S2 AMONG THE WILD-FLOWERS 



like those of boneset that you would suspect 

 their relationship at once. 



Without the name any flower is still more or 

 less a stranger to you. The name betrays its 

 family, its relationship to other flowers, and 

 gives the mind something tangible to grasp. 

 It is very diflicult for persons who have had no 

 special training to learn the names of the flow- 

 ers from the botany. The botany is a sealed 

 book to them. The descriptions of the flowers 

 are in a language which they do not understand 

 at all. And the key is no help to them. It 

 is as much a puzzle as the botany itself. They 

 need a key to unlock the key. 



One of these days some one will give us a 

 handbook of our wild - flowers, by the aid of 

 which we shall all l)e able to name those we 

 gather in our walks without the trouble of 

 analyzing them. In this book we shall have a 

 list of all our flowers arranged according to 

 color, as white flowers, blue flowers, yellow 

 flowers, pink flowers, etc., with place of growth 

 and time of blooming. Also lists or sub-lists 

 of fragrant flowers, climbing flowers, marsh 

 flowers, meadow flowers, wood flowers, etc., so 

 that, with flower in hand, by running over 

 these lists we shall be pretty sure to find its 

 name. Having got its name we can turn to 

 Gray or Wood and find a more teclinical de- 

 scription of it if we choose. 



