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This little work on the flowers and native plants of Central Canada is offered to the Canadian public with the hope that it may prove a means of awakening a love for the natural productions of the country, and a desire to acquire more knowledge of its resources. It is not a book for the learned. The aim of the writer is simply to show the real pleasure that may be obtained from a habit of observing what is offered to the eye of the traveller,—whether by the wayside path, among the trees of the forest, in the fields, or on the shores of lake and river. Even to know the common name of a flower or fern is something added to our stock of knowledge, and inclines us to wish to know something beyond the mere name. Curiosity is awakened, and from this first step we go on to seek for higher knowledge, which may be found in works of a class far above what the writer of the present book can aspire to offer to the reader. The writer has adopted a familiar style in her descriptions of the plants, thinking it might prove more useful and interesting to the general reader, especially to the young, and thus find a place on the book-shelves of many who would only regard it for the sake of its being a pretty, attractive volume, on account of the illustrations. These, indeed, are contributed by the pencil of a gifted and accomplished lady, Mrs. Agnes Chamberlin, a beloved relative, to whose artistic taste and talents the author is greatly indebted. She is conscious that many imperfections will be found in this volume, the contents of which have been written at intervals during a long series of years, many of which were marked by trials such as fell to the lot of the early colonists and backwoods settlers, and others of a more afflicting nature, which required patience and faith to bear and to say, "Thy will be done, O Lord."

There is a common little weed that is known by the familiar name of Carpetweed, a small Polygonum, that grows at our doors and often troubles us to root up, from its persevering habits and wiry roots. It is crushed by the foot and bruised, but springs up again as if unharmed beneath our tread, and flourishes under all circumstances, however adverse. This little plant had lessons to teach me, and gave courage when trials pressed hard upon me. The simplest weed may thus give strength if we use the lesson rightly and look up to Him who has pointed us to that love which has clothed the grass of the field and cared for the preservation of even the lowliest of the herbs and weeds. Will He not also care for the creature made in His own image? Such are the teachings which Christ gave when on earth. Such teachings are still taught by the flowers of the field.

Mothers of Canada, teach your children to know and love the wild flowers springing in their path, to love the soil in which God's hand has planted them, and in all their after wanderings through the world their hearts will turn back with loving reverence to the land of their birth, to that dear country, endeared to them by the remembrance of the wild flowers which they plucked in the happy days of childhood.

As civilization extends through the Dominion and the cultivation of the tracts of forest land and prairie destroys the native trees and the plants that are sheltered by them, many of our beautiful wild flowers, shrubs and ferns will, in the course of time, disappear from the face of the earth and be forgotten. It seems a pity that no record of their beauties and uses should be preserved; and as there is no national botanical garden in Canada where collections of the most remarkable of our native plants might be cultivated and rescued from oblivion, any addition to the natural history of the country that supplies this want is therefore not without its value to the literature and advancement of the country, and it is hoped that it may prove valuable to the incoming immigrant who makes Canada an abiding home.

The author takes this opportunity of acknowledging the kind and invaluable assistance which she has received from her friend, Mr. James Fletcher, of the Dominion Library, and the encouragement to her labors by Professor Macoun's opinion of the usefulness of her work on the vegetable productions of the country. She has also to acknowledge the benefit derived from the pamphlet on the "Canadian Forest Trees," by her respected friend, Dr. Hurlburt. Mr. Fletcher, with that zeal for his favorite study which has already won for him so high a place among the naturalists of Canada, and that kindness which shrinks from no trouble and has won him so many friends, accepted the drudgery of revising the work and seeing it through the press.

The Wild or Native Flowers and Flowering Shrubs are arranged, as a general rule, in the order of time in which they appear in the woods; but it has been thought that by grouping them somewhat in families, especially where only a short mention is made of some species, it would be easier to refer to them than if this order were strictly adhered to.

C. P. T.

Lakefield

, 1885.