22 INTRODUCTION. 



every one is equally open to even a stray 

 bullet. 



The present edition has four new chapters, 

 which to a slight extent condense the results 

 of a further study of the man of the forest, 

 the insects that ravage our cultivation and 

 the three great laws. I do not pretend that 

 my views on these and any other subject are 

 novel ; they are certainly not intended for 

 the technical botanist or zoologist. Never- 

 theless they are probably put in a way to be 

 understood by the average reader, who does 

 not like to be hampered with technical terms. 

 With time possibly I may be able to do 

 something for the scientific student, but at 

 present I can only generalise. In the six- 

 teen years since I wrote the book my 

 accumulations of facts have become neces- 

 sarily greater, but there is very little that I 

 care to delete. In fact, it was rather difficult 



