A INTBODUCTION. 



is always to be gained by forehand knowledge in 

 this respect. As I have shown in a paper in Mr. 

 NEWMAN'S botanical periodical, " The Pliytologist"* 

 the authors of our systematic Floras have not been 

 especially careful to set down the flowering-time of 

 plants with perfect exactness, and this out-of-door 

 work, neglected by them, I have felt it incumbent on 

 me more especially to attend to. It is indeed self- 

 rewarding, as any one will find who takes it up, while 

 the instruction it affords in working out a calendar of 

 coincidence of the birds, insects, and other zoological 

 objects that seem to synchronize with the appearance 

 of certain flowers, is not to be neglected, but well 

 repays the attention. In nay floral progress through 

 the various months I shall dilate further upon this 

 point. 



The botanist who, in his wanderings, attends to the 

 habitats of plants, and the affinities many of them 

 have for certain soils, or mineralogical strata, will 

 be certain to find a greater number than he who 

 roams about indifferently, leaving chance to direct his 

 movements. This deserves to be well considered by 

 the practical collector, since it often happens that 

 miles of country may be painfully traced to no pur- 

 pose, without one remarkable plant being exhibited, 

 while a single favourable locality may contain nume- 



* See The Phytologist, for 1848, for a paper of mine on the " acceleration 

 of the flowering of plants and frondescence of trees," in that very forward 

 spring. Mr. KEYS and other observers have, like myself, noticed that 

 technical botanists have not been very exact, in stating distinctly the first 

 appearance of a plant in flower, and the length of its continuance in that 

 state ; but these points are surely deserving of notice, for, as Dr. UNGER 

 observes, " the time of flowering of each plant is important, because it 

 characterizes the climate, and may serve as an index to agricultural 

 experiments." 



