PHEFACE. 



THE purpose of the series of volumes of which this is 

 the first, is to provide Students of Forest-Botany 

 with a guide to the study of trees and shrubs from the 

 point of view of the outdoor naturalist. At the same 

 time I hope to interest them in certain methods of 

 laboratory work, which help us to amplify the results of 

 field-studies by the examination of the objects observed 

 in their native habitats, somewhat more closely under 

 the lens or microscope. 



Somewhat gloomy views have occasionally been ex- 

 pressed by botanists who deplore the neglect of natural 

 history studies in the open, the now common use of the 

 microscope and of laboratory methods having, in their 

 opinion, exercised a powerful fascination on the study 

 of plants detrimental to outdoor work. Considerable 

 experience has convinced me that the neglect of the 

 older methods of observation of the living plant, which 

 rendered the study of Botany so exhilarating to the 

 naturalist of pre-laboratory days, is to a large extent 

 our own fault. The text-books of to-day, excellent as 

 they are in most respects, are apt to lack that peculiar 

 kind of stimulus, so necessary for young students, which 



