as 



occupation. We \Yant our own pastures, rocks, fields, sea- 

 shores, soundings on ocean and ponds thoroughly explored. 

 A great deal of knowledge is in our midst, yet unappreciable, 

 because not in a working-up order. No single person, unless 

 like our Oakes, could singly undertake this great task, and 

 even his life was all too short for its completion. A catalogue 

 of the plants indigenous and naturalized in Salem, Avould be a 

 very great credit to the auspices of this Institution. 



I am happy to inform you of the facilities lately put at my 

 disposal in studying an obscure branch of Botany :— I mean, the 

 Fungi. My new and valued acquaintance, Mr. C. J. Sprague, 

 of Boston, has collected many species ; and I have forwarded 

 some of my own collection to Rev. M. A. Curtis, D. D., of 

 Society Hill, South Carolina, who is engaged in reviewing the 

 labors of Schweinitz, in this department of Botany, and prepar- 

 ing to publish a Mycology of the United States. By these 

 means many of the species, peculiar to this vicinity, will be 

 duly brought to light and ascertained. The success we have 

 already met with in our joint labors, encourages us to hope for 

 some signal results Diseased specimens of trees, of fruits, 

 seeds, &c. &c., resulting from the invasion of fungi and 

 moulds, are respectfully solicited from members, for the cause 

 of science and for study. I gladly acknowledge my indebted- 

 ness to H. F. King for accurate microscopic examinations, and 

 for beautiful sketches from nature, in furtherance of this subject. 



In consideration of the preeminent claims which the study of 

 the vegetable kingdom holds on the public mind, it is to be 

 regretted that the young of our city are not put in the way of 

 acquiring a taste for the same. Botanically or horticulturally 

 considered, it is a matter of much regret to know how ignorant 

 they are suffered to grow up, insensible to all that is so beautiful 

 and glorious about them. I do not consider it too extravagant to 

 assert that the only true entrance into all real science is 

 through the avenue of the study of the science which treats of 

 plants. How can we expect to interest our girls or our boys in 

 the mechanism of the human frame, or in the laws of hygiene 

 and of physiological characteristics, without first leading 

 their minds through the pleasanter and verdant paths bestrew- 



