PREFACE 



Many books have been published for the avowed purpose of 

 making known our wild flowers. For botanical students there 

 are the technical floras, and for those not familiar with botani- 

 cal nomenclature there have been provided various artificial 

 keys to our common trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. 

 Formerly the study of botany consisted chiefly in "the mental 

 gymnastics" of analyzing flowers to determine their names, 

 but this is very far indeed from knowing them. The identi- 

 fication of a species should be regarded merely as an introduc- 

 tion and the beginning of a friendship long to be continued. 

 The present volume treats of plants alive and in the midst of 

 their home surroundings. There is no more attractive subject 

 for investigation than the manifold ways in which flowers have 

 solved their life problems, and have made use of both inanimate 

 and animate agencies as pollen-carriers. The practical value 

 of such observations cannot be easily overestimated, since they 

 make the bee-keeper familiar with the resources of the honey 

 flora, and save the fruit-grower from great disappointment and 

 loss. 



During many years the author has devoted a great amount 

 of time to the observation of the life-relations of flowers. The 

 forms and functions of the floral members have been carefully 

 studied, and innumerable hours have been given to watching 

 the behavior of the insect visitors and collecting them. For 



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