III. ON THINGS ESSENTIAL TO GOOD 

 BOTANICAL TEACHING 



THE true teacher of Botany, as of any other subject, 

 is born not made. But a chief birthmark is a deter- 

 mination for incessant improvement. 



Certainly the first acquirable quality of a good 

 teacher is a thorough botanical education. This can 

 best be obtained by a full course in some one of our 

 leading colleges which possess properly organized de- 

 partments of Botany, which, unhappily, some of them 

 do not. In this, as in other matters, it is well to 

 remember that it pays to have the best. Without 

 doubt in the future the teachers of Botany in the 

 high schools as well as the colleges will be thus 

 trained, for there is a strong and healthful tendency 

 for the schools to employ specialists, and also for 

 the colleges to train them even as undergraduates. 

 It is true that in most schools a single subject can- 

 not have a teacher to itself, but it can be one of a 

 very few related subjects. 



Next in value comes attendance at summer schools, 

 which several of the principal universities maintain in 

 the holidays for those who cannot attend the winter 

 sessions. The obvious objection to these, that they 



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