8 Preface. 



In April, 1878, I assisted Hon. J. B. Killebrew, then Cammis- 

 sioner of Agriculture of the State, in the publication of his work 

 on the Tennessee grasses and forage plants, by giving him the list of 

 grasses actually collected by me, and revising the manuscript. In 

 the same year I prepared a publication on the trees and shrubs 

 suitable to the soil and climate of Nashville for the Board of 

 Health of the city of Nashville. 



In 1883 I was engaged by Hon. A. J. McWhirter, then Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture for the State, as an assistant in his office and 

 in collecting minerals, building stones, and plants for the Louis- 

 ville Exhibition and other exhibitions; but after the close of these 

 exhibitions I was again dismissed, to be followed in office by the- 

 commissioner's own son, Mr. L. B. McWhirter. 



In 1894 Hon. T. F. P. Allison, Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 intrusted 2ne with a publication on the medicinal plants of Ten- 

 nessee. The work was carried out to mutual satisfaction. 



In 1897, in connection with the Centennial Exposition, I was 

 a member of the Committee on Minerals and Mines of the State, of 

 which Professor Safford was chairman. I procured a rich collec- 

 tion of the copper ores and smelting products of the Ducktown 

 Mines and Smelting Works, inclusive of a rich display of ingots. 

 I also exhibited a large collection of Tennessee granites in blocks,. 

 with one side polished, from Wolf Creek, Carter County, and from 

 near Elizabethton, on the line of the railroad which extends from 

 Johnson City to the Cranberry Mines, in North Carolina. 



At the time of my publication of the medicinal plants, my bo- 

 tanical collections had so far progressed that I felt satisfied that 

 within a limited time not many more additions could be made, and 

 that I had very nearly reached the limits of the record. In pre- 

 paring the new edition I adopted the new nomenclature and made- 

 some other changes, for which I give an explanation in the fol- 

 lowing paragraphs. 



One of the greatest burdens and causes for confusion in sys- 

 tematic botany had been the constantly increasing synonyms for 

 the same species. Much of it originated from the disjointed labors 

 of distant botanical writers describing the same plants ; often from 

 imperfect specimens, while unacquainted with the past or contem- 

 poraneous labors of others in the same field; and in not a few 

 instances it resulted from the abuse of personal prominence and 

 disregard of the merits of others. This disturbing condition would 



