370 TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY 



is thus intimately related to the uses made of it and to the number of 

 people who make a living wholly or in part by cultivating the plants that 

 bear it or by preparing it for ultimate consumption. Some commercially 

 important seeds are those of wheat, oats, barley, rice, cotton, beans, 

 peas, coflFee, peanuts, coconuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts, filberts, and 

 pistachios. Economically the seeds of the grasses are the most important; 

 then come those of cotton and the legumes. 



The cultivation of plants for their seeds is the most important eco- 

 nomic phase of agriculture. The secondary industries related to it include 

 shipping, marketing, feeding of domesticated animals, industrial process- 

 ing, scientific investigation of processes and of the uses of products, 

 and the dissemination of information about agricultural methods and 

 procedures. 



The number of kinds of commercially important fruits and flowers is 

 large, but their total economic value is much less than that of seeds. 

 Among the commercially important fruits of the world are bananas, 

 breadfruit, dates, figs, olives, plantains, apples, grapes, plums, apricots, 

 peaches, tomatoes, pineapples, melons, and several varieties of citrous 

 fruits. The secondary industries related to the cultivation of plants for 

 their fruits include, in addition to those listed for seeds, greenhouse cul- 

 ture, extraction of juices, canning, drying, freezing, and cold storage 

 which make them available at all seasons of the year. Other industries 

 related to the cultivation of plants for their flowers include the numerous 

 flower shops, the keeping of bees for honey, and the manufacture of 

 perfumes. 



The economic value of flowers, fruits, and seeds and of the products 

 derived from them thus amounts annually to many billions of dollars, 

 and a large percentage of the population finds a means of livelihood 

 either by cultivating the plants or by preparing and distributing the 

 harvested products for final consumption. 



REFERENCES 



Chamberlain, Charles J. Elements of Plant Science. McGraw-Hill Book Com- 

 pany, Inc. 1930. 



Fairchild, David. The World Was My Garden. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1938. 



Hayward, H. E. The Structure of Economic Plants. The Macmillan Company. 

 1938. 



Hill, A. F. Economic Botany. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1937. 



Hitchcock, A. S., and Agnes Chase. Grass. Pt. IV. Old and New Plant Lore. 

 Smithsonian Sci. Series, 11:201-237. 1934. 



