INTRODUCTION 



Plants are among the most informal of objects, 

 but botany is popularly understood to be one of the 

 most formal of the natural sciences. This- is only 

 another way of saying that plant -study is not always 

 taught by a natural method ; and this the writer 

 believes to be true for the secondary schools, and it 

 is the reason why he was willing to undertake the 

 preparation of a book about plants for beginners, when 

 urged to do so by the publishers. It is a common 

 method to begin the study of plants by means of for- 

 mal ideals — or definitions, — but the author believes that 

 the proper way to begin it is by means of plants. The 

 definition sets a model and tells the pupil what he 

 shall see ; the plant shows him what there is to be 

 seen, and the definition follows. When one has studied 

 a number of objects, he begins unconsciously to gen- 

 eralize and to arrange the impressions which he has 

 received, and his conclusion is the only true definition 

 for him. 



The ways, then, in which this book may be used 

 are as follows : 



W) 



