APPENDIX II 365 



Ecology. — It will not usually be found worth while to undertake 

 ecological studies unless considerable field work (or at any rate, out- 

 of-door work) can be done. It is almost useless to discuss adapta- 

 tions to environment unless the environment itself is as much under 

 observation as are the plants that live in it. A good deal of ecology 

 can be inter^Aoven during trips undertaken mainly for the pui-pose of 

 getting acquainted with the local flora and collecting for the school 

 museum and laboratory. The first requisite for teaching the rudi- 

 ments of ecological botany is to impress upon the student the reality 

 and severity of the struggle for existence among plants, since compe- 

 tition must exist in order to make adaptation necessary. Any such 

 studies as are suggested in Sects. 154-158 of the I\]iinual may be 

 undertaken for this purpose. Even boxes of seedlings grown in a 

 Wardian case or on a sunny laboratory window sill will help to show 

 the effects of competition. 



Many ecological topics, such as field studies of parasitism, of insect 

 pollination, of ecological classes, or of plant formations may profitably 

 be assigned as voluntary work to single students or small gToups 

 observing together. 



INTERPRETIXG RESULTS OF LABORATORY WORK 



Most of the results of physiological experiments can be judged by 

 reference to the statements of Pfeifer, Detmer, and other authorities, 

 and morphological and histological work may be reviewed by com- 

 parison with the statements and the figures found in such general 

 treatises as the Strasburger text-book, in the Strasburger-Hillhouse 

 Practical Botany, and in special works. But the teacher will find it 

 indispensable to keep for reference a full illustrated set of notes of 

 the year's work, and to add to this year by year as additional types 

 are studied or new results are obtained in any of the experiments 

 performed as demonstrations or by the class. 



