VI INTRODUCTION 



1. By the teacher. It contains merely a few type 

 lessons, for the double purpose of instructing the 

 teacher and of suggesting a method of presenting the 

 subject to pupils ; and since the author cannot bring 

 the plants with him, he brings good pictures, which 

 are the next best things. If the book should ever fall 

 into the hands of a teacher who is uninformed in 

 plants, the author hopes that the teacher will master 

 one of the observations, then lay the book aside and 

 collect specimens similar to those discussed and present 

 them to the scholars. The teacher should remember that 

 the information which the pupil acquires is of far less 

 value than the methods of acquiring it and the mental 

 uplift which comes from the inspiration of the exercise. 

 The author would be sorry if any teacher should feel that 

 he must follow the methods or the order in this book, 

 for every teacher — if he is a teacher — has methods of 

 his own. The book only suggests ; and it may aid him 

 to overcome prejudice. It is not the object of the book 

 to teach a science ; it only indicates a way in which 

 plants may be studied and the subject taught. There is 

 no attempt, therefore, to give coordinate treatment to 

 the different phenomena and attributes of vegetation. 

 The teacher wiU be constantly foraging beyond the 

 book, but, on the other hand, it may now and then 

 supply an exercise when illustrative specimens cannot be 

 secured. In the hands of a good teacher, therefore, 

 the book may be used for any of the grades of the 



