PREFACE 



This textbook is an outgrowth of the author's long experience 

 in giving to college students an introductory course in botany. 

 It has been used by the writer, in a briefer typewritten form, 

 with several classes at Beloit College and by botanical instruc- 

 tors in three other institutions. It has thus been adapted to the 

 needs of students as a result of practical experience and criticism. 



The author's aim in writing the book has been to furnish the 

 student with clear statements, properly related, of the essen- 

 tial biological facts and principles which should be included 

 in a first course in college botany or plant biology. It has been 

 assumed that the text would be supplemented by lectures and 

 readings to adapt it to particular needs in different institutions. 

 Such topics as relate to the economic aspects of botany have 

 consequently been treated concisely, with the idea that they 

 would be elaborated and extended variously by different instruc- 

 tors. In all cases, however, the biological principles underlying 

 such practical aspects of botany have been supplied in the text. 

 The author hopes, therefore, that the book will furnish both 

 students and instructors with a helpful, connected statement of 

 the more important facts and principles of modern botany. 



Content and use. The subject matter of the text is divided 

 into three parts, which are so arranged that they may be used 

 together, as the basis for a year's course in general botany, or 

 separately, for courses of one term or one semester in length. 



Part I is intended to present the biological aspects of plant 

 life from the standpoint of structure and function, on the basis 

 of studies of the higher and more familiar seed plants. Three 

 main themes are considered in this part of the text, namely, the 

 relations and adjustments of the higher plants to other organisms 



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