A Word for Books 
“Gray’s Manual” 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 would 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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