APR 1 9 1909 Given by THE ; AUTHOR. 
LIBRARY 
NEW YORK 
130 TANICAL 
GARDEN. 
This key is intended to be used as a guide in determining 
the names of the wild and commonly cultivated trees of New 
England, also a few which are known to occur in Northern New 
.Jersey and Eastern New York (particularly Long Island), but 
not yet in New England. It is based primarily on leaf charac¬ 
ters. Those desiring more detailed information than is here, 
given are referred, for native trees, to the 7th edition of 
Gray’s Manual and to Sargent’s Manual of the Trees of North 
America for a technical description, and to the following works 
for a more popular treatment: Dame & Brooks’ Handbook 
of the Trees of New England; Keeler’s Our Native Trees; 
Roger’s The Tree Book; Hough’s Handbook of the Trees of the 
Northern States and Canada. Several cultivated trees included 
in this key are not described in any of these works. Detailed 
information in regard to these may usually 1x5 found in Bailey’s 
/ Cyclopaedia of American Horticulture or in works treating of 
the trees of Western America or Europe. 
After determining the name of a tree carefully note 
its salient 'characteristics, especially those distinguishing it 
from its near relatives. If this is done conscientiously and sys¬ 
tematically most of our common trees may soon lx; recognized 
at sight. The main object of this key is merely to guide the 
student through the preliminary stages of this knowledge. A 
true knowledge of trees must lx; derived primarily from accurate 
and abundant study of the trees themselves. 
Wherever possible technical terms have been avoided. The 
few used, and a number of semi-technical ones, are defined in 
the glossary following the key. 
To those who have had little or no experience in determin¬ 
ing plants by means of botanical keys the following suggestions 
will be helpful. 
Take the key with you into the field or wood. 
Before attempting to use the key, look over the tree and 
select typical (or average) leaves and twigs. Only these should 
be considered. In most cases these need not be detached, and 
they should not be when there is any suspicion that objection 
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PREFACE 
