VI PREFACE. 



nature, a fitting background for subsequent more detailed 

 studies. 



■^. Such a view of tlie plant kingdom is certainly of the 

 most permanent value to those who can give but a half 

 year to botany, for the large problems of Ecology are con- 

 stantly presented in subsequent experience, when details 

 of structure woiild be forgotten. 



o. The work in Ecology herein suggested demands lit- 

 tle or no use of the compound microscope, an instrument 

 ill adapted to first contacts with nature. 



The second book will demand the use of the compound 

 microscope, and those schools which possess such an equip- 

 ment may prefer to use that part first or exclusively. 



In reference to the use of this part something should 

 be said, although such cautions are reiterated in almost 

 every recent publication. A separate pamphlet containing 

 "Suggestions to Teachers" who use this book has been 

 prepared, but a few general statements may be made here. 

 This book is intended to j^resent a connected, readable 

 account of some of the fundamental facts of botany, and 

 may serve to give a certain amount of information. If it 

 performs no other service in the schools, however, its pur- 

 pose will be defeated. It is entirely too compact for any 

 such use, for great subjects, which should involve a large 

 amount of observation, are often merely suggested. It is 

 intended to serve as a supplement to three far more im- 

 portant factors : (1) tlie teacher, who must amplify and 

 suggest at every point ; (3) the lahoratory, which must 

 bring the pupil face to face with plants and their struc- 

 tures; (3) field-work, which must relate the facts observed 

 in the laboratory to their actual j)lace in nature, and must 

 bring new facts to notice which can be observed nowhere 

 else. Taking the results obtained from these three fac- 

 tors, the book seeks to organize them, and to suggest 

 explanations. It seeks to do this in two ways (1) iy 

 means of tlie text, which is intended to be clear and un- 



