Beginners' botany

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
BEGINNERS’ BOTANY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO
BOUQUET OF BEARDED WHEAT
BY L. H. BAILEY
AUTHORIZED BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION FOR ONTARIO
TORONTO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LIMITED 1921
Copyright, 1921 By THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA LTD.
In all teaching of plants and animals to beginners, the plants themselves and the animals themselves should be made the theme, rather than any amount of definitions and of mere study in books. Books will be very useful in guiding the way, in arranging the subjects systematically, and in explaining obscure points; but if the pupil does not know the living and growing plants when he has completed his course in botany, he has not acquired very much that is worth the while.
It is well to acquaint the beginner at first with the main features of the entire plant rather than with details of its parts. He should at once form a mental picture of what the plant is, and what are some of its broader adaptations to the life that it leads. In this book, the pupil starts with the entire branch or the entire plant. It is sometimes said that the pupil cannot grasp the idea of struggle for existence until he knows the names and the uses of the different parts of the plant. This is an error, although well established in present-day methods of teaching.
Another very important consideration is to adapt the statement of any fact to the understanding of a beginner. It is easy, for example, to fall into technicalities when discussing osmosis; but the minute explanations would mean nothing to the beginner and their use would tend to confuse the picture which it is necessary to leave in the pupil’s mind. Even the use of technical forms of expression would probably not go far enough to satisfy the trained physicist. It is impossible ever to state the last thing about any proposition. All knowledge is relative. What is very elementary to one mind may be very technical and advanced to another. It is neither necessary nor desirable to safeguard statements to the beginner by such qualifications as will make them satisfactory to the critical expert in science. The teacher must understand that while accuracy is always essential, the degree of statement is equally important when teaching beginners.