A Word for Books 



Gray's ]\Ianual " knows the vernacular 

 names of our plants far better, I am sure, 

 than the most enthusiastic flower-lover who 

 has scorned all scientific aid. 



I am sorry to say that it is not only an 

 occasional writer for children who thinks in 

 this crude, vague fashion that systematic 

 knowledge must lessen the love for natural 

 beauty. Very many people, intelligent in 

 other matters, are quick upon all occasions 

 to jeer at botanical study and to discourage 

 its pursuit even in its simplest and most at- 

 tractive forms. They VN'ould be shocked if 

 charged with indifference to knowledge of 

 other kinds, but they seem to consider the 

 desire to study botany a foolish endeavor 

 to pry into a subject so profound that only 

 a smattering of it can ever be acquired ; a 

 smattering of knowledge they declare to 

 be worse than entire ignorance ; and they 

 also insist that the more one learns about 

 plants the less he will appreciate their 

 beauty. The scientific attitude is held up 

 as the reverse of the attitude of enjoyment ; 

 scientific knowledge is proclaimed to be 



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