PREFACE 



Every book has a reason for its being, or should 

 have. There are excellent flower books, galore, but 

 apparently there is a break in the series into which 

 it is hoped the present volume will make a welcome 

 fit. We are living in a progressive age, an inquisi- 

 tive age, an age in which we want to know the names 

 and meaning of all we see and hear. I have always 

 held that a well-executed colored picture, as a means 

 of identification, is worth pages of text. Of course 

 the text is necessary to call attention to the salient 

 points of the picture. In the case of flowers, birds, 

 mammals, etc., the habits, ranges, sizes and other 

 important points must be obtained from the text, but 

 the picture, itself, forms the basis of quick and sure 

 identification. 



I was practically brought up among birds and, con- 

 sequently, flowers, because the two are inseparable 

 companions in the fields. Wherever I wandered, I 

 had one eye open for "new" flowers. Every such 

 prize went home with me; if not carried in the hand, 

 why, in the top of the hat. No sooner home than 

 out came the old "Gray's", the microscope and dis- 

 secting points. Sister and I eagerly weighed the evi- 

 dence, placing the "find" in one family and then an- 

 other, as discrepancies were found, until at last, we 

 had it cornered down to the family, the genus and, 

 finally, the exact species. 



Every new invention is designed to accomplish* some 

 end quicker or better than it has been done before. 



