It is a very good thing that people should pick
wild flowers and wantto'. pick them. Many a 'dull room is sanctified=if the word is not too a'howl of primroses or bluebells or marsh marigolds. I was . horrified when, a few years ago, a London child, who strayed into a paddock of mine and plucked a dandelion, was roundly warned by an elder sister : " Don't you dare pick his flower's or hell be after you ! " Nobodk wants or ought to want to be "after " pickerS of a bunch of flowers, even if they are fritillaries, which suffer, perhaps, the most persistent harrying. The trouble is the old one of allowing liberty and preventing license ; and the one ultimate essential cure is Sir Maurice's : Flora's League (10A Abeieom Place, St. John's Wood, N.W. 8) aims at influencing public opinion to such an extent that, in time, the nation as a whole will acquire a `habit of protection ' towards our wild plants and will take a pride in preserving and respecting those plants and trees in their natural state and surroundings." Pending this millennium the County Councils Association has adopted a by-law, which is both stern and sensible. It ought to be more widely known—and enforced.
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