vi Introduction. 



ist, instead of a branch of knowledge which should form a 

 part of the education of every cultivated mind. 



Perhaps one controlling reason why botany failed to 

 attract the attention of the masses, is the uninteresting 

 manner in which the science has universally been presented. 

 A botanical text-book was formerly a dry collection of tech- 

 nical phrases, of unintelligible descriptions, in an unknown 

 tongue, seemingly unmeaning abbreviations, and not unfre- 

 quently mysterious signs, all of which terrified the beginner, 

 and which were not. always within the comprehension of 

 the more advanced student. 



Not only did botanical works contain no illustrations, and 

 present nothing to attract the eye, but our horticultural 

 publications were generally filled with mere records of cul- 

 tural experiment, with botanical facts or descriptions, which, 

 in the absence of illustrations, often failed of their purpose, 

 and certainly were of little interest to the mass of readers ; 

 or, if illustration was attempted, the figures were such 

 Wretched libels upon Nature that they repelled rather than 

 attracted. 



And these were the facts, when a love of nature is inborn 

 to the mass of mankind; when there are comparatively few 

 who derive no pleasure from the beautiful so lavishly spread 

 around us in field and forest, whose pulses do not quicken 

 with the opening buds of spring, or who draw no enjoy- 

 ment from the successive glories of the circling years. 



Within a few years, however, there has been a great 

 change in the manner of presenting botanical knowledge. 

 The eye is the great educator, and an attractive presenta- 

 tion of a subject is, in many cases, a sure prelude to the 

 acquisition of knowledge. 



