HOW TO USE THE BOOK 



vania and in the vicinity of Washington, I have been enabled to 

 describe many of our wild flowers from personal observation ; and 

 I have endeavored to increase the usefulness of the book by in- 

 cluding as well those comparatively few flowers not found within 

 the range mentioned, but commonly encountered at some point 

 this side of Chicago. 



The grouping according to color was suggested by a passage 

 in one of Mr. Burroughs's "Talks about Flowers." It seemed, 

 on careful consideration, to offer an easier identification than 

 any other arrangement. One is constantly asked the name of 

 some "little blue flower," or some " large pink flower," noted 

 by the wayside. While both the size and color of a flower fix 

 themselves in the mind of the casual observer, the color is the 

 more definitely appreciated characteristic of the two and serves 

 far better as a clew to its identification. 



When the flowers are brought in from the woods and fields 

 they should be sorted according to color and then traced to their 

 proper places in the various sections. As far as possible the 

 flowers have been arranged according to the seasons' sequence, 

 the spring flowers being placed in the first part of each section, 

 the summer flowers next, and the autumn flowers last. 



It has sometimes been difficult to determine the proper posi- 

 tion of a flower blues, purples, and pinks shading so gradually 

 one into another as to cause difference of opinion as to the color 

 of a blossom among the most accurate. So if the object of our 

 search is not found in the first section consulted, we must turn to 

 that other one which seems most likely to include it. 



It has seemed best to place in the White section those flowers 

 which are so faintly tinted with other colors as to give a white 

 effect in the mass, or when seen at a distance. Some flowers are 

 so green as to seem almost entitled to a section of their own, but 

 if closely examined the green is found to be so diluted with white 

 as to render them describable by the term greenish-white. A 

 white flower veined with pink will also be described in the White 

 section, unless its general effect should be so pink as to entitle it 

 to a position in the Pink section. Such a flower again as the. 



