PREFACE. 



In recognition of the fact that the study of botany in the 

 past has been too much a study of books about pjlants, numer- 

 ous laboratory manuals have been published which make pos- 

 sible the study of plants themselves. Laboratory work has 

 now become well-nigh universal. With the strenuous insist- 

 ence that this method should be used in the secondary schools, 

 there has been a growing danger that such study would de- 

 generate into mere memory training, unless the relation of 

 the facts, often entirely isolated in the pupil's mind, were 

 clearly brought out. Since laboratory study soon came to 

 include the examination of the lower plants as well as seed 

 plants, and has now begun to include some experiments in 

 their physiology, the absence of an elementary account of 

 the form and functions of plants of all groups has made itself 

 felt. I am not aware that any book at present attempts to 

 meet this need. 



To the proper teaching of botany in secondary schools 

 such a book is indispensable. However capable the teacher 

 may be to gather up the facts observed in the laboratory and 

 to relate them with others so as to produce a clear concep- 

 tion of plant life, he cannot wisely rely upon the lecture for 

 pupils of 13 to 1 8 years. They need the printed page, 

 which appeals to eye as well as ear, if the principles and facts 

 are to be firmly grasped. 



