232 THE STOKY OF THE PLANTS. 



Whoever has been interested in the study of 

 plants by this little book may be glad to know 

 what is the best way of continuing his acquaint- 

 ance with the subject in future. Nothing 

 gives one such a grasp of the facts of botany 

 and of life in general as careful study of the 

 plants which grow in one's own country. 

 Students in the British Isles should therefore 

 buy a copy of Bentham and Hooker's British 

 Flora, and seek by the aid of the key at its 

 beginning to identify for themselves every 

 flowering plant they come across in our woods 

 and meadows. American students should get 

 in like manner Asa Gray's Manual of Botany. In 

 the course of identifying all the plants you find, 

 you will begin to understand the nature of plant 

 life and the course of plant evolution in a way 

 that is quite impossible through any mere 

 book-reading. Buy also a simple platyscopic 

 lens, and a sharp penknife to assist you in 

 dissection. Armed with these simple but useful 

 tools, you will soon make rapid and solid progress 

 in the knowledge of nature. 



For further and more detailed information on 

 the laws of plant life, you cannot do better than 

 consult Kerner and Oliver's Natural History of 

 Plants, which sets forth in full an immense 

 number of interesting and curious facts, in 

 language comprehensible to any attentive and 

 careful student. 



