THE PLANT WORLD 49 



answer to this question and its application in teaching are at the root of 

 successful education, so far as botany is involved. It is the concern of 

 every intelligent teacher to try to solve this problem and to put his results 

 into shape so that they can be used as part of general experience. It 

 will be our aim to stimulate teachers to the performance of this public 

 duty. 



Field work ! With what a mixture of feelings many teachers think of 

 this part of the work of botanical study ! Every one in harmony with 

 modern ideas of teaching will agree that direct contact with plants as 

 they grow in the fields and woods, ponds and streams, is of the very 

 highest value. What of laboratory work if the pupil is not the better 

 able to interpret plants in their environment ? And what of books if after 

 reading them he does not the more desire to seek the higher authority 

 in the living thing? But how to do it with a large class, or even a 

 small one, and how to get measurable results without losing interest and 

 spontaneity, — in a word, how to make field exercises apart of real educa- 

 tion, getting all the good results and none of the bad, — this is a question 

 of moment which few of us pretend to have solved. It would be a real 

 service if this department could be the means of diffusing ideas which 

 have grown out of actual experience. Any one thing definitely accom- 

 plished, and a detailed account of the ways and means, could not but be 

 of value to others. There are many more problems awaiting thoughtful 

 experiment and discussion. 



Teachers know their own needs at least just as well if not better than 

 any one else. What a " want column " might be filled with them ! 



The editor of this department earnestly hopes that it can be made a 

 sort of clearing-house for the exchange of ideas. If we are to carry out 

 our simile in practice, our readers must be willing to put their ideas into 

 shape for exchange and send them to us. We hope also that they will 

 be ready to offer their thoughtful suggestions as to ways in which this 

 department may be developed to meet their needs. In this way the 

 editor will be the better guided in his effort to make The Plant World 

 more useful to a greater number of people. 



Speaking of wants recalls to mind not a few important problems 

 which frequently confront the teacher. One of the most difficult of these, 

 which every instructor of large classes has constantly to face, is that of 

 fairly estimating quickly and efficiently the quality and quantity of work 

 done by his pupils, but without entailing a loss of time and energy in 

 the grind of reading .scores of papers. Have any of our readers worked 

 out some way of doing this ? Can the interest of the pupils be increased 

 rather than diminished by a test method ? How do you do it ? 



