70 FARM AND SCHOOL PROBLEMS. 



there is an infinite variability. No two things that grow could 

 possibly be exact counterparts as no two living things can be 

 born, and live under the same conditions, experiences, and cir- 

 cumstances of time and place. It is this variability that makes 

 improvement and progress possible in the development of new 

 animal and vegetable forms. 



Adaptation. 



Plants will adapt themselves to almost any condition that will 

 tolerate plant existence. We find plants growing through almost 

 every degree of drouth and humidity from the cactus on the 

 dry plains to floating aquatic plants; luxuriant vegetation nour- 

 ishes under the tropic's burning sun and mosses and lichens grow 

 in the arctic regions on the borders of the land of perpetual snow 

 and ice. 



It is this principle of plant life that enables us to breed for 

 acclimatization and adaptation of plants. 



The Sexual Organs of the Flowers. 



The two most important organs of the flower to the plant 

 breeder who wishes to make crosses, are the so-called sexual or- 

 gans, the stamens and the pistils. The ends of the stamens are 

 the male organs and are known as anthers ; and the female organ 

 is the pistil which consists of the stigma which receives the pollen 

 and the ovary where the pollen assists in bearing the seeds. 



Breeding. 



The real purpose of plant breeding should be to give re- 

 finement and pleasure and practical results in the improvement 

 of species and in the creation of new forms of life. Some of 

 the important underlying principles of. plant breeding may be 

 briefly stated as follows : 



1. Crossing of plants to produce variation and new combinations. 



2. A constant broadening of the field of breeding for varieties in 

 selection. 



3. Radical changing of environments and intelligent application of 

 nature's forces. 



