PREFACE 
country, endeared to them by the remembrance of the wild 
flowers which they plucked in the happy days of childhood. 
As civilization extends through the Dominion and the cul- 
tivation of the tracts of forest land and prairie destroys the 
native trees and the plants that are sheltered by them, many 
of our beautiful wild flowers, shrubs and ferns will, in the 
course of time, disappear from the face of the earth and be 
forgotten. It seems a pity that no record of their beauties 
and uses should be preserved; and as there is no national 
botanical garden in Canada where collections of the most 
remarkable of our native plants might be cultivated and 
rescued from oblivion, any addition to the natural history of 
the country that supplies this want is therefore not without 
its value to the literature and advancement of the country, 
and it is hoped that it may prove valuable to the incoming 
immigrant who makes Canada an abiding home. 
The author takes this opportunity of acknowledging the 
kind and invaluable assistance which she has received from 
her friend, Mr. James Fletcher, of the Dominion Library, and 
the encouragement to her labors by Professor Macoun’s 
opinion of the usefulness of her work on the vegetable pro- 
ductions of the country. She has also to acknowledge the 
benefit derived from the pamphlet on the “ Canadian Forest 
Trees,” by her respected friend, Dr. Hurlburt. Mr. Fletcher, 
with that zeal for his favorite study which has already won 
for him so high a place among the naturalists of Canada, and 
that kindness which shrinks from no trouble and has won 
him so many friends, accepted the drudgery of revising the 
work and seeing it through the press. 
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