6 INTRODUCTION. 



our modern IMPROVERS will be along with mine 

 properly valued in due time There is a ten- 

 dency to resist improvements and neglect facts 

 for awhile hy the old schools of science, which 

 are afterwards taken hold of by more liberal and 

 enlightened teachers or pupils. 



Therefore my own Flora and that of Torrey 

 will not interfere in the least, but be supplemen- 

 tal to each other ; while his labor will proba- 

 bly save me the trouble of writing many Mo- 

 nographs, or verifying many synonyms and quo- 

 tations. When his Flora will be concluded, I 

 shall have merely to publish my additions to it, 

 in order to complete our real GENERAL FLOHA, 

 of all the plants actualy known to me or others. 



It is well known that notwithstanding the 

 greatest industry and exertions, it is not possi- 

 ble for any botanist (or even a set of them) to 

 collect or see all the plants of a vast region like 

 our own: therefore there are many plants known 

 only to myself or a few others ; and if besides 

 they are short sighted, or lack the botanical sa- 

 gacity of ascertaining generic and specific char- 

 acters, it may happen that they will overlook 

 many such, even whjn met with in the woods 

 or in herbals. 



As I think that I am gifted with a peculiar 

 sharp sagacity in discriminating Genera and 

 Species of Plants and Animals, it behoves me 

 to use it in order to rectify these objects and 

 the sciences relating thereto. It is what I have 

 often done, am now doing, and will continue to 

 do as long as I live, not being prevented by the 

 sneer or neglect or any one. whom I consider 

 less sagacious than myself, who cannot discri- 

 minate between the most conspicuous charac- 

 ters blended by the Linneists or modern Blen- 

 ders and Shufflers. 



