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school use. They are all written by technical botanists who have 

 forgotten that they were ever young themselves. They are all 

 much more "complete," difficult, and fatty-degenerated with un- 

 essential detail than their authors ever tackled in their own college 

 courses. All this is apart from any vital human interest, and, 

 .naturally enough, the pupils, when they pass their examinations, 

 lay it aside with a feeling of relief 



The old classification-key-analysis botany of two generations 

 ago has died a natural death, as the little knots of grandmothers, 

 who used to gather of summer afternoons to "analyze flowers " 

 — the same ones over and over again — have been laid to rest ; 

 and there is neither hope, nor occasion to resurrect it. If I add 

 that I have never been able to discover anything in ecology which 

 could serve any purpose in high school botany other than to make 

 life a burden to the students, we may consider the fringes of the 

 first question sufficiently treated. The main problem : Why not 

 a more lasting interest ? would require more time than I, and more 

 space than you, have to spare. But, in a single word, if we hope 

 to awaken interests that shall live and grow with the mental life 

 and growth of the pupil, we must select the matter which has the 

 most vital human interest. In other words, it is absurd to expect 

 everyone to become an enthusiastic technical botanist, but there 

 are certain vital, fundamental, and universal interests in plants out 

 of which technical botany has developed, in which all may reason- 

 ably have some share. Acquaintance with common wild flowers 

 and common weeds, coupled with the idea of preserving species 

 in danger of extinction or of exterminating undesirable species, 

 appeals to me as one line of such common human interest. 

 Knowledge of the esthetic possibilities of all sorts of wild and 

 cultivated flowers, vines, shrubs, etc., is another line of perennial 

 and wholesome interest. For this acquaintance work by all 

 means let us have simpler keys, if possible, and let them include 

 cultivated plants. Principles and possibilities of plant breeding 

 is another line of interest well calculated to open up into wonder- 

 ful botanical pastimes later on in life. Acquaintance work should 

 extend to the algae and especially to the fungi — mushrooms, 

 poisonous and edible, important parasitic forms of forest, orchard. 



