PART I. 



ELEMENTS AND OUTLINES 



OP 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



VEGETABLE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, 

 VEGETABLE ORGANS, 

 BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION, 



GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS, 

 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS, 

 AMERICAN PLANTS AND FORESTS. 



Sketch of the Divisions and History of the Subject. 



jl knowledge of plants, or vegetables, consists in an acquaintance, 

 1st, with their external forms and appearances, and 2d, with their in- 

 ternal structure and organic action. The former comprehends botany, 

 and requires a careful observation and study of the peculiarities of 

 plants, with an extensive knowledge of terminology. The latter re- 

 quires an investigation into the anatomy and functions of the organs, 

 and an analysis of the component parts of plants. This may be de- 

 nominated vegetable physiology, or vegetable organic chemistry. There 

 may be a 3d division, consisting of a practical knowledge of the modes 

 of cultivating plants, and also of their qualities and uses, which be- 

 longs properly, to gardening and horticulture. 



The great variety of plants has rendered their systematic arrange- 

 ment into classes, orders, genera, species and varieties, a somewhat 

 difficult task. The processes, also, of determining the internal organ- 

 ization and vital action of plants, with the phenomina of assimilation, 

 nave likewise been a task of much labor and scientific research. Still, 

 as few subjects possess equal interest, or are more attractive, a knowl- 

 edge, both of the nature and classification of plants, has rapidly ad- 

 vanced, of late ; so that either may now be known with comparative- 

 ly little time or labor. The want of this knowledge must have been 

 long and painfully felt by mankind, as it has been only within a few 

 years that a systematic arrangement and philosophic investigation 

 have determined the character and useful properties of plants, and 

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