As an introduction to botany, I would make the children acquainted with the progress of vegetation, not from words, but from observation.  I would have three or four garden-pots filled with mould, introduced into the nursery at a proper season of the year; the children should be asked, what is in the pots.—­“Dirt,” or “mould,” will of course be the reply.  They should then be shewn the seeds which are to be deposited in the mould, and assuming in the eyes of the children a prophetic character, the mother or governess should inform them of the process of vegetation, and that about a certain time a pretty flower will make its appearance in the pots:  the seeds should then be deposited in the mould, and the pots placed in a proper situation.  It would not be improper to let the children themselves sow the seed; thus convincing them of their power of being useful, and becoming the instrument of so great a wonder, as the transformation of a seed into a flower.  During the time the seed is lying unperceived beneath the mould, the children should frequently be sent to look “if the pretty flower has come up,” or questioned as to what they were told concerning it.  At length the green shoot will make its appearance, just peeping above the mould, to the no small surprise and gratification of the little observers.  They will mark with attentive eagerness the progress of its growth, the appearance of the bud, and the gradual development of “the pretty flower,” till they are fully convinced of the wisdom of the parent or teacher who foretold all which has happened, and made acquainted with the process of vegetation, not from words, but from observation.  Certain it is, that such a lesson could not be wholly useless.  In the first place it might be made the means of impressing them with ideas of the Almighty power, highly conducive to piety; secondly, it would beget a habit of observation; thirdly, it would be likely to produce a love of flowers and the vegetable world, favourable to their future pursuits in the science of botany; and, lastly, it would inspire their little breasts with a love and respect for the parents or teachers who were wise and kind enough to teach them so many true and wonderful things.

As an efficient and amusing introduction to natural history, I would have every nursery provided with a microscope, by means of which the minds of the children might be excited to wonder and admiration at the amazing beauty and perfection of the insect world, and the astonishing construction of various substances, as seen through this instrument.  So far would this be from begetting habits of cruelty, that it would be very likely to check them.  Many children who would be loath to torture a large animal, such as a cat, a dog, or a bird, feel no compunction at ill-using a fly, because it appears to them so insignificant an animal; but had they once witnessed, by means of a microscope, the wonderful and perfect conformation of the insect, I am persuaded they would be less inclined to make the distinction.