FLORA OF WASHINGTON AND VICINITY. 237 



of, render careful work and systematic arrangement of the highest 

 vakie; and in the long run the more methodical the procedure the more 

 rapid the progress. Many of the detailed explanations above given 

 may seem trivial and unnecessary, but they are the result of experience, 

 acquired through unnumbered mistakes and erroneous impressions which 

 would never have been made or entertained had there existed any sys- 

 tematic treatise on the art (for such I maintain that it is) of practical 

 botany. 



In conclusion, I cannot refrain from speaking a word in defense of the 

 herbarium as an instrument of scientific culture. It is a collection of 

 natural objects, scientifically classified and ever present for inspection. 

 No question is so often asked the botanist by the unappreciative public 

 as "What are you going to do with the plants?" The idea seems to 

 be that unless you can extract some essence or elixir from them, 

 either as a medicine, a food, or a perfume, they can be of no pos- 

 sible use. The most satisfactory answer I ever heard given to this 

 query was by an amateur lady botanist, who with genuine female intu- 

 ition replied, "Just what you do with your books; a herbarium is a 

 library to be consulted, studied, and read." This is it, precisely. It is 

 a library filled with volumes written by Nature, and which those who 

 have learned the language of Nature can read and enjoy with a satis- 

 faction as much keener than anything that man-made books can give 

 as it is nearer to the source of all truth. 



