196 PLANT IDENTIFICATION. 



must assume that a comparatively rapid means of gaining 

 a certain amount of information is desired. As a beginning 

 the teacher should master the names of the chief parts of 

 a flowering plant and their functions (see p. 207). When 

 these are understood the teacher should next examine any 

 common wild flowers which are available, the names of 

 which he knows. The natural Order to which the plant 

 belongs should be ascertained from a text-book, the specific 

 characters of the plant should also be looked for, and as far 

 as possible verified upon the specimen in hand. The parts 

 of the plant (flowers especially) should then be drawn. 

 (See also p. 197.) 



Some little time spent in this way upon even a few plants 

 will be of more value than many hours of reading. The 

 teacher should possess a good pocket lens and a couple of 

 needles mounted on handles with which to dissect the 

 flowers, etc. It will also be desirable to have some good 

 work on botany for consultation.* 



For a beginner's needs Professor Cavers' Life Histories of 

 Common Plants (University Tutorial Press) will be found 

 very useful. Another work which can be recommended for 

 practical service in identification is Fox's How to Find and 

 Name Wild Flowers (Cassell). If a commencement is made 

 with this work in the spring when the wild flowers are not 

 too numerous, and identification practised by its means, an 

 encouraging start will be made. Although the arrange- 

 ment in Part I. of this work is artificial, this book meets 

 the beginner's needs better than any other we have seen. 

 The teacher should keep a list, with dates and localities 

 where found, of the plants identified by himself. Special 

 attention should be paid to trees as well as flowers. In 

 rural schools the common weeds also should all be identified 

 and classified. 



* It may as well be clearly pointed out here that the study of 

 plants and plant life as far as "Nature Study" is concerned should 

 be confined to observational work such as is possible to the private 

 student with ordinary equipment. The teacher may of course read 

 botanical works and accept statements as to microscopic structure, 

 functions, etc. , although they cannot be verified. 



