Introduction 3 



From this lesson of production and conservation one 

 turns to another in discouraging contrast, - - and that 

 other is this : much of this fertile forest land has been 

 cleared, and year by year fields which were once highly 

 productive are left untilled, or abandoned as of no longer 

 interest agriculturally. If lessened production is the cause 

 of abandonment or discouragement, the system which 

 leads to waste of this nature should have a speedy end. 



All of the results of science and practice are needed to 

 assist in working a change in the conditions. Each science 

 may contribute something. 



2. The relation of physiology to production. - - Plant 

 physiology is an intimate part of scientific plant production. 

 It concerns itself with plant response and plant behavior 

 under all conditions ; that is, with all relations and processes 

 readily evident or obscure, simple or complex, which have 

 to do with the maintenance, growth, and reproduction of 

 plants. It is then concerned with vegetation or crops, 

 with the relation of the plant as a whole, and with all 

 special responses or functions of any organ or cell. From 

 the standpoint of physiology one should be able to get 

 facts alike applicable in understanding or interpreting 

 the behavior or yield of plants of all description. The 

 principles of growth are learned by the same methods, 

 whether the plants are those constituting the vegetation of 

 the mill-pond or of the vast fields of cultivated grain ; of 

 the greenhouse or of the weedy growth of the neglected 

 lot ; of the sparse vegetation of the poor prairie or of the 

 primeval forest. Throughout all, the principles involved 

 are ultimately those of analyzing the complex stimuli and 

 the resulting growth, or maintenance, and reproduction. 



