PREFACE 



This book is a by-product of a rather extended experience in the 

 teaching of botany and especially of seven years of effort to de- 

 velop an introductory course that would give students a broad 

 view of the subject and enable them to see its problems and 

 appreciate the importance of the solution of these problems. 



The first step in developing the course was the arranging of 

 laboratory and field work. The second was the working out of 

 the classroom discussions so that the class work and the actual 

 work with the plant materials would run parallel and supple- 

 ment each other. The laboratory directions have been used and 

 revised at intervals during the past five years, and the textbook 

 has been tested and revised and used in mimeographed form for 

 the past two years. During this period the work has been pre- 

 sented to upward of three thousand students and the course has 

 been improved in every detail through the experience and con- 

 structive criticisms of the eight instructors who have tried out 

 various methods and devices and different arrangements of the 

 material with their classes at The Ohio State University. 



Suggestions and ideas for guidance in the selection of subject 

 matter have been derived from four sources. The first of these 

 is the traditional course in general botany. This embodies the 

 facts and principles which most botanists agree are essential for 

 a foundation in the subject, and these are to be retained unless 

 there is definite reason why they should be set aside. 



The second source from which suggestions as to subject matter 

 have come is the large body of men engaged in the teaching or 

 practice of horticulture, agriculture, and forestry. These workers 

 in the appHed fields of botany .are the men who more than any 

 others use information concerning plants, and certainly a course 

 in general botany should afford a foundation for their courses and 

 their practice. 



A third source of suggestions and criticism is the students to 

 whom the course has been given. The questions they have asked, 



