PREFACE. 
HIs is not the age in which it i 'y to offer a laboured defence in favour 
of any particular branch of Natural Science, much less to point out the pecu- 
liar claims which the Study of Botany possesses on general attention. If one 
source of human happiness may be clearly allowed to flow from the proper em- 
ployment of our time, then has Paley rightly observed, that “Any engagement 
which is innocent is better than none—even the ee of a cucumber or a tu- 
+1 41 ; ym 4 
lip. » But h and all 
in the wae pursuits of Horticulture, which sinias: fail to excercise a salu- 
tary effect upon the mind. The beneficent intentions of Providence are no- 
where more clearly to be understood than in the =~ testimonies of een 
i: +h 
and wisdom shown us by the great C 
fest design exhibited in the organic structures of different saat and few 
who employ their leisure in the delightful recreation which the culture of 
flowers affords, can fail of experiencing the effects which a more intimate ac- 
quaintance with the works of God are calculated to produce upon the minds of 
his intelligent creatures. But still whatever be the degree of satisfaction which 
naturally flows from these sources, it may always be greatly enhanced by the 
superaddition of some portion of scientific acquirement. However pleasing to 
the eye the curious structure and exquisite colouring of a flower may be,we can 
feel nothing of that still higher interest which flows from the possession (how- 
ever imperfect) of some degree of knowledge respecting the relation which each 
OE species bears to others in the ee scheme of nature. Infinite 
ity of form, and strange 
diiaaplextty of structure, that all should, nevertheless, be referable to a few gen- 
eral types, still further connected by certain simple laws regulating the arrange- 
ment of the subordinate parts according to fixed principles. 
as 
