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but the matter contained is equally applicable to a course in 

 botany. In his opinion, " The reason why the field excursion is 

 so often unsatisfactory is that insufficient preparation is made for 

 it. The plain fact of the matter is that a field trip requires more 

 careful preparation on the part of the students than any recitation 

 or laboratory period." He explains his methods by describing 

 the preparation made for a specific trip. These include (i) a 

 preliminary reconnaissance by the teacher of the region to be 

 visited, and (2) a detailed outline and questions, similar to those 

 in laboratory manuals, regarding the particular organisms to be 

 observed. The pupils are to be drilled on these beforehand. 

 Then, during the excursion, each is to discover for himself the 

 answers to the questions given. The writer's plea is for excur- 

 sions sufficiently limited in scope to allow of thorough work, and 

 for careful preparation. He closes with the following : " The 

 only seed from which a love of nature can grow is a fact person- 

 ally discovered by the child. We may radiate the sunlight of 

 enthusiasm and pour showers of loving appreciation but there 

 can be no growth until the seed is planted." 



Ralph Curtiss Benedict. 



NEWS ITEMS 

 Dr. F. Noll, professor of botany at Halle, died on June 22 at 

 the age of forty-nine years. 



Mr. L. Lause Burlingame has been appointed instructor in 

 botany in Stanford University. 



Mr. C. E. Porter has been appointed professor of botany in 

 the University of Santiago de Chile. 



Dr. C. H. Shattuck, of Washburn College, has been called to 

 the chair of botany and forestry in the State Agricultural and 

 Mechanical College, at Clemson College, South Carolina. 



Professor Edwin M. Wilcox, of the Alabama Polytechnic In- 

 stitute, has been elected botanist of the Experiment Station and 

 professor of agricultural botany in the University of Nebraska. 



Dr. William A. Murrill, assistant director of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, gave a two weeks' course of lectures in July 



