CHAPTER VII. 



PLANS FOR BOTANICAL WORK. 



THE following suggestions written by Mr. Wm. B. 

 Werthner, for Chapter 940, Dayton, O., are so exceed- 

 ingly practical and valuable that we are glad to repro- 

 duce them here for the benefit of the whole Asso- 

 ciation : 



" As spring comes on, an interest in nature is awak- 

 ened, and as botany offers so many fields for individual 

 work, the following suggestions are made with the hope 

 that they may induce more out-of-door study. The 

 student will easily find that one season's work does not 

 exhaust the subject, and that he may continue from year 

 to year, always learning some things he did not know 

 before, and that his investigations may lead to discov- 

 eries of the highest importance, giving him a deeper 

 understanding of natural forces and a better appreci- 

 ation of life itself. This science is so comprehensive 

 that men have long ago given up the idea of being 

 master of it all ; and so you will see that one or two 

 things carefully studied and collected will give you 

 more pleasure, and lead to better results, than a super- 

 ficial study of the whole field. 



The question is asked : What can I do out of 

 school, in summer and other times, to keep up my 

 interest or direct my attention to botanical problems ? 

 Here are a few topics for investigation : 

 I. Make experiments with living plants. 



(a) Seedlings. Note under what circumstances dif- 

 ferent seeds will germinate ; whether they all 

 need the same amounts of air, warmth, water, 

 etc. Compare their modes of growth ; plant 

 in various kinds of soil, and at different times. 



