On the Manaoement ok Elementary Classes in Botany. 



ininutonesB as may be suited to the capacity of the present students. lu other vonls. we j>ro pose to turn 

 our ramble to practical account in the way of an object.-lesson, and to test the observing faculties by trying 

 to assign to each plant its proper place in a lH)tnnical classification. A good many of the plants are recog- 

 nizotl, without much difficulty, as being near n'latives of sj-vecios aln'ady examined in the class-room ; the 

 Lady's Slip|H»r, for instance, is at once iirououncod to be an Orchid ; the Pitcher-Plant is iimnediately iden- 

 tified by its leaves, the Water-Crowfoot is only a white Buttercup; the few Composites in bloom at this 

 season are referred at once to the jirnper famiU' : and so with a number of others. But there are some which 

 cannot Ih) disjH»stHl of in this otT-hnnd manner, and for these our '' Flora " must bo consulted. For conve- 

 nience, it is arrange<l that one person shall reiui aloud from the manual, while the others, with specimens in 

 hand, lUten to the descriptions, and assent or dissent, as these correspond to the characters exhibited by the 

 j'l mt under examination, or the reverse, until finally its true place and name are revealed. These having 

 lnvn duly noted down, along with the date of collection and the locality, other specimens are taken up in the 

 same way ; and though it is found impossible t«» overtake all the plants that have been gathered, j'ot con- 

 siderable headway is made, and even the dullest (for our class, not being an ideal one, contains dull as well 

 as clever pupils) feel a certain degree of confidence in their ability to do a little botanical work on their own 

 account. 



The work of determination is not j>rolonged to weariness, and soon after three o'clock preparations are 

 made to return home. The fatigue of the morning's Avalk has completely disappeared, and the youthful 

 mind, ndease*! from the strain to which it has been subjected, unbends, and with that singular fertility of 

 r. which causes the average juvenile to be at once the envy and the terror of his elders, immediat^lj- 

 • •s a host of topics for discussion, quite foreign t<^) the object of the day's proceedings. Botany is for 

 the present laid aside, and it ceases to l>e a matter of any consequence whatever, whether stamens are hyj>o- 

 i:yiK>us or otherwise, or what may be the relation of the calyx to the ovary. With pleasant conversation the 

 hofiu'ward way is beguiWvl. and as we s<']iarate. a ho)u-. which is Ix-lieved to be genuine, is expressed that ere 

 long we may meet again for another Field Day. 



