xiv INTRODUCTION 



different parts of the plant and the comparison of the parts of 

 one plant with those of another kind. It is known as morphol- 

 ogy and will be the basis of much of our study. 



But there is still a third phase of botany, the studies of the 

 activities of plants, their methods of securing food, their growth, 

 their reproduction and their behavior in general. This is 

 known as plant physiology and will also be the basis of much 

 of our study. Let us always remember that plants are living 

 things just as much as animals are living things and should be 

 studied as such. 



Therefore, we may say that there are three great divisions of 

 botany, TAXONOMY, MORPHOLOGY and PHYSIOLOGY. However, 

 we have made many other divisions of the subject which are 

 more or less artificial, but which are very convenient for study. 

 The most important are : Agricultural botany, horticultural 

 botany, -floriculture, forestry, plant pathology, pharmaceutical 

 botany, plant geography and many other divisions to please the 

 individual workers. But they must all depend on some one, 

 two or all of the three great divisions. We will give some 

 attention to them later. 



There is much to be gained in the study of plants that is 

 more far-reaching than the subject of botany. After all, our 

 education consists more in training than in facts learned. We 

 cannot, in the short time allowed to the subject, expect to learn 

 much about many thousands of plants, growing under the varied 

 conditions found in the different parts of the world, but we can 

 learn certain principles of plant growth. We can also learn to 

 be close observers of both the plant and animal life around us 

 and we can also learn to be accurate in our observations, in our 

 experiments and in making records. If we learn close observa- 

 tion and accuracy in our work we will have gained a training 

 well worth all the time devoted to this subject ; a training which 

 will be helpful in any future trade, business or profession that 

 we may enter. 



