ns to press, assuring her that the
herbarium did certainly pay for its trouble, and that unless she were a
collector she would fail of becoming a real botanist. My arguments had
no effect, and I fell heir to my friend's specimens.

Another time a lady (a member of a botanical club) said to me: "I don't
care to make a collection. I would as soon look at hay as dried plants.
What I want to study is _living nature_."

This sounds like a fine sentiment, and if the herbarium were to take the
place of out-door study, we would better burn our entire collection.

Here are the questions, then: How will the herbarium help us in our
study of flowers? and Why is it not better to confine our study to
"living nature"?

We cannot deny that the herbarium is a matter of time and trouble; but
nothing worth having can be acquired without trouble. There is a lever
which lightens all tasks wonderfully. That lever is enthusiasm. If you
are enthusiastic about anything, you will be pretty sure to succeed,
whether that thing be music, drawing, or even arithmetic. This is
especially true of nature studies. The successful student of insects,
birds, flowers, shells, or rocks must love his work with a passionate
ardor. He must almost be a man with a hobby.

Now perhaps you will say, "I have not this enthusiasm, and therefore I
shall not be successful." Let me tell you a secret. Nature herself
inspires enthusiasm. You have but to work in any one of her departments,
and you will learn to adore her. She is like a story-book. The first few
pages, and especially the preface, are somewhat dry. But pretty soon, as
the story opens up, you can hardly leave it for your meals or your
sleep.

The principal value of a herbarium is that one has it always on hand for
reference when the living flower cannot be studied. After the summer
comes winter. My young lady who threw away her flowers forgot their
names during the winter. She could not help forgetting some of them, for
the botanical names of flowers are often hard to learn, being composed
of Latin or Greek words, or of proper names with Latin terminations; and
sometimes it would seem that the smaller and more unpretentious the
plant the longer and more jaw-breaking its name.

When early spring comes, one can make a point of reviewing his herbarium
and refreshing one's memory, so as to begin where he left off last fall.
Thus each season's work is clear gain. The very labor necessary to make
a herbarium