36 THE PLANT WORLD. 



It was in one of these same towns, that among the many people at 

 the hotel who became inquisitive, only one showe(i an intelligent 

 interest, viz., the German man-cook. The others came into the yard 

 where I was at work to ask such questions as 1 have already indicated, 

 but the cook sat down and discussed at length the various plants, com- 

 paring them with the allied European species that he had known and 

 using the scientitic names as naturally as if were an every day matter. 



Working along the railroad, J often encounter section gangs. 

 Many of the foreign-l)orn workmen recognize my calling and in([uire 

 as to mv iinds but the others look as if thev thouiiht me a iw-ir sj)rc!('>i 

 of tramp. 



Is the condition that I have pointed out, one indication of the oft 

 made statement, that we have time for those things oidx' which are 

 immediately convertible into bread and 1)atter!' Let us hope that it is 

 not, and let us tind in the recent, rather remarkable development of 

 literature, puri)orting to l)e botany po})ularized, an indication of a real 

 demand for a workino; knowledge of a subject so well calculated to i>ive 

 pleasure and ttie highest mental stimulus. 



Botany will not occupy the ])lace in the i)opular thought that it 

 should until our nature-study courses contain moi-c meat than most of 

 them do at the present time. "Cut and dried" (piestions about plants, 

 that are sometimes present only in the mind of the teacher, concern 

 real, live boys and girls, l)ut little. They want something to do, and it 

 must contain enough of ditiicultv so that the masterino: of it sludl be an 

 incentive for its doino-. A o-eneral enthusiasm for botanv. or anv other 

 science, is not to be secured l)y even excellent po})ular works otfcicd to 

 adults but rather through suitable instruction in the i>r;iinni;ir and 

 high-school grades of our public schools. Meitlier, in my judgment, 

 will it be secured even then, by any "milk and water" object lessons, 

 indefinitelv drawn out throiii^h the successive years, but rather bv a 

 term or two of Avell directed etiort during which an enthusiastic teacher 

 lead!< them into work u])on the [)lants themselves. Encpiiry for litera- 

 ture wall soon follow from those who have felt the charm of Nature's 

 secrets and have tasted the pleasure of laying open for themselves even 

 the least obscure of these. 



University of Wvoniing-, Laramie, Wyo. 



