PART IV 



FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS 



I — Put into Classes 



In a small book of this kind it will not be needful 

 to say very much about the way in which Plants have 

 been sorted or classified by botanists. Still a few clear 

 ideas on the subject, before going on to the make and 

 the ways and the habits of plants, are desirable. 



Plant -lovers recognised that certain groups more or 

 less closely resembled one another; and it became 

 convenient to have names for such groups, so that 

 the nature of any particular one might be quickly 

 conveyed to gardeners or botanists. If these groups 

 could be arranged in some definite order, it would then 

 be fairly easy for a gardener to make a methodical 

 list of his stock, and for another to find any given plant 

 in that list. He would look for it under the name of 

 the group to which he knew it belonged. The question 

 was — How to carry out such an arrangement ? 



Suppose we wished to classify Mankind into divisions. 

 We might make one class of tall men, another of short 

 men. Or one class of stout men, and another of thin 

 men. Or we might sort them by the colour of their 

 hair; those with black hair, those with brown, those 

 with red, those with yellow. 



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