to indicate the place where a plant naturally grows, as in
swamps or upon dry hillsides. Under the head of "Horticultural Value,"
the requisite information is given for an intelligent choice of trees
for ornamental purposes.

The order and names of families follow, in the main, Engler and Prantl.
In accordance with the general tendency of New England botanists to
conform to the best usage until an authoritative agreement has been
reached with regard to nomenclature by an international congress, the
Berlin rule has been followed for genera, and priority under the genus
for species. Other names in use at the present day are given as synonyms
and included in the index.

Only those common names are given which are actually used in some part
of New England, whether or not the same name is applied to different
trees. It seems best to record what is, and not what ought to be. Common
names that are the creation of botanists have been disregarded
altogether. Any attempt to displace a name in wide use, even by one that
is more appropriate, is futile, if not mischievous.

The plates are from original drawings by Mrs. Elizabeth Gleason Bigelow,
in all cases from living specimens, and they have been carefully
compared with the plates in other works. So far as practicable, the
drawings were made of life size, with the exception of the dissected
portions of small flowers, which were enlarged. In this way, though not
on a perfectly uniform scale, they are, when reduced to the necessary
space, distinct in all their parts.

So far as consistent with due precision, popular terms have been used in
description, but not when such usage involved tedious periphrase.

Especial mention should be made of those botanists whose assistance has
been essential to a knowledge of the distribution of species in the New
England states: Maine,--Mr. M. L. Fernald; New Hampshire,--Mr. Wm. F.
Flint, Report of Forestry Commission; Vermont,--President Ezra Brainerd;
Massachusetts,--trees about Northampton, Mrs. Emily Hitchcock Terry;
throughout the Connecticut river valley, Mr. E. L. Morris; Rhode
Island,--Professor W. W. Bailey, Professor J. F. Collins;
Connecticut,--Mr. C. H. Bissell, Mr. C. K. Averill, Mr. J. N. Bishop.
Dr. B. L. Robinson has given advice in general treatment and in matters
of nomenclature; Dr. C. W. Swan and Mr. Charles H. Morss have made a
critical examination of the manuscript; Mr. Warren H. Manning has
contributed the "Horticultura