PREFACE. V 



after a reduction of its price to one-half its original cost^ it was 

 obliged to succumb to its destiny. It failed not for want of 

 literary and botanical support, but because it wanted the sole 

 self-sustaining element, viz. a remunerative sale. This is the 

 great motive power in all literary and scientific undertakings. 



The Botanists who take an interest in a periodical like our 

 own, are only those who, in common parlance, are denominated 

 botanical collectors. These may in Great Britain amount to 

 hundreds, but certainly they are not counted by thousands. A 

 magazine which is adapted to supply their wants, must neces- 

 sarily have but few supporters, especially when it is considered 

 that many of these plant-collectors cannot conveniently spare a 

 shilling a month. It is upon the whole no subject of regret that- 

 the hunters-up of rare species are not numerous. The spread 

 of knowledge is very desirable, but the destruction of scarce 

 plants is a subject to be deplored by every geuuine Botanist. 



While laying these facts before our readers, for their informa- 

 tion and satisfaction, it should not be inferred that the ' Phyto- 

 logist' has been a failure. Speaking commercially, it has yielded 

 no pecuniary profit ; on the contrary, as stated above, the owners 

 have not been indemnified for the necessary expenses ; the ca- 

 pital and labour expended have yielded no money-returns. It 

 has however been a channel through which many hitherto un- 

 known facts have been communicated to the public, and perma- 

 nently recorded for the benefit of the present generation, and for 

 the instruction of posterity. It has been almost the sole medium 

 among Botanists for circulating their opinions, their wants, and 

 wishes, for nearly a quarter of a century. It has been a chro- 

 nicle of passing events in botanical science for the same period ; 

 facts and discoveries which would have been forgotten if there 

 had been no such periodical, have been preserved in its pages, 

 and will be available in the times to come. Besides, it has 

 stimulated many observers in all parts of the kingdom to inves- 

 tigate and to record the productions of their immediate localities. 



This subject is far from being exhausted. There are hundreds 

 of nooks and corners in Old England, ay, and in Auld Scotland 

 and Ould Ireland, which will repay the labour bestowed on this 

 innocent and unassuming investigation. 



