One of the local papers of Santa Cruz offered last spring a prize for the best collection of wild flowers made by the pupils of any one of the public schools of that county. Sixteen of the 54 public schools competed for the prize. The contest resulted in sending in no less than 3,542 specimens. Some of these were new to botanists. The collection was so rich and extensive that Dr. C. L. Anderson, a well-known botanist of Santa Cruz, was moved to make a complete catalogue of the flowering plants of the county. It was well known that this coast county had a very extensive flora, but until the catalogue was made very few were aware of the actual wealth in this respect. This is probably the first complete catalogue that has ever been made in a scientific way for any county in the state. The good work in this respect was begun by school children, stimulated by the prize offered by The Surf. It was further perfected by the editorial compilation of F. L. Clark.

What has been done in this instance could be done largely by the pupils of the public schools in all the other counties of the state. There would be little difficulty in finding public-spirited citizens who would offer prizes for the best collections, or, what is better, a number of them. The experiment was so great a success in Santa Cruz county that the promoters of that enterprise have suggested that a collection of all the wild flowers of the state might be made by the schools of the several counties, and that these should be catalogued and, with the specimens, be made one of the exhibits of California at the World's Fair in Chicago. - San Francisco Bulletin.