BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS 



By W1L1.ARD N. CivUTE 



'T^IIl^ youiii^^ lady who said she hkcd everything about plants 

 ■'■ except botany expressed the sentiments of a great many 

 people. We admire the brilliant colors and gracful forms 

 of the flowers, we ornament our grounds and decorate our 

 dwellings with the hnest specimens, we use them in quantity 

 for all sorts of festive occasions, and most of us realize that 

 we depend ui)()n vegetati(.>n for food, shelter and clothing, but 

 when it comes to the science of plants, we too often regard it 

 as concerned primarily with a multitutle of uncouth and out- 

 landish terms quite detached from the plants themselves and 

 of no use to anybody except a few peculiar individuals who 

 happen to like that sort of thing. This opinion is one that 

 the scientist himself often unconsciously fosters, for his life 

 in herbarium, classroom or laboratorv inclines him t(^ exalt 

 book knowledge and indoor studies above a familiarity with 

 plants in the field. "Where have you been" asks the prim 

 and .severe tutor of her youthful charge. "Out in the garden 

 watching a rose unfold" replies the child. "Well, don't you 

 know you ought to have been in here studying your botany 

 lesson?" in(|uires the conscientious but purblind teacher. 



The world has long poked fun at its conception of the 

 botanist whom it usually represents as an amiable elderly 

 gentleman, armed with \asculum. trowel, manual and lens, 

 wandering about the fields, peering at small flowers through 

 his glass, and so intent upon his hobby as to be oblivious of 

 evertliing else. Doubtless such specimens exist but they are 

 alwavs so rare as to cause comment. As a matter of fact 



