424 LABRADOE 



for these latter mainly that this chapter has been written. 

 The more they can understand and observe of the great 

 wild garden that, if really seen and intimately known, makes 

 impossible any thought of barrenness, the larger will be 

 their pleasure. However small the knowledge with which 

 he starts, no one need be deterred from attempting to gain 

 a larger comprehension of these matters, so significant for 

 the correct interpretation of the true nature of a country. 

 If these be its features in which he is most interested, he 

 will at least add enormously to his own satisfaction and 

 insight. By making a carefully selected and well-annotated 

 collection of plants, he may also, on submitting it to 

 reliable experts, make some extension to the list of re- 

 corded varieties and species that occur there. If he will 

 prepare himself as well as possible beforehand and then 

 make some special study of still unsettled points, such as 

 the edibility of various plants, the particular features of 

 certain especially variable species and of the conditions 

 under which they occur, the influence of particular situa- 

 tions, soils, and conditions, he may well hope to make 

 contributions to new knowledge. Plenty of such oppor- 

 tunities are still open to the amateur. In spite of his 

 own unfortunate experience in admitting errors into his 

 published description, the writer still does not hesitate to 

 encourage amateurs in endeavouring to make really new 

 additions to knowledge in this far from fully explored 

 field. The mistakes of an amateur may well be forgiven 

 and gradually corrected, if he does not pretend to be any- 

 thing more ; and confession of the difficulties met with by 

 one of them may help to eliminate similar troubles in the 

 future, and to render only real discoveries liable to pub- 



