REPORT OF CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES. 227
already existing societies such as "Flora's League," "The
Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves," and the "Wild
Plant Conservation Board" of the Council for the Preservation
of Rural England. The efforts of these and any other bodies
working wholly or in part for the preservation of our flora could
be considered under the three main headings of Nature Reserves,
Legislation and Education.
As to Nature Reserves there was no doubt about their value
as conserving special types of vegetation and the more that can
be done in the way of promoting them the better.
Legislation on the subject of plant preservation has so far
been confined to the power given to County Councils, under the
Local Government Act of 1888, to adopt bye-laws for that
purpose and such bye-laws have in fact been adopted by some
fifty County Councils and a number of Town Councils. The
most recent form of bye-law, approved by the Home Office,
reads as follows :—
"No person shall without lawful authority uproot any ferns,
primroses or other plants growing in any road, lane, roadside
waste, roadside bank or hedge, common or other place to which
the public have access."
This seems to go as far as can be allowed under the present
law and it will be noticed that the picking, as distinguished from
uprooting, of wild flowers for sale is not prohibited thereby nor
does it apply to privately owned ground. Objection to the
bye-law has been made on the ground that it involves hardship
to students of the flora and also prohibits the uprooting of herbs
for use as drugs. There is, however, the permissive clause in
the bye-law which can be invoked in both cases if necessary,
although, as regards students, plants can best be studied as they
grow, while dealers in drugs prefer those grown in quantity for
the purpose as being more uniform. Children's wild-flower
classes at local shows were not considered by Dr. Rendle to be
harmful. In his experience children only collected common
plants and did not uproot them and he thought it a pity to check
an interest in Nature on their part.
But evidently the present legislation is not enough by itself
and it is more important to encourage respect for our wild
flowers by educational means. The education of the children
is the most promising method and towards this end a memoran-