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 Except the necessary systematic arrangement, I have laid aside, to a great extent, the technical language of Botany, as being less con sistent with the popular object of the Survey. Scientific descriptions have already been published for professed botanists; these were sup posed 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 interest ing subject. 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.