7he PREFACE. 



wanted, I mean their being referr'd to their 

 proper tribes and claffes, and to fuch au- 

 thors and herbals as have indubitably fee 

 their names, virtues and properties in a true 

 light, becaufe I have long obferved hov^ 

 many good Gardtners have laboured in the 

 dark, and for v^ant of inftruftions of this 

 kind, have with great difficulty been ac- 

 quainted with the very fpecies of thofe 

 plants they are obliged every day to culti- 

 vate and preferve ; and therefore no won- 

 der that they often miftake one herb and 

 plant for another ; and if this happens to 

 Gardiners that are more experienced, what 

 may not be expected from thofe that are 

 juft entring upon their employ ? 



It is this Mr. Evelyn long ago cautioned 

 againft when he confutes that common 

 maxim, That a fool was as good a gatherer 

 of a feUet as a wifer man j becaufe ((ay they) 

 one can hardly choofe amifs, provided the 

 herbs be young, tender and green : For fad 

 experience ((ays that eminent author) (hews 

 how many fatal miftakes have been com- 

 mitted by thofe that have took the deadly 

 cicuta^ hemJock, aconites^ &c, for garden 

 parfley and parfnips ; the myrrha fylveJlriSy 

 or cow- weed for ch^rophillumy or chervil ; 

 thapjia for fennel ; the wild chndrilla for 



fuccory; 



