the damage they do, and from an utter in- ability to comprehend that a flower or any- thing in the vegetable world has rights which the lord of creation himself is bound to re- spect. Thanks to the picnickers and alleged botanists, the arhutus, loveliest of spring blossoms, has been almost exterminated in the Bronx region. Its delicate pink and white used once upon a time to hide under the leaves all through the northern woods in that part of the suburbs; now it may be found only in spots where it commands less enthu- siastic admiration. The mountain laurel has shared a similar fate." In July of the same year, The House Beautiful had several notices on this subject. As there ap))eared to be considerable inter- est aroused and many rjuestions asked, I com- ))ile<l all the notices I could find, including some English ones from the Daily Mail and the Journal of Botany, and printed in Tor- reya for August, 1901, an article on "Van- ishing Wild Flowers." Immediately follow- ing the publication of these notices the Misses Olivia and Caroline Phelps Stokes, who had l)een members of the New York Botanical Garden since 1898, presented to that insti- tution a sum of $3000 to be used for the'"in- vestigation and preservation of our native plants." In April, 1902, Dr. N. L. Britton,

Note About Images