LETTER XXXVI 



Dr. Buzzard Botany As a Science Popular Works on Botany 

 Objections to them The English Flower Garden 

 Flowers of the Field Gerard's Herbal Contrast between 

 Modern Description and Old of Plants Water Violets 

 Gerard's Description of Violets. 



22nd August 1 892. 



DEAR MARCO Our mutual friend, Dr. 

 Buzzard, once expressed his surprise to me 

 that, fond as I am of plants and their ways 

 of growth and beauty, I should never have 

 taken up botany as a serious study. The fact 

 is, I am, I think, too fond of flowers to do 

 so ; I could never get myself to associate 

 these beautiful objects of creation in any way 

 with the dry nomenclature and everlasting 

 classification with which botanical science 

 seems to me to be overladen. 



There are plenty of available books on 

 flowers, of a popular character, written for 



