54 THE PLANT. 



let of agriculture, and the learner should become 

 perfectly familiar with them, before proceeding 

 further. 



To enter more fully and more scientifically upon 

 the consideration of the various properties of these 

 substances, and of their relations to each other, 

 would, no doubt, be in better accordance with the 

 demands of accurate knowledge ; but the foregoing 

 is believed to be a perfectly true, although a very 

 simple statement of the first principles of the growth 

 and composition of plants, and is sufficient for the 

 first steps in agricultural study. 



A clear comprehension of what is herein set forth 

 should have the effect of stimulating a further search, 

 in which more extended treatises will become neces- 

 sarv. 



