PREFACE 



THE writer has been frequently asked to express to others 

 his ideas on the subject of the teaching of botany in the 

 schools. He has been led to consider the problem from a 

 number of different points of view and to try a number 

 of different methods in attempting a satisfactory solution. 

 After experimenting with a number of classes of beginners 

 both in the preparatory schools and in the university, he has 

 arrived at the following conclusions : 



Botany in the preparatory schools should be taught 



1. As a science, to cultivate careful and accurate observa- 

 tion, together with the faculty of making from observations 

 the proper inferences ; and 



2. As a means of leading the mind of the student to inter- 

 est itself in the phenomena of nature for its own further 

 development and profit. 



In order to make the study of botany more effective under 

 the first head, it seems best to bring the student into imme- 

 diate contact with the object itself, in the laboratory ; and 

 not only that, but to avoid interposing apparatus, as far as 

 possible, between the student and the object to be studied. 



^f '.,, 



