22 PROSERPINA. 



Whatever I say, is to be understood only as a conditional 

 statement liable to, and inviting, correction. And this the 

 more because, as on the whole, I am at war with the botanists, 

 I can't ask them to help me, and then call them names after- 

 wards. I hope only for a contemptuous heaping of coals on 

 my head by correction of my errors from them ; in some cases, 

 my scientific friends will, I know, give me forgiving aid ; 

 but, for many reasons, I am forced first to print the imperfect 

 statement, as I can independently shape it ; for if once I asked 

 for, or received help, every thought would be frost-bitten 

 into timid expression, and every sentence broken by apology. 

 I should have to write a dozen of letters before I could print 

 a line, and the line, at last, would be only like a bit of any 

 other botanical book trustworthy, it might be, perhaps ; but 

 certainly unreadable. Whereas now, it will rather put things 

 more forcibly in the reader's mind to have them retouched 

 and corrected as we go on ; and our natural and honest mis- 

 takes will often be suggestive of things we could not have 

 discovered but by wandering. 



On these guarded conditions, then, I proceed to study, with 

 my reader, the first general laws of vegetable form. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE ROOT. 



1. PLANTS in their perfect form consist of four principal 

 parts, the Eoot, Stem, Leaf, and Flower. It is true that the 

 stem and flower are parts, or remnants, or altered states, of 

 the leaves ; and that, speaking with close accuracy, we might 

 say, a perfect plant consists of leaf and root. But the division 

 into these four parts is best for practical purposes, and it will 

 be desirable to note a few general facts about each, before 

 endeavouring to describe any one kind of plant. Only, be- 

 cause the character of the stem depends on the nature of the 

 leaf and flower, we must put it last in order of examination ; 

 and trace the development of the plant first in root and leaf ; 

 then in the flower and its fruit ; and lastly in the stem. 



