424 LABRADOR 
for these latter mainly that this chapter has been written. 
The more they can understand and observe of the great 
wild garden that, if really seen and intimately known, makes 
impossible any thought of barrenness, the larger will be 
their pleasure. However small the knowledge with which 
he starts, no one need be deterred from attempting to gain 
a larger comprehension of these matters, so significant for 
the correct interpretation of the true nature of a country. 
If these be its features in which he is most interested, he 
will at least add enormously to his own satisfaction and 
insight. By making a carefully selected and well-annotated 
collection of plants, he may also, on submitting it to 
reliable experts, make some extension to the list of re- 
corded varieties and species that occur there. If he will 
prepare himself as well as possible beforehand and then 
make some special study of still unsettled points, such as 
the edibility of various plants, the particular features of 
certain especially variable species and of the conditions 
under which they occur, the influence of particular situa- 
tions, soils, and conditions, he may well hope to make 
contributions to new knowledge. Plenty of such oppor- 
tunities are still open to the amateur. In spite of his 
own unfortunate experience in admitting errors into his 
published description, the writer still does not hesitate to 
encourage amateurs in endeavouring to make really new 
additions to knowledge in this far from fully explored 
field. The mistakes of an amateur may well be forgiven 
and gradually corrected, if he does not pretend to be any- 
thing more; and confession of the difficulties met with by 
one of them may help to eliminate similar troubles in the 
future, and to render only real discoveries liable to pub- 
