FOREWORD 19 



about the same relationship to the real art as 

 crystoleum painting to the work of Millais! 

 They are not even "in the running"; so please 

 take the art of pressing wild flowers as seri- 

 ously as you would any other. 



It has been the fashion in some quarters to 

 deride the herbarium and to speak very loftily 

 of the superiority of an intelligent knowledge 

 of living plants over a mere prosaic collection 

 of dried specimens; flat, mangled, miserable 

 objects that have meant the destruction of 

 much wayside beauty and by no means always 

 increased the botanical knowledge of their col- 

 lector. 



All this sounds very derisive, and very 

 discouraging, and certainly very superior; 

 but just a little thought shows us that too 

 many assumptions are made in such state- 

 ments. 



The glib repetition of Latin names, of plant 

 organs and their numbers never yet made a 

 botanist though it has often made a bore! 

 Therefore "an intelligent knowledge of living 

 plants" is what every true botanist strives 

 after, whether he preserves his "finds" or not; 



