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AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



XXIIL ATTRACTIONS OF PLANT LIFE. 



RUDIMENTARY BOTANY. All mankind, or nearly all, and 

 all womankind at some stage of existence, have taken such 

 interest in plant life as might have induced them to master 



the rudiments of 

 botany. And many 

 follow up the pursuit 

 sufficiently to make it 

 a source of life-long 

 euj oy ment. As a step 

 towards the desire to 

 know more of plant 

 growth, a book or 

 books on botany may 

 have been purchased 

 most works of that 

 kind are valuable ; but 

 Commencing Early. notone can give all the 



information required 



by reading only not for a first, second, or even a third read- 

 ing. That is got by close study of the 'principles laid down, 

 and by cultivating acquaintance with the subjects the 

 orders of plants described. When investigation is added to 

 reading, the knowledge is got as we proceed, and plant life 

 opens out into paths even as attractive as animal life. 



Botanical Classification. To the specialist, minute 

 classification upon the lines followed by botanists in all 

 lands is necessary. Many of the terms and names employed 

 difficult though they may seem are really more closely 

 descriptive of the plants in view than even the " plain 

 English " common names and terms which it will be our 

 effort to use at this stage. Botanical science terms may 

 follow after. Thus annual plants, or annuals, are those that 

 grow from seed and flower, and mature seed again in one 

 season, or during one year. We may at once recognise 

 many plants of that nature, such as poppies, cosmos, corn, 

 and scores of others. Bi-annuals are plants that live over 

 one year, but not over two ; and perennials include the 

 great mass of shrubs climbers, and trees which live longer 



