SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. 



THE method to be pursued by the aid of this book is th 

 following : The child, whether at home or at school, first of 

 all collects some specimens of plants almost any will answer 

 the purpose in commencing. These consist of organs, each 

 of which is made up of different parts, and these vary in form 

 and structure continually in different species. The object of 

 the learner is to find out these parts or characters, and to 

 learn their names, so as to be able to describe them. 



The beginner, of course, must start with the simplest char- 

 acters. Turning to the first exercises, for example, he finds 

 the parts of leaves represented by pictures accompanied by 

 the names applied to them. Guided by these, he refers to his 

 specimens, and finds the real things which the pictures and the 

 words represent. "When a few characters are fixed in the mind 

 by two or three exercises, he will commence the practice of 

 noting down what he observes. For this purpose a form, or 

 schedule, is used, containing questions which indicate what he 

 is to search for. Models of these schedules, filled out, are 

 given in the successive exercises : the pupil will make them 

 for himself with pencil and paper.* He now carefully observes 

 his specimen, and writes down the characters it possesses, with 

 which he has thus far become acquainted. Having done this, 

 he pins the specimen to the paper describing it, and brings it 

 to the teacher as the report of his observation and judgment 

 in the case. 



* I have thought it desirable also to present the whole set, at the end of 

 the volume, with the answers omitted, to illustrate at a glance the scope of 

 this first series of observations. As the pupil is to be constantly engaged in 

 schedule practice, and as the schedules are not to be preserved, the cheapest 

 kind of paper will answer, and it can be of course used on both sides. Slates 

 will do just as well ; but then the description must be numbered, and a. Corre- 

 sponding number attached to the specimen, so that they can be compared bj 

 the teacher. 



