PEEFAOE. 



HOW PJANTS GROW, the first part of Botany for Young People and 

 Common Schools, was written fourteen years ago, in the endeavor to provide a 

 book upon Elementary Botany, adapted to the instruction of young people, even 

 of children, yet truly presenting, albeit in a simple way, the leading facts, methods, 

 and principles of the science as understood by its masters. The book has been 

 successful. It will probably enable a young person, under the guidance of a quali- 

 fied teacher, to obtain a larger, truer, and worthier knowledge of Botany than 

 many grown people could readily find the way to acquire a generation ago. 



That young people, that all students, indeed, should be taught to observe, and 

 should study Nature at sight, is a trite remark of the day. But it is only when 

 they are using the mind's eye as well, and raising their conceptions to the rela- 

 tions and adaptations of things, that they are either learning science or receiv- 

 ing the full educational benefit of such a study as Botany or any other depart- 

 ment of Natural History. 



There is a study of plants and flowers admirably adapted, while exciting a 

 lively curiosity, to stimulate both observation and thought, to which I have 

 long wished to introduce pupils of an early age. The time has now arrived 

 in which I may make the attempt, and may ask young people to consider not 

 only ' How Plants Grow,' but How Plants Act, in certain important respects, 

 easy to be observed, — everywhere open to observation, but (like other common 

 things and common doings) very seldom seen or attended to. This little trea- 

 tise, designed to open the way for the young student into this new, and, I trust, 



