PEEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION. 



xi 



in the vegetable economy, whicli had theretofore been unheeded, or im- 

 perfectly understood. A spirit of research will often be awakened, 

 which, in itself, is an unfailing source of gratification to ingenuous 

 minds,, — and not unfrequently leads to important practical results. 



The study of Bot.iny, in its widest sense — comprising, as it does, the 

 entire vegetable creation. — will ever have its select votaries in those 

 who can appreciate its manifold charms, and find their reward in the 

 pleasures incident to the pursuit : But when regarded in a more limited 

 and practical point of view, it may fairly challenge the attention even 

 of the most inveterate Utilitarians. There are three aspects, or relations 

 of the Science, in which its importance will scarcely be denied by the 

 most penurious calculator of economical values : namely,!. Agncidtural 

 Botany, — 2. Medical Botany,— Siud 3. Art isticd Botany, or the history 

 of those plants which are employed, or aiford materials, in the processes 

 of the Arts and Manufactures. The Medical branch of the science has 

 been often treated of, with something like system, by the Professional 

 "Writers of Europe and America. The other two divisions less fre- 

 quently, and with less method, in various Agricultural Journals, Cyclo- 

 paedias, and Mercantile Dictionaries. The attempt here made is an essay 

 on the Agricultural branch, — or a systematic description of those Plants 

 (both useful and pernicious) which more immediately interest American 

 Farmers — especially those in the Middle States of this Confederacy. 

 The Botaiiy of the Arts, whenever undertaken, will afiford a highly inter- 

 esting theme for some future laborer in this elegant department of Nat- 

 ural History. 



In compiling this Farmer's Flora, I found it somewhat difficult to 

 determine, satisfactorily, the line of demarcation between the Plants 

 entitled to a place in it. and those which might properly be omitted. It 

 may, perhaps, l)e thought by some, that the list is unnecessarily large, — 

 while others may be of opinion that there are species left out which 

 ought to have been inserted. My aim has been, — not. certainly, to 

 describe all the plants which an accomplished Agriculturist might very 

 properly desire to know ; but^ — to include those only (whether in the 

 wood-lands, the fields, or the kitchen-garden,) of which no intelligent 

 Farmer would willingly be ignorant. AVhen he shall have made him- 

 self fiimiliar with these, he can extend his acquaintance with the Vege- 

 table Tribes, at pleasure, by having recourse to more general and com- 

 prehensive works ; such, for example, as the Flora of North America, 

 by ToRREY and Gray, — or Prof. De Caxdolle's Prodromu^s of a Nat- 

 ural System, comprising all the known forms of vegetation upon this 

 terraqueous globe. 



In my humble opinion, no Education can be deemed sufficient without 

 some acquaintance with the rudiments, or first principles, of Botanical 

 Science — some rational knowledge of the vast and multiform creation 

 around us, known as the Vegetable Kingdom. I consider such knowl- 

 edge just as indispensable to a rightly instructed people, as any of the 

 usual elementary branches of school learning. By this, however, I do 



