METHOD OF PROCEDITKE. 55 



Blackpool, Southshore, Southport, and other places on the coast of 

 Lancashire, are now brought so close to Manchester by the railways, 

 and so many of our young people enjoy their summer holidays there, 

 that I have thought it useful to append a list of the sea-side plants 

 commonly found in their respective neighbourhoods. The families 

 of these plants may be discovered by the general key. 



INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO USE THIS BOOK. 



Read the Introduction with care and attention, so as to obtain a 

 general idea of the structure of plants, and of the meaning and nature 

 of "families." 



On gathering a plant in the fields or a garden, examine, and if 

 necessary, dissect the flower carefully, referring at the same time to 

 the key, and comparing every successive observation with the descrip- 

 tions at the beginning of the several divisions of it. By this means 

 the family will certainly be found, and probably the very species, the 

 figures telling the page where it is spoken of particularlv. 



If it be the family that is found, turn to the page referred to, and 

 see if the plant agrees with the general account of it ; then trace it 

 out by means of the chart beneath, or opposite, which, if it be a wild 

 plant, will guide speedily to the name. 



If it be a foreign plant, it will not appear in the chart, but will 

 probably be mentioned in the subsequent remarks. 



Having ascertained the English name by the chart, notice the 

 number attached to it, and that will shew the way to the place in the 

 list of " Habitats and Localities " with the Latin name and other 

 interesting particulars. (The "habitat" of a plant signifies the kind 

 of place in which it grows, as in woods, or fields, or ponds, &c. ; the 

 "locality", the exact spot, or as nearly as can be described in a few 

 words.) 



If perplexed by one blossom, dissect another, and if they all seem 

 to difier, take the average ; the truth cannot be altogether concealed. 

 Besides, it may be that the first was not examined with care. Botany 

 is not a study for the uncareful, but for the attentive, and if it seem 



