IN NORTH AMERICA. 27 



able communications upon American plants; particularly the Ca- 

 ricography of Prof. Dewey, commencing in the seventh, and con- 

 tinued through many subsequent volumes. 



In 1824, Doctor Johx Torrey, of New York, began the pub- 

 lication of a Flora of the Northern and Middle Sections of the 

 United States, in accordance with the Linnsean arrangement. This 

 was ably executed, as far as it extended, which was to the class 

 Icosandria, inclusive ; when it was discontinued. 



In this year, also, the New York Lyceum of Natural History 

 commenced the publication of their Annals, in which are many 

 botanical articles of great value : such as Dr. Torrey's account 

 of Rocky Mountain Plants ;* ScnwEiNiTZ and Torrey's Mono- 

 graph of North American Carices ; Le Conte's Observations on 

 the North American Species of the Gfenns Viola, &c. &c. 



About this time, some of the schools, in the Northern States, 

 began to make a profession of teaching Botany ; and thereupon 

 arose a demand for suitable books for that purpose. Accordingly, 

 a number, such as they were, soon appeared. Among the most 

 successful, was a Manual, compiled by Prof. Amos Eatox, of Troy, 

 N. Y., which has passed through several editions. f They were all 

 useful, to some extent, in aiding to promote a taste for the study 

 of plants ; but few of them were exactly adapted to the wants of 

 students, or calculated to make scientific botanists. 



In 1826, Doctor Torrey published, at New York, a compen- 

 dium of the Flora of the Northern and Middle States, which 

 was very convenient for herborizers. In the same year, a Catalogue 

 of the Phaenogamous Plants, native and naturalized, growing in the 

 vicinity of West Chester, Penn., was published in that borough, by 

 the writer of this, under the title of Florida Cestrica. 



In this year also, Dr. Lewis C. Beck commenced the publica- 

 tion, in Silliman's Journal, vol. x., of Contributions toioards 

 the Botany of the States of Illinois and Missouri. These made 

 known a number of new plants, and were otherwise highly in- 

 teresting. The " Contributions" were arranged according to the 

 Linncean Method, and were continued in the 11th and 14th 



* Prof. Tobrey's Memoir on the Rocky Mountain Plants, prepared in 1826, was 

 the first specimen in our country, of a regular Flora arranged according to the 

 Natural System; and is, indeed, an admirable performance. 



f The first edition of Eaton's Manual of Botany -was published in 1818 ; the 

 eighth, and last, which was much enlarged and improved, and was the joint labour 

 of Messrs. Eaton and AVeight, appeared in 1840. 



