[2] After moving to New Jersey, Treat began her scientific studies in earnest, and collaborated with her husband on entomological articles and research.

Her research quickly expanded from entomology to ornithology and botany, detailing bird and plant life in the southern New Jersey region and specifically the Pine Barrens.

[2][3] Following her separation from her husband in 1874, Treat supported herself by publishing popular science articles for periodicals such as Harpers and Queen.

Beginning in 1870, she published popular naturalist pieces in Garden and Forest, Hearth and Home, Harper's, and Lippincott's.

Treat wrote letters to engage in botanical and entomological discourse not only with Darwin and Gray, but Auguste Forel and Gustav Mayr as well.

[10] By making such public affirmations of Treat’s scientific work, Darwin legitimized her role as a scientist, though this is not completely uncontested among historians.

The Harvard University herbarium has a selection of Treat's specimens sent to Asa Gray and examples of their original correspondence.

[15] The original letters are, in the main, available to view through The Darwin Correspondence Project and at Cambridge University Library.