464 Miscellaneons, 



his authority is recognised wherever the science is pursued. But 

 during a period of nearly thirty years very little has been added 

 to our published knowledge of Canadian botany. Information 

 respecting our indigenous plants must still be sought in the 

 work of Sir William Hooker, issued from the Colonial office in 

 EnMand in 1833. That work founded as it necessarily was, on 

 dried specimens carried home by passing travellers, afforded to 

 the botanical world an admirable example of how much could be 

 made out of slender material when in good hands. Unimpeachable 

 as a work of science, unsurpassed in the whole range of botanical 

 literature in the accuracy and beauty of its illustrations, the Flora 

 Boreali' Americana afforded the means of developing still more 

 fully a knowledge of the Canadian Flora. The North American Flora 

 of Torrey and Gray and the Manual of the Botany of the Northern 

 States, offered additional temptations, to the pursuit; but ad- 

 vances have not been made commensurate with the advantages 

 that were offered ; we have still, therefore, the singular anomaly 

 of a country distinguished by its liberal patronage to science, depen- 

 dent for its information respecting its native plants on the des- 

 criptions of specimens culled by early travellers. What was 

 thirty years ago, and is now, of the highest value, can only in 

 a partial manner meet the wanis of the country in these days, 

 when new manufactures and new forms of industry, seeking 

 new products to work upon, are daily springing up around us. 

 We desire to place the science of Botany on a more satisfactory 

 footing in Canada than that which it now holds ; we desire to in- 

 crease the existing stock of knowledge ; we desire to diffuse a taste 

 for the study, so as to add to the number of laborers now in the 

 field ; and we desire to place on record new observations and dis- 

 coveries, as they arise. The Botanical Society is designed as a 

 means for carrying out purposes such as these. Extensive circu- 

 lation was given sometime ago by Canadian newspapers to a report 

 that Sir William Hooker was on his way to Canada with a staff of 

 assistants to explore the botany of the country. I have the best 

 authority for stating that that report was without foundation. It 

 probably originated in certain proposals that were made to the 

 Colonial office regarding the publication of a series of popular 

 Manuals of Colonial Botany ; but no expedition was ever contem- 

 plated by Sir Wm. Hooker, or any one else, at the instance of 

 the Government. On the contrary, recent communications from 

 the botanical advisers of the Home Government indicate that 



