AEC ae ee eS ee eee ae ee eee eee Oe See eee eee 
Doct. C. W. Sort, of Kentucky, has kindly furnished notes on some 
: [vii] a 
EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
A id edition of Doct. Dartrneron’s Agricultural Botany having se 
called for, and as the author, at his advanced age, felt indisposed to 
sume — ‘ake of a revision, the work was placed in my hands to a ee 
pare for the press, with the author’s permission to make such changes — 
and additions as might seem desirable. Such alterations have been made 
in the pages arrangement, and names, as the advance of the science 
ired, and descriptions have been added of — plants, not included 
in the former edition, as are generally known as weeds. Besides these, 
I have noticed the common medicinal oe and such of our native 
shrubs as are worthy of cultivation,—those that are both ornamental 
and easily obtained. These latter may not strictly come within the class 
of “useful,” but are introduced with the hope of inducing farmers to 
render the exterior of their homes more attractive te podem them 
with beautiful shrubbery, which, once planted, will be a permanent 
source of gratification not only to the possessors, but s travelers who 
pass them. The yards of our country dwellings generally present a for- 
lorn appearance, which the attempt often made to cultivate a few coarse 
‘flowering plants, rather increases than removes. 
In 
the introduction of new plants, the plan of the original work has 
been conformed to, and the descriptions of these are taken from Darling- 
ton’s Flora Cestrica, when that work contained them ; in other cases, 
those in Torrey’s Flora of the State of New York, and Gray’s Manual 
of the Botany of the Northern States have been used. oe 
I am exceedingly indebted to Prof. Gray for permission to use his 
Analytical Key to the Natural Orders, and have modified it, as wellas 
some of his Synopses of Orders and Genera, to suit the present work. 
