EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 



THE necessary equipment for a course in botany will vary 

 with the time devoted to the subject and the available labora- 

 tory space. If you do not have a laboratory, many interesting 

 studies can be made and experiments conducted in the ordinary 

 school-room. 



The simplest possible equipment is a good pocket knife, a 

 small hand lens, a note-book suitable for drawings and records 

 and a reasonably hard lead pencil. 



To this equipment may be added flower pots, tin cans, bot- 

 tles, glass jars, glass and rubber tubing, boxes, seeds, bulbs, 

 fruits, vegetables, living plants, sands and soils. The amount 

 and variety of supplies of this kind will depend on the available 

 space for the work. Practically all of these supplies can be 

 secured from the local merchants or collected in the vicinity. 



The laboratory should be well lighted and properly heated 

 both day and night, and should be supplied with tables, shelves, 

 water and a dark room. 



The library should contain as good a supply of text-books on 

 general botanical and agricultural subjects as is possible to 

 secure. The daily work should always be supplemented with 

 readings on botanical subjects. The study of botany may be 

 correlated with many other subjects, especially chemistry, 

 physics, geology, soils, geography, agriculture, horticulture, gar- 

 dening, agronomy, meteorology, and history. 



The indoor studies should always be supplemented by out- 

 door studies. Walks in the parks or country after school hours, 

 or on a Saturday, will prove exceedingly advantageous. The 

 growing of plants at home, the determining of the number of 

 different kinds of trees in a piece of woodland, along a street or 

 in a park are usually both interesting and helpful. 



XV 



