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/l^^ SCHOOL BOTANY 



TEACHING SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



THE teaching of systematinc botany may easily get into a 

 mt, although there are sufficient variations in the way it 

 may be taught to give the teacher some choice of the rut into 

 which he may fall. The objects in teaching this subject at all 

 are three in number : to make the pupil familiar with the names 

 of our plants, to teach him something of relationship and the 

 use of a key, and to develop in him some of the ability to 

 judge and compare that is essential in any walk of life. To the 

 writer it seems rather a waste of time to spend any consider- 

 able part of the school year in memorizing definitions, and ex- 

 ceedingly foolish to set the pupil at such purely mechanical 

 tasks as "analyzing" flowers. If the pupil has had no previous 

 contact with plants, a part of his time may be well taken up 

 with a study of seeds, stems, roots, leaves, flowers and fruits, 

 but not with the end in view of learning the descriptive terms 

 that may be applied to them. He needs first of all to know 

 what these organs are for, and how they work. The technical 

 terms needed for systematic work can be learned in two or 

 three days, and if not the pupil has a glossary which he can 

 consult. An ideal pre-requisite to a course in systematic bo- 

 tany is a thorough study of the plant as a living thing. 



The ability to make good herbarium specimens is a thing 

 to be desired, but this ability is not fostered by a miscellaneous 

 collection of tops secured in the effort to get fifty different 

 flowers. The pressing and mounting of these plants is waste 

 time — "busy work" — such as the teachers in the lower grades 



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