CHAPTER XVIII 



PLANT BREEDING 



Need for breeding. It is well known that fruits and flmvns 

 as they grow in the wild rarely attain the perfection of which 

 they are capable under more favorable circumstances. The 

 struggle for sufficient light and food materials, the constant 

 conflict with insects and disease, and the vicissitudes to which 

 the plants are exposed by the climate of the region all operate 

 to reduce that vitality which otherwise might be expended in 



Photograph by U. L. Ilollieter Land Co. 



FIG. 187. Four potatoes to the yard 

 These are the result of irrigation farming 



brighter flowers and larger, better-flavored, and more abundant 

 fruits. All cultivation is in recognition of this fact ; reduced 

 to its simplest terms, it is the selection of the most likely 

 plants, the supplying them with abundant food, and the pro- 

 tecting of them from their enemies. Cultivation always results 

 in better and larger crops, but man has not been content to 

 rest here. Having been taught by this experience that plants 

 can be greatly modified by proper treatment, he is ever on the 

 watch to extend his operations further and produce still better 



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