LECTURE III 



RAISING PLANTS, CROPS, AND TREES 



FROM the earliest times the raising of crops, plaints, 

 and trees from seed, also by cuttings and layers, as well 

 as increasing trees by budding and grafting, has been 

 carefully and successfully practised. Yet in these 

 modern days and with schools everywhere, the great 

 majority of persons who work on the land know 

 little or nothing about at least some of these 

 operations. 



The subject of raising new plants from seed is full 

 of interest, and the process of fertilisation, or inocula- 

 tion as it is often termed, for the production of new 

 and distinct varieties, is to many mysterious. 



The Seed and its Germination. Every plant 

 raised from seed is absolutely a new plant, the plant 

 in embryo was in the seed, just as a chicken must be 

 in the egg before it can hatch ; and as the egg affords 

 nourishment for the chick before its escape from the 

 shell, so does the seed contain nourishment for the 

 embryo plant until it produces roots and gathers food 

 for itself. It is important that both eggs and seeds 

 should be good, whether used as food or for purposes 

 of reproduction. A thin, weak, ill-fed seed cannot 

 produce a robust plant. The seed must be well stored 

 with starchy matter. It is a mistake therefore to eat 



