Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-16
SPRINCTIME
By D. c. PEATTK.
Arbutus.

Somebody Is always taking the Joy
out of life, and so, when we come home
with the first trailing arbutus in our
| hands we are either reproVed by the
good conServationiStS for pulling it up
by the roots (it is impossible to do any
, thing else, since the trailing stem sends
out roots all along its length), or some
body who knows too much tells us that
it is not a real arbutus (Which is, tech
nically, true) and that its other name
of mayf1ower is also a misnomer, since
it doesn't bloom in May, and, anyway,
the real mayflower is a species of Eng
lish hawthorn. This also Is true, If you
wish to give old English names prece-
dence on our side of the Atlantic.
, In short, between the strict bontanistS
and the strict conservationists, we are
allowed to do nothing except to go out
in the woods, adjust our Spectacles to
the ends of our noses, keep our hands
behind our backs and, leaning as far
over as our waistlines permit, exclaim
in well-bred tones, "Ah-ha, ladies and
gentlemen, the first specimen OF Epigaea
repenS."
What are the ethics, for the law
abiding possesSor of a hair-Shirt con-
science, when a brown-faced, ragged
country child approaches you with
fiStful Of trailing arbutus and asks you
to buy it, please, because the family
needs the money, since the drought,
and, "f you please, sir, these flowers
came off our own land, and who has
more right to sell them?" What to do,
when the flowers are already picked and
are, indeed, smiling up temptingly at
you? And when the child with the
honest face is probably not the dupe of
grating parents, but in all probability
is telling the sad and simple truth about
the flowers?
I, for one, am too happy on tbs soft
Spring day to attempt answers to that
metaphysical question. One group of
thinkers or the other would have me
tried for heresy, and my character
would be burned at the stake, whatever
1 concluded.
I will only say that am out of SYM
pathy with those earnest folk who dig
up the trailing arbutus under the i'm
preston that it is going to grow in their
wild flower garden. The country folk
who pick arbutus and sell it may or
may not be selling their own property.
No law protects the arbutus as yet,
and there is no amendment forbdding
its purchase. But there ought to be
somebody to stop those who uproot the
dear plant and remove it to a lingering
death in a garden. For the trailing
arbutus is dependent both on a highly
acid soil (and no general garden loan
can aI1OrQ TO De L1aC), ana upon certain
soil bacteria, without which its roots
slowly die. This is true of orchids and
many other plants. Unfortunately, the
proper bacterial culture for arbutuS is
not usually found in garden soils.
Most gardens are not shady enough,
and the plant does not like rockeries,
though invariably the wise wild flower
gardeners drape 1t on rocks, having dis
covered that, in garden bed, it merely
sprawls in an unsightly way.
Despite all their care the leaves of
the plant slowly brown and die. Inch
by inch the plant loses ground. The
exuberant gardeners now deluge 1t with
water, as it has symptoms like those
of drought. This is generally the death
blow for the plant. 1t loathes swampy
conditions around its roots, as cats
loathe water on their paws. Is this
wild flower conservation?