PROSPECT xiii 



those that are offered for sale within a space of ten or fifteen years, supplemented with 

 lists submitted by actual cultivatoi'S. It is not the fact that these plants are bought and 

 sold that is important, but the fact that they are in cultivation at the present time in 

 this country. These lists give us a census of our horticultural resources. A species- 

 name which occurs in trade lists must be run down and inserted. Not knowingly 

 has any been omitted. 



(2) The species are compared and contrasted, as well as described. In all genera 

 containing several species, keys or classificatory schemes have been devised. This 

 makes it incumbent upon the writer that he understand each species, not merely copy 

 a description of it. It enables the reader to name the species he has in hand. It 

 is an analytic rather than a compilatory method. The reader will be surprised to know 

 how much labor the mere introduction of keys has added to the making of the book. It 

 has certainly more than doubled the labor. The Editor believes that he could make the 

 entire Cyclopedia in two years 7 time if all the species were to be arranged alphabetically 

 under the genus and without introductory keys. 



(3) The leading articles are signed with the name of the writer. Thereby is 

 responsibility fixed and due credit given. The chief value of the signed article, how- 

 ever, is the fact that it gives personality to the writings and presents a wide range of 

 experience and achievement. It is singularly gratifying that horticulturists and botan- 

 ists have responded with the greatest good will to the repeated calls for help. Their 

 inspiration has saved the book. The botany of large and difficult groups has been 

 placed bodily in the hands of specialists. The number of contributors is large and has 

 grown with each volume. More than 450 persons have aided in the making of the 

 Cyclopedia. The. great number of signed articles gives the work a somewhat hetero- 

 geneous character, and this may be considered by some persons to be a disadvantage; 

 but the Editor has not accepted the current idea that a cyclopedia must necessarily be 

 uniform and consistent in its treatment of various and unlike subjects. 



(■4) The book is primarily a cyclopedia of horticulture, rather than of gardening. 

 It has endeavored to catch the large -area and commercial spirit of North American 

 plant culture, while still holding to the many and varied amateur interests. Not all 

 the entries are names of plants. 



(5) It has attempted to represent plants as living and growing things that are 

 still undergoing evolution. It has tried to indicate the range and extent of variation, 

 rather than to treat plant-names as representing entities in nature. Whenever possible 

 it has been the purpose to suggest the general lines of evolution in the important 

 groups. This has introduced the historical method of treatment. Of course only the 

 merest touch can be had with these subjects, because knowledge of them is yet to 

 come; but it is hoped that the sympathetic reader will feel the drift of an evolutionary 

 motive. 



Other points of view that seem to the Editor to be important are: The effort to 

 present a new set of horticultural pictures; to give biographies of persbns who have 

 had an important influence on the trend of American horticulture; to present geo- 

 graphical and historical subjects; to give special attention to tropical and subtropical 

 economic plants ; to cite freely references to literature. 



It must be admitted that the foregoing categories are ideals. At all points, it is 

 feared, the accomplishment has fallen far short of the purpose. The Editor would 

 like to do the work all over again, so many are the improvements that might be made. 

 One must make a book in order to learn how to make it. The work has grown as it 



