Chester Dewey
Published: 2015-06-26
Total Pages: 387
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Excerpt from Reports on the Herbaceous Plants and on the Quadrupeds of Massachusetts, 1840: Published Agreeably to an Order of the Legislature by the Commissioners on the Zoological and Botanical Survey of the State Sir, Soon after our appointment on the Botanical Survey, my associate, George B, Emerson, Esq., of Boston, consented to take the charge of the trees and shrubs, and to leave the herbaceous plants to my particular attention. In conformity to this arrangement, I early entered upon the work, and have prosecuted it long; and, in fulfilling the duties of the commission received from the hand of your predecessor in office, I herewith transmit my Report on the Herbaceous part of the Flowering Plants. Except the necessary systematic arrangement, I have laid aside, to a great extent, the technical language of Botany, as being less consistent with the popular object of the Survey. Scientific descriptions have already been published for professed botanists; these were supposed to be designed for the mass of intelligent citizens. The cultivated plants form no small part of agricultural wealth, and are the chief source of it. They seem to merit special attention. The cultivation of even ornamental plants is intimately connected with intellectual and moral habits, and a pure and refined taste. It cannot be believed by the benevolent mind, that the Author of nature has spread over the earth the most delicate and rich beauties of plants and flowers, without designing to attract the attention, and gratify the feelings, of men, or that He intended their beauty and fragrance should be wasted "on the desert air." Those plants, which have not yet been applied to any valuable purpose, are often minutely described in this Report, to lead to the consideration of the proportion of this part of vegetables, and the great ends designed in this amount of vegetable life. The Introduction to the Report is, in part, occupied with the discussion of this interesting subject. Your Excellency need not be reminded, that, while the Report required great labor, it also made necessary a previous attention, for years, to the examination of our plants. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.