INTRODUCTION. XV 



they have some knowledge of its kinships and its 

 names. The name is the index to all that has been 

 written about it, a means of learning its range, its 

 habits, and its uses. Such persons approach the tree 

 in a different spirit than the botanist does. They 

 want an easy and personal method of apprehending 

 it. They have no desire to discover or record scien- 

 tific facts. They are not of the analytical turn of 

 mind. They simply want an introduction to the 

 trees whom they meet. Their desire is as legiti- 

 mate as the botanist's, and it is more necessary that 

 it be satisfied. The botanist can make his own 

 helps, if need be. I am glad of every new book, 

 therefore, which invites people to see and to know 

 Nature. That method of treatment is best which in- 

 terests the greatest number of persons. If only the 

 statements are clear and accurate, the critic has no 

 right to condemn the book. If the book is made for 

 the people, time is the only judge of its merits. As 

 foliage is the most obvious feature of trees, aside 

 from form, it would seem that leaf -forms afford the 

 most useful basis of introduction to a common knowl- 

 edge of trees; and if, in addition, the artist draws 

 and describes the objects as he sees them, the result 

 must be beneficent. 



L. H. Bailey. 



Cornell University, May, 1896. 



