60 ERYTHEA. 



The aim of the book is to lead the student to look upon the plant 

 as an individual with its own life to live, its children to produce 

 and provide for, its enemies to protect itself against, and its friends 

 to attract, welcome, and treat to its most precious stores. The stu- 

 dent is not to learn from definitions or illustrations, as is the usual 

 plan, but from seeing, describing and drawing the objects himself. 



The plan is almost ideal and in the hands of a good teacher could 

 neither fail to lead the student into habits of observation nor to pro- 

 voke thought concerning the reasons for observed facts. It is not a 

 book for a student learning by himself, and would be almost useless 

 except in the hands of a competent, energetic and enthusiastic 

 teacher. 



The entire absence of illustrations, while a seeming defect, is a 

 part of the plan, the object being to make the student more self- 

 reliant and to compel the teacher to have on hand the actual mate- 

 rials for study. These have been wisely and carefully selected from 

 plants, that are generally obtained readily; most of them are plants 

 common in cultivation. Some, however, such as Darlingtonia, 

 Sarracenia and Drosera would generally be extremely difficult to 

 obtain, and others would require the teacher to possess a garden or 

 greenhouse^ unless he should have access to that of some florist or 

 gardener. 



A book like this can have no local coloring. For a knowledge 

 of the plants native to any section of the country, some other book 

 must be used in connection with it, or if the teacher should happen 

 to know the flora of the neighborhood, he can, perhaps, supply the 

 lack from experience. The relationships of plants to each other are 

 omitted altogether, belonging more properly to field study than to 

 laboratory work. 



The arrangement is scholarly and logical. Beginning with the 

 seed, the history of the plant is traced through root, stem, and leaves 

 to flower and fruit. The headings of the chapters give an excellent 

 idea of the outline and contents: Seeds, Seedlings, Roots, Stems, 

 Leaves, Phyllotaxy, Buds, Prffifoliation, Protection, Storage, Climb- 

 ing Plants, Epiphytes, Parasites, Saprophytes, Insectivorous Plants, 

 Vegetative Reproduction, Seed Reproduction, A T3''pical or Pattern 

 Flower, Fertilization, Imperfect, Incomplete, Irregular and Unsym- 



