Book I. THE STUDY OF SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 209 



century ; more especially by the exertions of Linnaeus, and those of Jussieu, Mirbel, and 

 some other French philosophers. This study comprehends systematic botany, vegetable 

 anatomy, vegetable chemistry, physiology, pathology, the distribution of vegetables, and 

 vegetable culture. The study of these branches is of the utmost importance to the agri- 

 culturist, especially that of vegetable physiology ; and though the limits of this vvork do 

 not permit us to enter into the subject at great length ; yet we shall direct his attention 

 to the leading points, and refer him to the best books. 



Chap. I. 



Of the Study of Systematic Botany. 



1 292. Glossology, or the study of the names of the parts of plants, is the first step iil 

 this department. 



1293. All the arts and sciences require to express with hreinty and perspicuity a crowd of ideas unzised in 

 comtnon language, and unknown to the greater part of men : whence that multitude of terms, or tech- 

 nical turns, given to ordinary words, which the public often turn into ridicule, because they do not feel 

 the use of them ; but which all are obliged to make use of, who apply themselves to any study what- 

 ever. Botany having to describe an immense number of beings, and each of these beings having a great 

 variety of organs, requires a great variety of terms. Nearly all botanists are agreed as to these terms, 

 and in order that they may be universally understood and remain unchanged in meaning, they are taken 

 from a dead or fixed language. 



1294. A plant in flower, surveyed externally, may be perceived to be composed of a variety of obvious 

 parts, such as the root, the stem, the branch, the leaf, the flower, the fruit, and perhaps the seed ; and 

 other parts less obvious, as buds, prickles, tendrils, hairs, glands, &c. These, with their modifications, 

 and all the relative circumstances which enter into the botanical description of a plant, constitute 

 the subject of glossology, or the study of the language of botany. The reader may consult Smith's 

 Introduction to Botany, or almost any recent work on the elements of botanical science. 



1295. Phytography, or the naming and describing qf plants, is the next part of the subject to be considered. 

 Before botany became a regular science, plants were named as individual beings, without regard to any 

 relation which they had to one another. But from the great number of names to be retained on the memory, 

 and the obvious affinities existing among certain individuals or natural families, some method was soon 

 found necessary, and it was then deemed requisite to give such composite names as might recall to mind 

 something of the individuals to which they were applied. Thus we had Anagdllis fldre cceritleo, Mespilus 

 aculeata pyrifulia, &c. In the end, however, the length of these phrases became inconvenient, and 

 Linnaaus, struck with this inconvenience, proposed that the names of plants should henceforth consist of 

 two words only, the one the generic or family name, and the other the specific or individual name. 



1296. The names qf classes and orders were originally primitive or without meaning, as the Grasses 

 of Tragus, Poppies of Bauhin, &c. ; and afterwards so compounded as to be long and complex, as the 

 Polloplostemonopetalce, Eleutheromacrostemones, &c., of Wachendorf. Linnseus decided that the names 

 of classes and orders should consist of a single word, and that word not simple or primitive, but expressive 

 of a certain character or characters found in all the plants which compose it. 



1297. In applying names to plants, three rules are laid down by botanists: 1st, That the languages chosen 

 should be fixed and universal, as the Greek and Latin. 2d, That these languages should be used accord- 

 ing to the general laws of grammar, and compound words always composed from the same language, and 

 not of entire words, &c. 3d, That the first who discovers a being, and enregisters it in the catalogue ol 

 nature, has the right of giving it a name; and that that name ought to be received and admitted by 

 naturalists, unless it belongs to a being already existing, or transgresses the rules of nomenclature. Every 

 one who discovers a new plant may not be able to enregister it according to these laws, and in that case 

 has no right to give it a name ; but the botanist who enregisters it, and who is in truth the discoverer, 

 may give it the name proposed by the finder, if he chooses. 



1298. The tvhole vegetable kingdom is divided into classes, orders, genera, species, and varieties. A class 

 is distinguished by some character which is common to many plants ; an order is distinguished by having 

 some character limited to a few plants belonging to a class ; a still more limited coincidence constitutes a 

 genus ; and each individual of a genus, which continues unchanged when raised from seed, is called a spe- 

 cies. A variety is formed by an accidental deviation from the specific character, and easily returns by 

 seed to the particular species from which it arose. 



1299. For the purposes of recording and communicating botanical knowledge plants are described ; and 

 this is done either by the use of language alone, or by language and figures, models, or dried plants, con- 

 joined. The description of plants may be either abridged or complete. The shortest mode of abridgement 

 is that employed in botanical catalogues, as in those of Donn or of Sweet. The most exact descriptions 

 are deficient vr'ithout figures or a herbarium. Hence the advantage of being able to see plants at pleasure, 

 by forming dried collections of them. Most plants dry %vith facility between the leaves of books, or 

 between'sheets of paper, the smoother the better. If there is plenty of paper, they often dry best without 

 shifting ; but if the specimens are crowded, they must be taken out frequently, and the paper dried before 

 they are replaced. 



1300. The language of botany may be acquired by two methods, analogous to those by which common 

 languages are acquired. The first is the natural method, which begins with the great and obvious classes 

 of vegetables, and distinguishes trees, grasses, &c., next individuals among these, and afterwards their 

 parts or organs : this knowledge is acquired insensibly, as we acquire our native tongue. The 

 second is the artificial method, and begins with the parts of plants, as the leaves, roots, &c., ascending to 

 nomenclature and classification, and is acquired by particular study, aided by books or instructors, as one 

 acquires a dead or foreign language. This method i^ the fittest for such as wish to attain a thorough 

 knowledge of plants, so as to be able to describe them ; the other mode is easier, and the best suited for 

 cultivators, whose object does not go beyond that of understanding their descriptions, and studying their 

 physiology, history, and application. A very good method, for a person at a distance from botanists, is to 

 form a collection of dried specimens of all the plants of which he wishes to know the names, and to send 

 them to the curator of the nearest botanic garden, requesting him to write the name below each spe- 

 cimen, and to refer to some work easily procured, such as Lindley's Vasculares, or Withering or Gray's 

 Arrangement of British Plants, in which are given its description, uses, history, &c. We know of no 

 work in which an attempt has been made to comprehend so much, both of theoretical and practical 

 botany, as is comprised in our Encyclopcedia of Plants ; and to those therefore who cannot afford to have 

 many books, and especially to gardeners, for whose convenience it is more especially intended, it may 

 be confidently recommended. 



P 



