THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
Nearly all our critics, also, asked for assistance in 
breaking into the charmed circle about the goddess Flora. 
"Give us," sav they, "more articles by which we may dis- 
cover the names of the attractive flowers in our own woods 
and fields." To this we might reply that the magazine was 
started principally with a view to providing information for 
those who have passed the identification stage in botanical 
work, but there seems to be so great a demand for articles 
about the showy wild-flowers that hereafter we plan to 
have at least one article of this kind in each issue. It may 
be remarked in passing, also, that the series of articles on 
"Botany for Beginners," if read thoughtfully in order from 
the heginning, should place the reader in a position to un- 
derstand at least the major part of what now appears in the 
publication. 
After all, who is th^re among us that understands all 
he reads on even his own line of research ? I do not ques- 
tion the mere understanding of the words, but that deeper 
understanding that takes and makes each idea or fact its 
own. One mav read volume upon volume of descriptions of 
a plant, and see pictures in plenty, yet when he finds it, it 
does not fit the mental image previou>lv formed. Xor does 
the mind readily take ui) unrelated facts. We must first 
have a peg to hang our inf(^rniatinn upon. As we advance 
in knowledge, facts that we have read and forgotten take 
on new meanings and Ik-cmpc ali\e. Thus a seoMul readmg 
of a biHik or a glance tlirough the <^ld number- (^f a mag- 
azine brings out"}>eauties that we never rea!i?:ed v, ere c]lo^^^ 
