vi Minnesota Plant Life. 



planations of bacterial relation to dairy industries and to the curing of tobacco. Other 

 new facts have been elicited by investigators studying the red and purple coloring 

 substances in plants, so that, if prepared to-day t various chapters would undergo 

 slight alteration* In a subject developing so rapidly as is modern botany, it is diffi- 

 cult to be always absolutely abreast of the current. 



A large number of the illustrations in the volume are from photographs of Min- 

 nesota vegetation, some of them made by myself, or under my direction, others 

 selected from the collections of friends, acquaintances and dealers. Many figures, 

 too, have been obtained in other ways. I have particularly to thank Dr. N, L. 

 Britton, of the New York Botanic Garden, for the cuts from his splendid Illustrated 

 Flora of North America, here credited to Britton and Brown. I am also much in- 

 debted to Professor G. F. Atkinson, of Cornell University, for permission to use nu- 

 merous engravings from his excellent text-book, Elementary ^Botany, and likewise 

 express my thanks to the United States Department of Agriculture, to Professor 

 Francis Ramaley, of the University of Colorado, Mr. C. G. Lloyd, of Cincinnati, the 

 Botanical Gazette, Meehan r s Monthly, Professor L. H. Bailey, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, Professor B. D. Halsted, of Rutgers College, Professors Hall and Appleby and 

 Instructors Mackintosh, Mills and "Wheeler, of the University of Minnesota, Professor 

 Bruce Fink, of Fayette College, the late Warren W. Pendergast, and several others, 

 all of whom have assisted me in collecting illustrations. Tarn also greatly obliged to 

 my father, Dr. Geo. McMillan, for much valuable assistance with the proofs, and to 

 Miss Josephine E. Tilden for the preparation of the index. 



I am particularly indebted to President Cyrus Northrop for suggestions and 

 assistance, without which, in all probability, this volume would have been neither 

 prepared nor published. 



Among many books that I had occasion to consult during the preparation of 

 manuscript the Illustrated Flora of Britton and Brown, Sargent's magnificent Sil e ua, 

 Kerner's 'Plant Life, "Warming's Ecology, Schimper's 'Plant Geography, Lafar's 

 Technical Mycology and Upham's Catalogue of the Minnesota Flora, deserve 

 especial mention. Yet I should not give the impression that cMinnesota Plant Life 

 is wholly a product of the study; it is much more the offspring of the woods, the 

 prairies, the rivers and the lakes. In every part of the state, during the past twelve 

 years, I have visited them, and this book, with whatever merits and demerits it may 

 have, received an inspiration from such excursions among the plants themselves. 



If, by the distribution of this volume a broader knowledge, a deeper interest, a 

 truer appreciation and a better understanding comes to those in whose hands its pages 

 open, the writer will feel well repaid for the labor of preparation. An intelligent 

 study of nature is one of the foundation stones of useful citizenship. 



The University of Minnesota, 

 October 2, 1899. 



