VI PREFACE. 



position, or true relation to each other. In the other 

 case, he is careless about the preservation of the plant, 

 and neglects the commonest rules, whereby alone it 

 can be saved from speedy destruction. The result, in 

 both cases, is the same. His preparations are un- 

 trustworthy and well nigh useless — at any rate, can 

 lay no claim to any scientific value. 



The lower Cryptogamia especially, such as the 

 Algae and Fungi, require a somewhat complicated 

 mode of treatment : so much so, indeed, that many a 

 beginner is frightened from prosecuting his studies, 

 disgusted by the continued failures, which, without 

 a guide to lead him, it was next to impossible for 

 him to escape. And yet so full of beauty and in- 

 terest are these lowly orders— enchaining the mind 

 and arresting the attention of all, who are deeply 

 engaged in their study, that it seems hard, that any 

 should be debarred from the enjoyment of so much 

 pleasure by mere mechanical difficulties, which, after 

 all, may be easily removed. 



As cases of this kind have frequently come under 

 my own observation, I have prepared the following 

 pages with a view to place near the novice in botany 

 an adviser, who may offer him, in a condensed form, 

 some useful suggestions respecting the best methods 

 of collecting and preparing plants for the Herbarium. 



I have done this without the intention, or even the 

 idea, of offering to the public anything essentially 

 new, or better than what has been already published ; 



