76 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



tions and microscopic mounts. Their attempts at naming the 

 species with which they work often amuse the taxonomist who, 

 though dubbed a mere cohector, did not arrive at his knowledge 

 of plants without a strenuous apprenticeship in solving the 

 intricacies of his phase of the science, during which his percep- 

 tions were sharpened, his judgment quickened, and his powers 

 of deduction strengthened. The individual who knows inti- 

 mately the flora of his region is entitled to both the respect and 

 admiration of the community. He should be an object of envy 

 were it not in every man's province to do likewise. Botany 

 as a vocation, compared with other phases of science, is an 

 underpaid and profitless pursuit, but botany as an avocation, 

 especially plant collecting and plant naming, is still the amiable 

 science. What other study can so completely take one away 

 from the cares of ordinary life? Every excursion afield is a 

 vacation trip into unknown regions. With one or more like- 

 minded companions, equipped with lunch and collecting case, 

 the botanizer enters a new world from his very doorstep ; pok- 

 ing about the hedgerows, exploring strange woodlands and un- 

 familiar ravines, making voyages of discovery along pond and 

 stream, and everywhere, from meadow to mountain top, mak- 

 ing new acquaintances, accumulating unexpected treasures and 

 steadily adding tO' those impressions which it will always be a 

 joy to recall. And then, when his dwelling is reached at the 

 end of a day's tramp, comfortably tired he sits down with books 

 and specimens and lives over again the day's adventures, veri- 

 fying his suspicion that some unfamiliar plant is a rarity to be 

 prized, discovering that he has extended the known range of a 

 species, or possibly finding among his specimens new forms or 

 varieties. Srnall wonder that in the days when all botany was 

 like this, amiable was the only proper term with which to char- 

 acterize it. 



