STUDY OF BOTANY. 
35 
I have arranged these Divisions in a natural sequence, 
answering the questions— 
What is a Plant ? 
How do Plants differ from one other, and how are they 
related to each other ? 
How are they distributed in space and in time ? And 
What is their value to animals ? 
But for the purpose of amateur study I should arrange 
them differently. What beginners find most interesting is 
the knowledge of plants by sight and by name, and some 
knowledge also of their economic uses. 
We may arrange the sections, therefore, into an 
Elementary Department and an Advanced Department. 
The Elementary Department will include Nos. 1, 3, and 6— 
Structure, Classification, and Economic Use ; and the 
Advanced Department will include Nos. 2, 4, and 5—Physi¬ 
ology, Geography, and Palaeontology. As we are concerned 
at present with beginners only, we may dismiss the Advanced 
and confine our attention to the Elementary Department. 
How may an Amateur best set about to obtain some personal 
acquaintance with plants and their uses ? 
The plants which come under our notice in this country 
are in two groups—the wild and the cultivated. Some of 
our cultivated plants are also found wild, but the majority are 
importations from other countries and are only to be seen in 
gardens and hothouses. This does not make them any the 
less interesting to the Botanist, but for a beginner there is 
considerable advantage in restricting his early studies to our 
native wild plants, because these form a comparatively small 
and yet a fairly representative group, and an acquaintance 
with these will give him a general view of plant forms and 
plant life which may be afterwards extended in all directions. 
Moreover, wild plants of all the principal forms are readily 
accessible to everyone, while an average garden will only 
contain a small selection of the more showy forms. 
Let a beginner, therefore, begin with the study of the 
British wild plants. 
The first step is to get some knowledge of the structure of 
plants. In most towns there are, during the winter, courses 
of lectures by certificated Science teachers, and if Botany is 
one of the subjects no better introduction can be had than 
passing through such a course. The course usually consists 
of from twenty to thirty lectures of an hour each, and the 
usual fee is 2s. 6d. for artisans who can earn the Government 
grant for the teacher, and from 10s. to 20s. for all other 
persons for whose teaching the Government will pay nothing. 
