228 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



It is quite advisable to make a list of the 

 things one sees. Get a manual of botany 

 which is suited to the region where you 

 happen to be, and note down either in the 

 book itself or in some handy little memo- 

 randum book, the names of the plants that 

 you find. I had a very pleasant visit from 

 an old gentleman a few days ago who had 

 been doing this thing for many years. Every 

 little while he finds a plant whose name he 

 cannot make out, as he is not yet a very ex- 

 pert botanist, and sends me a specimen of it 



and asks me to give him its name. I do so 

 with much pleasure, as it generally takes 

 but little time, and he then makes a note of 

 the fact that he has had such and such a 

 plant. Xow some people call this a pretty 

 poor kind of botany, but it is not. It is a 

 part of the whole subject of botany and a 

 part that lends itself most easily to this 

 self-teaching. Furthermore it is sometimes 

 said that such botany as this merely con- 

 sists in getting the scientific names (Latin 

 names) of plants, and that such a botanist 

 knows little more about the plants than he 

 did before. Yet there is much to be said in 

 defense of the learning of plant names. 

 It is a thing that we all do in one way 

 or another. From early childhood to old 

 age we always want to know the names 

 of things. I meet a stranger as I take a 

 walk, and I ask his name from the next 

 acquaintance I meet. I see a tree which 

 I do not recognize, and I ask my friend 

 what he calls it. I see a new animal and I 

 ask some one what it is. We must have 

 names, and certainly there is no valid ob- 

 jection against the learning of the scientific 

 names of the plants which one finds. So 



let the amateur botanist learn the names if 

 he wishes to do so, — and I should hope that 

 he would wish to do so. 



I have indicated above one help which 

 every isolated young botanist may receive, 

 that is, help, from some professional 

 botanist in his region. Practically every 

 college worthy of the name has a chair of 

 botany, and in nearly all cases these pro- 

 fessors are willing to help those who write 

 to them. Do not hesitate, therefore, to 

 send your specimens to some one asking 

 him to name it. Do not wait until you have 

 a great many of them, but send the speci- 

 mens one at a time, getting the answer on 

 the return postal card, which you enclose. 



Let me close this note by telling of my 

 friend, the Rev. Mr. Blank, who formerly 

 lived in a border town on the Nebraska 

 plains. He was then, as he is now, a trav- 

 elling minister, located at a particular 

 place, but with many engagements which 

 cause him to ride long distances over the 

 prairies and plains. One January day, 

 nearly twenty years ago, I received a letter 

 from him enclosing two or three most 

 wretched looking remnants of grasses. He 

 had broken these off in a ride across the 

 plains and had worked them out by the 

 help of some manual as best he could. He 

 sent his fragments to me and told me that 

 he was beginning the study of botany, and 

 wanted to know whether he had identified 

 his grasses correctly. Thus he began the 

 study of botany in the field in Nebraska in 

 January when the blizzards are generally 

 driving over the plains at a most lively 

 rate. On looking over his specimens I 

 found that not quite half of them were 

 correctly named. Within a few days, I re- 

 ceived another little packet of four or five 

 specimens, and now the percentage of cor- 

 rect determinations was a little higher. 

 And so week by week through the long, 

 cold, stormy winter this travelling min- 

 ister botanized over the Nebraska plains, 

 collecting whipped out remnants of grasses, 

 and gradually acquiring the ability to de- 

 termine them with greater accuracy. Long 

 before the wild flowers began to appear on 

 the prairies, he was ready for them, and you 

 can be certain that when he had good fresh 

 whole specimens to work upon, he made his 

 determinations with almost absolute exact- 

 ness. I have always thought of my friend 

 as rather a remarkable example of the fact 

 that one can begin teaching one's self 

 botany at any time, and while he chose a 

 rather unpropitious time, he did succeed in 

 learning one part of the subject. I may say 

 that he has kept up his interest in botany 

 to this day, and after he became thoroughly 

 acquainted with all the flowering plants in 

 his region, he extended his studies to the 

 ferns, to the mosses, and the fungi, and 

 even has done something with the fresh 

 water algae. What this minister has done 

 anyone with proper enthusiasm can do. 



Chari.KS E. Hessi:v. 



