Opening Leaves 
one point of view, and the mere wandering nature-lover 
from quite another; and for the latter, the method that 
makes brothers (or at least cousins) of the great laurel 
and the lowly pipsissewa, of the frail little bunch-berry 
and the great sour-gum-tree, is certainly not a service- 
able one. Science represents the ripest thought of the 
world’s most patient and gifted thinkers, and _ its 
methods are never to be spoken lightly of—but it zs 
fearfully dogmatic; too much so, considering its ex- 
treme agility (acquired through long practice) in chang- 
ing its attitude to square with new and victorious truths 
which it could not overthrow. Evolution, of the most 
ultra sort, is one of these winning truths, to which the 
scientific world is fast surrendering. 
& 
No previous knowledge of botany is here presumed 
upon. The descriptions, to which one is referred in 
the Key, contain few technical terms, and these, if not 
self-evident, are fully explained and illustrated. Only 
the obvious features of leaf and blossom needful for 
identification, and requiring no microscope, are pre- 
sented. By this condensation all native and natural- 
ized trees, shrubs, and vines found in the prescribed 
territory are described in about a hundred pages. 
The area covered by the work—as_ regards out 
native plants—is the Northeastern United States—from 
Maine to Virginia (inclusive), and west to the Missis- 
sippi—whose flora contains, approximately, 170 species 
of trees, 197 of shrubs, and 127 of vines. Supple- 
mental to this is a similar description of the foreign 
15 
