PEEFACE. 



It is hoped that this brief vohime may supply some 

 new facilities to the student who will meet them with 

 reasomxble intelligeuce and faithfulness, for the rapid 

 acquisition of a practical knowledge of Botany. It is also 

 hoped that to the person already somewhat versed in the 

 science, it will prove a more ready instrument for a large 

 class of his identifications than any heretofore offered. 

 The first part merely summarizes topics that are the com- 

 mon material of the science, in the common way. A 

 glance at the table of contents, and through the headings 

 of the pages, will sufliciently indicate the nature of all the 

 divisions of the work except the "Key." In that, the 

 author has good authority for believing that he has intro- 

 duced a method hitherto not applied in American treatises 

 on the science, and also for hoping that the method has 

 (as is not always the case with innovations) enough useful- 

 ness to justify the novelty. For some explanation of the 

 uses of this Key, both as an aid and stimulus to the un- 

 learned, and a labor-saver to those already somewhat 

 acquainted with the science, the reader's patient attention 

 is requested. 



The study of Botany can not become truly profitable 

 until a number of plants have been identified by the 

 student, and their images received into his memory. 



