besseyJ FIELD WORK IX BOTANY 13 



kinds of wild and cultivated grasses. Let the pupils scour the fields 

 and the woodlands tor different kinds of grasses, many of which can 

 be identified by the pupil with the judicious help of the teacher, and 

 here again the information given in the manual should be added to 

 the pupil's meagre stock of first-hand knowledge. The mosses, 

 toadstools, pond scums, and other well-marked types of plants may 

 be the subject of the field work at the proper season, but in all cases 

 I should consider that not all possible use had been made of them if 

 the work stopped merely with the observations made by the pupil. 

 These observations must be supplemented by reading what is said of 

 these plants by the authors of standard books. 



I should treat the other aspects of plant nature-study in a similar 

 way. Suppose the grade pupil (eighth grade) to be engaged in study- 

 ing the forms of flowers, he should combine the descriptive text with 

 field work for the discovery of illustrations of this or that particular 

 form. The forms of fruits and seeds, of leaves and stems, in fact of 

 all parts of the plant, may be s -ught in the fields, and taken up in 

 the class-room. In some cases the field work should precede the 

 consultation of books, while in other cases it may well follow. The 

 point is that the two must go hand in hand. In the pupil's ear- 

 lier work I should place the emphasis upon the field work, but as 

 the pupil advances in age and ability I should gradually place more 

 emphasis upon the indoor work, which finally develops into full labora- 

 tory and library work, while the field work comes to have a secondarv 

 place. 



This leads me quite naturally to high-school botany. Here, if the 

 previous preparation has been something like what I have indicated 

 above, there should be a beginning of intensive study of botany. It 

 should not be necessary for the pupil to be taught to recognize the 

 common trees, grasses and weeds at sight. Nor should it be difficult 

 for the high-school pupil to recognize mosses, toadstools and pond 

 scums when he sees them. All these and many more should be 

 quite as familiar to the pupil as are the common animals — horses, 

 cows, sheep, hogs, dogs, cats, birds, snakes, fishes, butterflies, bees, 

 and mosquitoes. 



He should not have to use precious time in learning to recognize 

 these familiar things. These he should already know well enough so 

 that when they are cited as illustrations it will not be necessary for 

 him to search blindly for them, nor for his teachers to take him out 

 on "botanizing trips'' to show him where they are and what thev 



