66 THE SECOND BOOK OF BOTANY. 



fly, mallows, Saint- John's- wort, clover, pea or bean, 

 wild-rose, strawberry, geranium, violet, morning- 

 glory. 



Now, why have we put these particular schedules 

 into the note-book ? Compare them with each other. 

 Do you not see that the statements in the cohesion 

 and adhesion columns are widely unlike? This is 

 why we have chosen them. They are so many dif- 

 ferent patterns of the make-up of flowers, and you 

 have simply to compare each flower you describe with 

 one and another of these patterns, to see which is the 

 best fit. If none of them fit at all, then set up your 

 new acquaintance as another pattern, and see if you 

 can find any of its relations in the course of the sum- 

 mer. So, do not confine yourself to comparisons be- 

 tween your specimens and the patterns in your note- 

 book. Compare them freely with each other, and 

 you will soon have many little collections of plants 

 bearing very strong resemblances to each other. 



Your thought will be something like this : While 

 you are observing and describing a plant, you will 

 ask yourself, " Have I ever before described one like it 

 in the matters of cohesion and adhesion I " If you 

 can think of none, you will try to recall those near- 

 est like it. By pursuing this plan, you will be sur- 

 prised to find how quickly many of the plants of a 

 region, that were never before thought of as at all 

 alike, fall into company on the ground of these deeper 

 resemblances which your studies have led you to dis- 

 cover. 



The reason why you are set systematically to clas- 

 sifying plants now, and have not been asked to do it 

 before, is, that among the characters of plants that 



