Forest 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Vol. TIL— OCTOBER, 1877.— No. 4. 



A Botanists' Winter Evenings. 



There are those who consider that a botanists' labors cease with the 

 advent of winter. It is thought that he cannot then collect flowers 

 or study any point of interest unless he is exceptionally fortunate in 

 the possession of a conservatory. To us who are engaged in teaching 

 the science in the smaller institutions and private schools, this pre- 

 vailing opinion is calamitous. The number of classes and private 

 pupils steadily diminish as autumn advances, and we are actually 

 forced into the temporary withdrawal from a study which should be 

 continuous in order to be successful. There can be no greater mis- 

 fortune to a student than to be compelled by force of actual need into 

 pursuits which are foreign to his legitimate calling. It is aggravating, 

 not to say distressing, to abandon even for a time our scientific pro- 

 fession, in order to gain a livelihood which should innure from that 

 profession provided it were rightly understood and patronized. We 

 do not complain of work in whatever form it comes — anything in the 

 way of honest effort is preferable to stagnation ; but we do regret, and 

 that profoundly, this annnal pause in our chosen and much-loved 

 occupation. 



Is there reason in the prevailing opinion that botany can only be 

 taught in the spring months? Our practical experience with the few 

 classes we have had throughout the year afford an emphatically nega- 

 tive answer. Of course we can more easily obtain illustrations in 

 spring and summer — and facility of choice is not to be underrated ; 

 but then these examples can be secured even in the winter by a small 



