I8 JOURNAL OF THE 



ing over 38 years. Tbe account he has given us in his " WooDY 

 PiiANTS," is to-day the best guide to the natural climatological 

 divisions of the State which has ever been giv^en. His studies were 

 also directed to the numerous economic questions which met him in 

 his intimate acquaintance with the treasures of the field and forest. 

 It was this feature of his labors alone which brought him an audi- 

 ence in his adopted State, and with this object in view he brought 

 together the material which he published as a part of the Geological 

 and Natural History Survey, known best by the condensed title 

 given to it by Prof. Emmons, as the " Woody Plants."" This volume 

 of 124 pages was printed by the State in 1860, and at once became a 

 popular manual for the farmer and the woodsman, and for amateur 

 botanists, a key to the more conspicuous trees and shrubs useful for 

 their fruit or timber, or as ornaments. The key devised to enable 

 one of no botanical knowledge to determine a given plant or shrub was 

 founded upon the character of the fruit, and distinguished by their 

 common name. The preface of this little work is an introduction 

 to the geographical distribution of plants in the State, and shows 

 what a thorough acquaintance he had with the vast subject. This 

 short essay attracted the attention of the whole country to the 

 unique position which our State holds in rei'pect to climate, soil and 

 forest products. Tiiat North Carolina nas a difference of elevation 

 between the east and west which gives a difference of climate equal 

 to 10 or 12 degrees of latitude, was first shown by Dr. Curtis in his 

 comparison of the local flora in his Woody Plants. He made him- 

 self acquainted at the very outset of his work as i botanist with 

 the labors of the earlier explorers of the State. In his " Plants 

 around Wilmington," w^find him quoting from BrickelTs Natural 

 History of North Carolina, and Catesby's Natural History of Caro 

 lina. The sketch he gives of the progress of botanical discoveries 

 in the State in his Woody Plants is full of interest, and shows how 

 deeply he caught the inspiration from their example of self-denial in 

 the cause of science. 



In "Woody Plants" is displayed, as in the succeeding works 

 written by him, an accurate knowledge of the common names of 

 plants — a subject full of confusion — misleading young botanists and 

 bewildering the old ones. As though the change from one system 

 to another were not enough, then to add to this the formidable con- 

 fusion of synonyms (with no guide to its mysteries like Watson's,) 

 and then the local names of plants, it is confusion interminable. In 

 this study, though, Dr. Curtis had a cultivated philological turn. 



