APPENDIX 



1. Laboratory notes. Much of the value of laboratory ■work must 

 always depend upon the way in which the notebooks are inspected. 

 Those with detached leaves, which may be assembled in some kind of 

 binder, are to be preferred ; and the instructor may certify his accept- 

 ance of the notes, page by page, either during the laboratory period 

 or immediately afterward. In general, unsatisfactory notes should be 

 rewritten from new studies of the material in question or (better) of 

 equivalent forms. 



Valuable data of any sort secured during the year's work should be 

 preserved for subsequent use. In this way, for example, the optimum 

 conditions for many of the phenomena of plant life may be ascertained 

 by assembling the results of the best student observers. Duplicates of 

 photographs and drawings may be kept in the botanical museum. 



2. Students' preparations. In all cases in which the student finds it 

 advisable to make for himself a set of preparations, e.g. of slides to 

 illustrate any histological topic, such preparations should be treated as 

 a part of his laboratory record. A duplicate series for the laboratory 

 can usually be made with little extra effort. In the same way preserved 

 material illustrating the life history of the plant, its variations as a 

 whole, or the modifications of its parts under varying environmental 

 conditions, may be added to the museum or other general collections. 



3. Sources of material. Aside from the obvious sources of material for 

 morphological and still more for histological study (such as the wild 

 seed plants of the region, gardens, and greenhouses) there are others 

 not less valuable. A very large number of admirable subjects for histo- 

 logical work can be had from the wholesale druggists, particularly those 

 who make a specialty of " botanical " remedies. Almost any part of the 

 plant body may be used in medicine, and many officinal substances, 

 such as calisaya bark, the young wood of Solanum dulcamara, the root- 

 stock of Acorus, the fruits of many Umbelliferce, and a great number of 

 other substances, to be had of dealers in drugs, form excellent material 



233 



