Produced by Jonathan Ingram Robert Shimminand PG Distributed ProofreadersIllustration  FLORA attired by the ELEMENTS                                  THE                            BOTANIC GARDEN                        _A Poem in Two Parts_                                PART  I                               CONTAINING                       THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION                                PART II                        THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS                                  WITH                          Philosophical Notes                             ADVERTISEMENTThe general design of the following sheets is to inlist Imaginationunder the banner of Science and to lead her votaries from the looseranalogies which dress out the imagery of poetry to the stricter oneswhich form the ratiocination of philosophy While their particulardesign is to induce the ingenious to cultivate the knowledge of Botanyby introducing them to the vestibule of that delightful science andrecommending to their attention the immortal works of the celebratedSwedish Naturalist LINNEUSIn the first Poem or Economy of Vegetation the physiology of Plants isdelivered and the operation of the Elements as far as they may besupposed to affect the growth of Vegetables In the second Poem orLoves of the Plants the Sexual System of Linneus is explained with theremarkable properties of many particular plants                                APOLOGYIt may be proper here to apologize for many of the subsequentconjectures on some articles of natural philosophy as not beingsupported by accurate investigation or conclusive experimentsExtravagant theories however in those parts of philosophy where ourknowledge is yet imperfect are not without their use as they encouragethe execution of laborious experiments or the investigation ofingenious deductions to confirm or refute them And since naturalobjects are allied to each other by many affinities every kind oftheoretic distribution of them adds to our knowledge by developing someof their analogiesThe Rosicrucian doctrine of Gnomes Sylphs Nymphs and Salamanders wasthought to afford a proper machinery for a Botanic poem as it isprobable that they were originally the names of hieroglyphic figuresrepresenting the elementsMany of the important operations of Nature were shadowed or allegorizedin the heathen mythology as the first Cupid springing from the Egg ofNight the marriage of Cupid and Psyche the Rape of Proserpine theCongress of Jupiter and Juno Death and Resuscitation of Adonis cmany of which are ingeniously explained in the works of Bacon Vol Vp 47 4th Edit London 1778 The Egyptians were possessed of manydiscoveries in philosophy and chemistry before the invention of lettersthese were then expressed in hieroglyphic paintings of men and animalswhich after the discovery of the alphabet were described and animated bythe poets and became first the deities of Egypt and afterwards ofGreece and Rome Allusions to those fables were therefore thought properornaments to a philosophical poem and are occasionally introducedeither as represented by the poets or preserved on the numerous gemsand medallions of antiquity                                   TO                               THE AUTHOR                                 OF THE                    POEM ON THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS                       BY THE REV WB STEPHENS  Oft tho thy genius D amply fraughtWith native wealth explore new worlds of mindWhence the bright ores of drossless wisdom broughtStampt by the Muses hand enrich mankind  Tho willing Nature to thy curious eyeInvolved in night her mazy depths betrayTill at their source thy piercing search descryThe streams that bathe with Life our mortal clay  Tho boldly soaring in sublimer moodThrough trackless skies on metaphysic wingsThou darest to scan the approachless Cause of GoodAnd weigh with steadfast hand the Sum of