Plant Robbers
Another set of collectors, usually of-a much more amateur sort, have
been abused of late, not always with justification. Their case the case of plant-collectors—has been admirably put by Mr. Clarence 'Elliot in the Countryman. Before he was ousted from his historic nursery at Stevenage by the town planners, he did a good deal of plant-colletting in various parts of the world, and confesses to have dug up thousands of bulbs in Canada and sent them to England. Here again it is chiefly the rarity that matters. To complain of the harm done by picking bouquets of bluebell flowers or yellow flags is sheer nonsense. If some seed is thus lost' the but itself distinctly benefits by the plucking.. On the other hand to dig up a Cheddar pink or—if it still exists—a Martagon lily is a crime, and great care has to be taken by botanists to conceal their whereabouts. Most harm, it is probable, has been done to the race of ferns, fOr which holiday-makers from the northern industrial towns have shown an astonishing greed. It is suggested that-, .golfers have been among the offenders! Well, I knew one spot where a bee- orchis could always be found, but, alas, the spot was chosen for a tee and I have not seen the plant again in that neighbourhood! However, since the stonechat still nests within ten yards of another tee on the same so-called links, the golfers can scarcely be put down as iconoclasts. The same links were used in the war for growing certain poisonous, but medicinal, herbs ; and these have beert.-added-:-to the tale of local
flora. - •
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