THE TAXONOMY OF THE AGARICACEAE 
is not difficult to know a great deal about the objects of nature; but 
few are capable of pursuing the study of a group until it is rounded out 
into a perfect and orderly whole, so that others may easily follow and 
understand. When such a work is done, it is the simplest thing in 
the world to criticize both the methods and results. It is the object 
of all devoted nature lovers to add as much as possible to the sum 
total of natural knowledge. No part of nature is too humble to 
demand our best endeavors when it is considered in relation to the 
numberless objects that make up the great universe, and it often 
happens that what seems very small and unimportant may hold the 
secret key to something that we look upon as vastly important. 
So much for the taxonomist. Let us next see what the isolated 
worker or professor in a small college can do toward broadening his 
botanical outlook, 
1 . He can make sure that he knows by reading or otherwise some- 
thing of the relatives and relationships of every form he studies mor- 
phologically, cytologically, physiologically, or pathologically. This 
would be a distinct advance. For example, a student investigating 
the cytology of the scrub pine could learn something of the various 
species of pines and their near relatives, and a student tracing the life 
history of a certain species of Gymnosporangium could learn to recog- 
nize another species of the same genus in case he happened upon it 
accidentally. It is just as disgraceful for a morphologist not to know 
the taxonomy of a type he is investigating as it is for a taxonomist not 
to know why sap rises or the significance of reduction in chromosomes. 
2. He can begin, if he never completes it, a local flora of his region, 
including all groups of plants. Some groups offer excellent oppor- 
tunities for field study even during the winter, while many of the lower 
forms are less difficult than the flowering plants. By preserving 
specimens, taking good notes, and securing photographs or drawings, 
this work may be made really valuable. There is hardly a locality in 
America that does not need careful botanical work of this kind. Here 
in New York City, we have only made a beginning. With taxonomic 
botanists becoming scarcer every year, it will be a long, long time before 
we have any adequate knowledge of the flora of this great country. 
At present, our books only emphasize our ignorance and the gaps in 
our herbaria remind one of a child shedding his milk teeth. The 
morphologist could do most of his taxonomic work while out for exer- 
cise or on vacation, and it would only give him zest for his more special 
problems. 
