PREFACE. 



This little manual has been prepared at the urgent solicita- 

 tion of many planters for many years. It is written in as plain, 

 simple language as could well be done ; so that any intelligent 

 reader may easily understand it all. Full descriptions in plain 

 English of all the plants mentioned would have much more than 

 doubled the size of the book ; technical descriptions would be 

 hard to comprehend , and hence it was deemed best to give first 

 the botanical name of each plant, so that any desiring, may 

 consult such books as Gray's, Chapman's, or Wood's recent 

 works for fuller descriptions. The more important distinctive 

 characters are given Avhenever deemed necessary. 



Much more time and labor have been expended in collecting 

 and correcting synonyms, and carefully identifying plants by 

 their popular or common names, than in all the other portions 

 of the work together. 



A number of plants new or unknown to most farmers have 

 been described at some length, especially when giving promise 

 of much agricultural value. Many others of little worth are 

 mentioned, that farmers may not waste time and money in ex- 

 perimenting with them. Many that are very valuable are too 

 briefly treated because the space assigned me would not admit 

 of fuller detail. And for the same reason many important top- 

 ics have not been even mentioned. 



My own experiences and practises have been given quite free- 

 ly as requested by friends. 



The work has been prepared in the intervals of other absorb- 

 ing labors, with an average of not less than twenty interrup- 

 tions for every page. It has been printed from the original 

 rough draft as it has been impossible to find time to copy or re- 

 vise it. For the same reason a few typographical errors may 

 have escaped uncorrected. In spite of all efforts to the contra- 

 ry, the work contains over 50 per cent more than the limits 

 assigned me would have permitted. 



Should health and leisure permit, I desire at some future 

 time to prepare a large illustrated work on all the Forage 

 Plants of the Southern United States. 



D. L. PHASES. 

 A. & M. COLLEGE OF Miss. ) 

 September, 1st., 1881. / 



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