8 INTRODUCTION 



the world, even to the very edge of the arctic circles, you 

 will find plants in the growing season covering the earth 

 with green, making it beautiful and fruitful, making it 

 habitable for man. 



Evidently plant life is one of the big things in the world 

 in which you live. It is so big a thing and so important 

 that you need to know about it. You need to know about 

 it whatever your business is going to be. Even though you 

 are not going to be a farmer, or a florist, or a forester, or 

 in any other way make your living directly out of knowl- 

 edge of plants, none the less it will pay you to have such 

 knowledge. It will pay you to be able thereby better to 

 appreciate the work of the farmer, who works for us all. 

 Though knowledge of plants may not pay you in money, it 

 will pay you in something else which is just as important as 

 money. Money helps us enjoy life. Knowledge of plants 

 may also help us enjoy life, and even more certainly than 

 money does. 



Every boy who likes to fish or swim or tramp through 

 the woods is a lover of nature. Every girl who likes to 

 gather flowers or watch the sunset is a lover of nature. 

 All of us, whether we call it that or not, have some love of 

 nature. It seems to be born in us. The pleasure that we 

 take in plants is a part of it, a very considerable part of 

 it. Nothing will more certainly add to our enjoyment of 

 life than cultivation of this love of nature, and one way 

 to cultivate it is to learn about nature. The more you know 

 about nature (of which plants form such an important 

 part) the more you care for the country. Knowledge of 

 plants and animals makes it a different place for you from 

 what it was before. With your eyes opened by knowledge, 

 you can enjoy the country more than most people enjoy 



