362 CHARLES CARDALE BABINGTON. [1865 



altered the " Notes " to so great a degree that I may and must believe 

 that they may have even more alteration with advantage. I hope 

 that when you use them you will particularlj' twte with care, any 

 points that require alteration, or if they do not absolutely require 

 it, might be altered with advantage. I print a very small edition 

 in order to allow of a reprint at a tolerably early date. The 

 inflorescence was on the old schedule, and of the leaf the only 

 additions are the shape and margin. Oliver leaves both leaf and 

 inflorescence out of his schedule, and has not, I think, improved it 

 in some other respects. I am sorry for this, as his " Lessons " is 

 the best book that we have got for the use of beginners. I have 

 not found the Linnaean system of any use, and it took up far too 

 much space in the " Notes." If you want it, you can easily teach it 

 from some other place. I do not understand how you arrived at 

 the orders in Bentham, as you left the Analytical Key unused. But 

 perhaps you refer to pages 48 — 52. Is it so ? and are they so 

 useful ? I should like to know, and I must then add something of 

 the kind to the "Manual." Do not think that I despise the 

 Linnaean system, — far from it. It is a most useful index as far as 

 it goes. Otherwise I should not let it have so prominent a place 

 in the " Manual." I should not attempt system with the ordinary 

 boys, — not go to the bottom of the schedule at all, that is, until 

 some considerable advance has been made. It is quite enough if 

 you can get them to fill up the rest of the spaces correctly. If 

 they learn to do this, they will wish to go further, or if they do 

 not, I would leave them alone, as it is useless pressing it on them. — 

 Yours very truly, Charles C. Babington. 



Always put C. C. to my name in future — as Churchill Babington 

 is made Professor of Archaeology, in the place of Marsden, retired. 



To the Eev. T. A. Preston. 



Cambridge, April 29, 1865. 



Dear Preston, — I think that it is one of the innumerable forms 

 assumed by Pimpinella sazifraga. Couch Grass is a formidable 

 penetrator of other roots, but I should not have expected so small 

 a "root" as this to be penetrated by it. The Carices are very 

 young for examination ; but I think it likely that they are ripaiia 

 and paludosa as you suppose. I think that a report on the botanical 

 state of the season would be a fit and valuable subject for the 

 "Journal of Botany." Send it to Seemann, 57, Windsor Eoad, 

 London, N.W., not to me. I have about forty men this year, and 

 have now had four lectures. We have got an admirable man in 

 our new Curator of the Botanic Garden, — Yours truly, Charles C. 

 Babington. 



I am sorry to see that the paper has moved, and rather defaced 

 the first page of this note. 



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