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Hints to teachers.
DR. W. J. BEAL.
1. The chief object of the study of botany is to learn how to
see quickly and accurately, and to acquire the habit of inquisitiveness.
When acquired the training should be a never-ending
source of pleasure and profit. This line of work naturally includes
a knowledge of trees and shrubs because they are large
and conspicuous; the most common weeds, grasses and plants in
cultivation in field, garden, orchard, and for home decoration.
It also includes something of plant morphology and the study of
plants with relation to each other and their environment, their
life history, known as ecology. This includes the study of seedlings,
the changes taking place during a growing season, pollination
by aid of insects and other means, seed dispersal, the
struggle for room, plant defense, etc.
2. In these days most of the books are made with reference
to beginning the study with the lower families by studying a
number of what are selected as isolated types, and in this introducing the use of the compound microscope. After such a
course, the pupil knows so little about the selection of materials
that he is likely to abandon the work in after years unless he
is under the guidance of a teacher. This work is attractive to
many, and useful, but it involves considerable apparatus, small
classes and long hours, which are seldom, if ever, secured in high
schools.
3. A knowledge of plant physiology—how plants feed and
grow—is very important, but it involves a considerable knowledge
of chemistry and physics, as well as a great deal of apparatus;
and the study of chemistry and physics, President Elliot
and many other eminent educators say, should come after the
study of botany and zoology. 
4. As our schools now are and are likely to be for a long time,
I think it best for high schools and those below to limit themselves
mainly to what comes under my first heading, and rely on
the future for the other two. In a thorough study of the first,
more or less of the second and third will be introduced.

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5. As to methods, teachers must be trained in the correct way,
and then persistently struggle with boards of education for small
classes and more time for each lesson. The number should be
twenty or less in each class and the time for a lesson not less than
90 minutes; and then fully nine-tenths of the time should be
devoted to laboratory work, with plenty of specimens and other
material on hand for dissection and comparison. In this should
come a correct use of a stage microscope, with needles, forceps
and knife; always studying the plant carefully before using a
book or text. In a former note in the Bulletin I told how to
have an abundance of material at all times of the year.
After all, a first-class teacher will succeed in almost any way,
provided he believes in it and gives the subject his best thought,
and such a course can not help benefiting the pupils.