BOTANY ALL THE YEAR ROUND 



— ooXKo 



I. INTRODUCTION 



1. General Statement. — Botany is the science which 

 treats of the vegetable kingdom, but the subject is so com- 

 prehensive that it has been divided into many branches, 

 each of which is a science in itself. For instance, there 

 are Mycology, the study of mushrooms and other fungi ; 

 Bacteriology, the study of the microscopic forms con- 

 cerned in the process of fermentation, and in the pro- 

 duction of disease ; Paleobotany, the study of fossil plants 

 — and many others, with which we have no concern at 

 present. Each of these studies may be viewed under 

 various aspects, and these in turn have given rise to still 

 other divisions of the subject, such as, — 



2. Morphology, or Structural Botany, the study of the 

 different organs or parts of plants in regard to their form 

 and uses and the various changes and adaptations they 

 may undergo. 



3. Histology, or Plant Anatomy, the microscopic study 

 of the minute structure of plant organs. This can not be 

 carried on well without the use of the compound micro- 

 scope and other appliances not obtainable in many schools. 

 Something, however, may be learned from a few simple ex- 

 periments, accompanied by intelligent observation with a 

 hand lens, and it is only in so far as it can be carried on 

 by ordinary means like these, that this branch of the sub- 

 ject is touched upon in the present work. 



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