CHAPTER III. 



STATING THE CASE. 



A LAWYER does not think he is insulting the 

 common sense or learning of the judge before whom 

 he pleads, by stating his case to the jury in terms of 

 legal explanation which for years may have been the 

 A B C of his lordship. And no genuine botanist 

 will quarrel with a writer who adopts the same plan 

 with intelligent readers unpossessed of a scientific 

 knowledge of plants. 



The present chapter, therefore, will be devoted to 

 a brief statement of plant-life as a whole. This is 

 necessary to the general reader who desires to 

 understand the full scope of the argument hereafter 

 used. 



There may be a few people who think the process 

 of plant growth and development is less wonderful 

 than it was, because more is known about it. I 

 suppose there is always a certain condition of mind 

 in which familiarity is sure to breed contempt. But, 

 in my opinion, increased knowledge brings increased 



C 



