DIVISION AND SPECIALIZATION 165 



each, well developed in their individuality, to 

 be had for a price by the farmer who seeks to 

 adapt his crop to his soil. Many of them, like 

 certain strains of English oats, are not capable 

 of being propagated on their adopted soil year 

 after year, making it necessary, in order to 

 preserve the characteristics of the strain, to 

 constantly import fresh seed. Plant-breeding 

 has long since passed beyond simple esthetics, 

 although form and color in the flower-garden 

 have developed vital truths to be applied to 

 the economics of agriculture; as witness the 

 life-long toil of Johann Mendel in his Austrian 

 mountain monastery, with his sweet peas. 



The adjustment of crops to economic and 

 soil conditions is in its infancy as yet among 

 us. Yet the last census developed the fact 

 that the only state east of the Mississippi River 

 producing enough wheat for home consump- 

 tion was Delaware. Wheat has been grad- 

 ually moving west to cheaper lands, until now 

 Minnesota, the two Dakotas, Nebraska and 

 Kansas produce nearly two-thirds of the 

 nation's supply. 



Wheat and the small grains are less suscep- 

 tible than other crops to intensive cultivation. 

 Once they have been provided with carefully 



