PREFACE 



Among the happiest days of our childhood were those devoted to the 

 study of Botany. Pure sunshine rests upon the memory of those rambles 

 in the fields and woods, amid the opening flowers of Spring, and then in 

 the gay profusion of advancing Summer, in which we made acquaintance 

 with many a floral gem before unknown. We love to think of that wild 

 woodland lake where first we saw the sparkling Sundew, the quaint 

 Sarracenia, and the fair Nymphsea, resting on the bosom of the waters ; 

 or of that lowly dell by the brookside, where the Yellow Violet, the 

 Ilepatica, and the Bloodroot bloomed ; or of that craggy mountain, 

 where, among the rocks, the Columbine hung out its scarlet flowers. 

 Then returning home with our gathered treasures, how we entered with a 

 will upon the work of Analysis, toUing for hours as no schoolmaster could 

 have compelled us to do, being attracted to the task by the very love of it 

 alone. Here, then, we have at least one department in learning whose 

 earnest pursuit is so congenial to the aflfections and tastes of the mind as 

 to be no irksome task, but a pastime, — a perpetual feast; and this not 

 only to maturer mi-nds, but to the season of early youth even in a higher 

 degree, since then the objects of nature are especially invested with the 

 charms of novelty. 



Let it not be said, however, that Botany attracts such willing vota,rics 

 because it requires no labor, no persevering effort. No science is more 

 intricate or profound. It cannot be understood except by vigorous and 

 persevering effort. Consequently, in its successful pursuit there is disci- 

 pline for the mind as well as for the body; and since the subject itself is 

 replete with refinement and beauty, and fresh from the hand of God, its 

 pursuit must also conduce to the invigoration of the moral nature. 



If, then, it be desirable to preoccupy the minds of our children with 

 controlling ideas of purity, refinement, and moral beauty, — witli exalted 



