iv PREFACE 



reducing the civilized world to a depressing monotony of 

 weediness and artificiality. Except for purely systematic and 

 anatomical work, flowers can be studied to better purpose in 

 their living, active state than as dead subjects for dissection ; 

 and the best way to show our interest in them, or to get the 

 most rational enjoyment out of them, is not, as a general thing, 

 to cut their heads off and throw them away to wither and die 

 by the roadside. The teacher, by instilling into the minds of 

 the rising generation a reverence for plant life, may do a great 

 deal to aid in the conservation of one of our chief national assets 

 for the gratification of the higher esthetic instincts. The fruits 

 and flowers of cultivation do not stand in the same need of pro- 

 tection, since they are produced solely with a view to the use 

 and pleasure of man, and their propagation is provided for to 

 meet all his demands. 



To avoid too frequent interruptions of the subject matter, 

 the experiments are grouped together at the beginning or end 

 of the sections to which they belong, according as they are 

 intended to explain what is coming, or to illustrate what has 

 gone before. A few exceptions are made in cases where the 

 experiment is such an integral part of the subject that it would 

 be meaningless if separated from the context. Under no 

 circumstances should those capable of being performed in the 

 schoolroom be omitted, as much of the information which the 

 book is intended to give is conveyed by their means. For this 

 reason, and also because the aim of the book is to present the 

 science from a practical rather than from an academic point of 

 view, the experiments outlined are for the most part of a simple, 

 practical nature, such as can be performed by the pupils them- 

 selves with a moderate expenditure of ingenuity and money. 

 The experience of the writer has been that for the average boy 

 or girl who wishes to get a good general knowledge of the 

 subject, but does not propose to become a specialist in botany, 

 the best results are often obtained by the use of the simplest 

 and most familiar appliances, as in this way attention is not 

 distracted from the experiment itself to the unfamiliar appa- 

 ratus for making it. In saying this, it is not meant to under- 



