PREFACE 
Whose heart is not gladdened at the sight of the first Mayflower or Arbutus in the soring? 
ann?ppt n f PaS ? S °/ u^’ ltS surface S^tenmg with the beauty of the Water Lily, without 
appreciation? In the fall who can traverse a field blind to the brilliancy of the seas of Purple 
Asters and gleams of the Goldenrod? Let it is only within a very few years that there has been 
any real, concerted interest shown by the masses in Nature Study. To be sure, botany has long 
been taught m some of the higher schools, but it was of advantage only to comparatively fey? 
tensofthouLnds Wledge ’ ^ ^ ^ ^ name ’ ° f What 1§ ^ in their daily rambles is voiced 
• the pU + bl f ation 1 ’ 1 early “l 1906 ’ of the first edition of Bird Guide, the author has been be- 
eged by requests from all parts of the country, and from people in every walk and station of life 
to continue the idea and bring out similar volumes on flowers, butterflies, fish, animals etc The 
present volume has been carefully prepared with two objects always in view-to serve the Latest 
number of persons in the best possible^way-and still have a volume that can be carried in the 
pocket with little or no discomfort I he great majority of the colored paintings have been made 
directly from living plants, and the balance, with few exceptions, from herbarium specimens 
They represent normal specimens and have been so chosen as to include those of the conspicuous 
flowering plants found from the Atlantic seaboard west to the States of the Mississippi Valley! 
Using my years, devoted largely to the study of living things, as a criterion, I have endeavored 
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