Governor of the Commonwealth o f Massachusetts :
SlE,
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.