PREFACE. XI 



that it has two stamens and one style, is indispensable. 

 The student must be acquainted with the meaning of 

 many technical terms, he must have his plant in 

 different states of growth, he must procure the fruit, 

 he must examine the interior of that part ; in short, 

 he must go through a long and careful examination, 

 which is entirely independent of the Sexual System. 

 In other and larger classes, such as Pentandria, Hex- 

 andria, Tetradjuamia, Syngenesia, Gynandria, and 

 Moncecia, the length and difficulty of such an ex- 

 amination, are much increased. Now I distinctly as- 

 sert that in determining the Natural Orders of plants 

 there is no difficulty greater than that of making 

 out the genera in the Linnean system. In reality it 

 is the same thing, only with a different result : in 

 the one case it leads to the mere discovery of a name ; 

 in the other to the knowledge of a great number of 

 useful and interesting facts independent of the name. 

 This, which I hope will be evident from a perusal of 

 the following Letters, is so strongly felt by all Bota- 

 nists of any experience, that they never think of using 

 the Artificial System themselves ; they only recom- 

 mend it to others. 



There is, however, no mistake into which the 

 public is apt to fall much greater than the notion 

 that Botany is a science of easy acquirement. Like 



