Vlll PREFACE. 
Dictionary," and by Loudon, in his "Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum." There 
is one feature, as regards this arrangement, to which the author would call particular 
attention. It will be perceived that, in various instances, he has reduced the number 
of species, and even, in some cases, of varieties, which he wishes to be distinctly un- 
derstood has been done, not only with the object of rendering the classification less 
complicated, but with an opinion that such analogies do exist ; yet he is not by any 
means desirous to separate assemblages of species, or to alter established names, in any 
manner whatever. No one, he conceives, should do this who has not attained an em- 
inent rank as a botanist, to which he has no pretensions. Hence, in most of the cases 
in which he has assumed a species as a variety, he has given the names as adopted by 
Michaux, Nuttall, Loudon, or some other botanical writer, in order that the reader may 
know under what heads such varieties are described in the works of these authors. 
The author feels called upon to acknowledge that he is paiticulaily indebted to Mr. 
J. C. Loudon for a large share of his work, taken from the "Arboretum Britannicum," 
and to Dr. Thaddeus W. Harris for many valuable extracts from his " Report on the 
Insects of Massachusetts injurious to Vegetation;" also to Mr. P.J. Selby for extracts 
from his beautiful work on "British Forest Trees," and to " L'Histoire des Arbres 
Forestiers de l'Amerique Septentrionale," par M. F. Andre-Michaux. 
As the preparation of a treatise like the present necessarily requires time to be con- 
summated, and is attended with considerable expense, the author has ventured to issue 
a volume, by which public opinion may be guided respecting its merits, and a judgment 
may be formed of the ability or fidelity with which it has been executed. Should the 
public demand an extension of the work conformably to the plan he has adopted, a sup- 
plementary volume will follow, embracing an account of most of the other trees grow- 
ing in Europe and America, with statements of the sources from which the information 
will have been derived ; copious indexes ; a glossary of technical terms employed in 
the work; and comparative tables of the various kinds of wood, in regard to their 
strength, durability, value as fuel, and a variety of other useful information respecting 
timber and trees never before published. 
In conclusion, the author requests that his readers will seasonably apprise him of 
whatever corrections, additions, or suggestions may occur to them, in order that the 
work may be rendered as complete as possible, and issued without unnecessary delay. 
D. J. B. 
V/j York, August, 1846. 
