
v1 INTRODUCTION 
the flowers to pieces and learn the names of their different 
parts. This was as bad nature study as it was bad science, 
for we were violating the laws of the child’s nature. The 
child cares very little about the forms of things; he is far 
more interested in what things do. 
To-day nature study and science, while they may deal 
with the same objects, view them from opposite stand- 
points. Nature study is not synthetic; it takes for its 
central thought the child, and for its field work the child’s | 
natural environment. ‘The child, through nature study, 
learns to know the life history of the violet growing in his 
own dooryard, and the fascinating story of the robin nesting 
in the cornice of his own porch. The differences of this 
violet and this robin from other violets and other robins in 
the world he considers not at all. 
That the plant as well as the animal in nature study should 
be regarded a thing of life has long been recognized, and most 
of our nature study of plants begins with the planting and 
sprouting of the seed. Unfortunately, it mostly stops here ; 
the life processes of the plant have seemed too complex to 
be brought within the comprehension of the child. There is 
much of chemistry in operations of plant growth, and we find 
very few things in chemistry that are simple enough to be 
properly a part of nature study. 
“First Studies of Plant Life” has been written with the 
sole view of bringing the life processes of the plant within the 
reach of the child and, with the aid of the competent teacher, 
it will certainly be comprehensible to the pupil of even the 
lower grades. In this book the plant stands before the child 
as a living being with needs like his own. To live, the 
plant must be born, must be nourished, must breathe, must 
