THE CALL OF THE WILDFLOWER. By Henry S. Salt. London: Allen and Unwin. Pp.192. 6s. net.
Mr. Salt writes very pleasantly about wild flowers, which he can love for their beauty even when they are not rare, but which, he would probably admit, he loves most when they are both rare and beautiful. To the ignorant outsider the deeper study of plant lore, in its immense variety, is depressing because it seems that so much of it turns upon infinitesimal distractions, while the joy and refreshment of flowers comes quickly in the familiar favourites, and with as much radiance in the garden as in the field, indeed sometimes with more. It is the more delightful to come across a student like Mr. Salt, who with his special knowledge and sharper appreciation combines humanity, and has none of the terrifying concentration of the collection. His little book describes numerous expeditions in various parts of the country which he has taken in search of the rarer plants, and gives many a delightful glimpse of the flower itself, as he at last describes it. He has a chapter, too, on Thoreau who loved flowers with the same true sympathy, wishing to see them in their places and caring little for them when they were torn up and tamed or turned into specimens. Mr. Salt has severe words for the desecrations of the many misguided enthusiasts who rob our countryside of its treasures, and he widely refrains from any mention of the localities where these treasures are to be found.
The Guardian, September 5, 1922, p. 5