This manual is an attempt to meet the long-standing need for a reference work dealing exclusively with seed identification.
The ability to recognize seeds, always important in farming, has become even more essential in modern scientific agriculture : without it, there would be little merit in perfecting methods of growing useful plants. But utility for human consumption, where as food or in the clothing and construction industries, is not the sole criterion for deciding which plants are useful. Increasingly in recent decades, new knowledge about the interdependences of forms of plant and animal life has been made available, and the public has been aleted to the dangers , both aesthetic and economic, of allowing our natural resources to dwindle. Plants formerly thought to be of little worth have been found to be good, because they provide food and cover for wildlife, or protect watersheds by their quick regrowth over damaged lands. The number of plants regarded as useful and the importance of knowing their seeds have grown accordingly.