6 POPULAR FIELD BOTANY. 
the work. It is not intended that every part must be learned 
at once, but that a general idea should be gained, so that it 
may be rendered serviceable when occasion calls it into 
use. See 
I would advise the young student first to refer to and study 
the Linnean System, because it 1s so much more simple than 
the other, consequently this work is principally arranged 
to suit it; afterwards the Natural System may be studied 
if desired; but this I leave to the choice of the reader. 
Sir James Smith, the learned botanist, says that “the Lin- 
ngean arrangement is above all other systems easy and intel- 
ligible ;” and Mr. Loudon, that “it cannot be dispensed 
with in the present state of botanical knowledge.” These 
are sufficient authorities for pursuing it a¢ first, at all events. 
We will now suppose that a plant is found im the month 
of March, and that a desire is felt to know its name and 
something of its history. The name, of course, must be 
first found; and to discover this, an examination must take 
place of its pistils and stamens, their situation and number, 
and reference made to the table, page 18, in order to find 
its class and order. When this is done, the student must 
turn to the class to which it belongs in the list of plants 
found in March, and by comparing one generic description 
