Teaching botany to the students are very diverse, and in so far as the experience of successful teachers, they are worthy of careful consideration. As the overwhelming factor in successful teaching is the teacher, methods are of secondary importance. It is the purpose of the present work to contribute another suggestion as to the method of teaching botany to the students. The book, herewith presented, is dominated by Ecology, and also contains certain fundamentals of physiology that are naturally suggested. For the benefit of students, 206 illustrations have been included to understand the topics easily.
The study of the most evident life-relations of plants gives a proper conception of the place of plants in nature, a fitting background for subsequent more detailed studies. Such a view of the 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 constantly presented in subsequent experience, when details of structure would be forgotten.
The work in Ecology herein suggested demands little or no use of the compound microscope, an instrument ill adapted to first contacts with nature. This book is intended to present a connected, readable account of some of the fundamental facts of botany, and may serve to give a certain amount of information. It seems to be true, nevertheless, that these facts represent the things best adapted for presentation in elementary work. Thanks are due to various members of the botanical staff of the Universities, who have been of great service in offering suggestions and in preparing illustrations.
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