728 General Notes. [August, : 
ago, and the beginner will do well to read carefully the directions 
there given. . 
Much of what was included in Mr. Hoysradt’s articles is to be 
found, along with a good deal of additional matter, in Section Iv, 
of the tenth chapter of the new edition of Gray’s Botanical Text- 
book, Vol. 1. For flowering plants, the treatment here is prob- 
ably the most satisfactory to be found anywhere, and no one can 
-afford to omit its careful perusal. 
A Broaper ELementary Borany.—In the schools and col- 
leges of this country the teaching of elementary botany is still 
but little improved, however much of change for the better 
the higher departments may show. In fitting up our labora- 
tories, providing means for studying cells and tissues, gathering 
collections of all sorts of materials and specimens, from German 
herbarium specimens of bacteria to trunks of great trees, we have 
done well for the classes of somewhat advanced students, but 
have we not in our zeal for improvement in these lines forgotten 
or ignored elementary botany. The beginner finds that with all 
this talk of improved methods he is still obliged to pursue the 
same old tread-mill course with its endless list of bare technical- 
ities and meaningless botanical jargon. Beyond his field of ele- 
mentary work he sees evidence of great activity among pests 
but /zs work remains almost precisely what it was a score 
years ago, in spite of the fact that in this period the great science 
of plants has undergone a complete transformation. Th 
What should an elementary course in botany include ? s 
answer to this question will vary somewhat according to the par- 
g view of the vegetable kingdom. 
demand 
