viii RETROSPECT 



These trade lists were "standardized " in order to determine the proper nomenclature 

 for the various entries; for Virgilia had to be brought forward to Cladrastis and Amian- 

 thium placed with Zygadenus. This preliminary work had to be done with care. It 

 necessitated, also, the adoption of some one work as a standard ; and the only work 

 which covered the field and answered other requirements is Index Kewensis. This work 

 has been followed in the main, although every contributor has been free to express his 

 own ideas of genera and species, and the recent monographs have been followed for 

 special groups. 



The work for a whole letter — as the letter A — was laid out in advance. The gen- 

 eral theory was to assign every article to an authoritative writer. Articles that could not 

 be assigned, or for which no person would hold himself responsible, fell to the editors. 

 It therefore happened that many of the most. critical puzzles fell to the office. On very 

 important subjects, two to six persons were asked to contribute. If these persons wrote 

 from experience, no effort was made to cause their statements to be uniform, although it 

 was desired that they should harmonize whenever possible. It was desired that the 

 work have personality, for this is vitality. In horticultural matters there is no final 

 opinion. 



The articles have been written by busy men. Serious delays have resulted in 

 securing the manuscripts; and yet the Editor must express his gratification with the 

 general promptness of the contributors. With scarcely an exception, the collaborators 

 have seemed to feel a personal responsibility in the success of the undertaking. The 

 manuscripts have been much edited, yet they have not been copied. Not a single par- 

 cel is known to have been lost in the express or mails. The Cyclopedia has had a 

 patient printer. On all kinds and sizes of paper, and in every style of script, with 

 cabalistic editoi-ial marks in pencil and in inks of various colors, these manuscripts have 

 gone to the compositor. Returning from the printer, they have been sorted and filed, 

 and finally tied in bundles, in which condition they now constitute a part of the archives 

 of the Cj'clopedia. 



Usually the printer received copy for one letter at a time. In large letters, as C, 

 P, S, one section — as Ca, Po, St — comprised one sending, for it has been impossible to 

 keep far ahead of the compositors. When all the manuscript was received from the 

 various writers, cyclopedic works were consulted to see that no entries were omitted. The 

 titles of all entries were copied when the manuscripts went to the printer, and the entries 

 were checked off when they appeared in galleys and pages. Failure to check up entries 

 in the letter A resulted in the loss of the article "Aubrietia," and the plate had to be 

 recast in order to insert it. 



The type -matter was first seen in "galleys" on green paper, with the cuts separate, 

 known in the office as "the long green." Six proofs were received by the Editor, who 

 sent four or five of them to specialists on the various subjects. Every line in the work 

 has been read in the proof by experts. It requires from a week to ten days to get back 

 the proofs from the various readers. The matter is then made up into pages, and read 

 again. It is then cast, and the final proofs are placed on file. The galley proofs are gone 

 over several times by the Editor, aside from the regular reading, each time for a specific 

 purpose: once for alphabetic order of the entries; once for spelling of names; once for 

 accent marks; once for signatures to the articles; once for references to the cuts; once 

 for legends to the cuts; once for general style. A full page of the Cyclopedia contains 

 14,000 pieces of metal. The reader will be lenient when he finds a misplaced letter. 

 A clerk was employed to verify all references by hunting up the references themselves. 



