PLANT-BREEDING 341 



plants best fitted for the conditions, by means of which the 

 maximum yield of plant products can be secured for each 

 region. 



5. Cultivation of the soil in such a way that it may be kept 

 in the best physical condition from the time of planting to the 

 time of harvesting. 



Experience has shown that when any one of these five 

 possibilities is realized, the amount of plant product is much 

 increased ; and it becomes evident that when all five of them 

 are realized throughout the country, our food production will 

 be multiplied many times. 



Another important factor that enters into the explanation 

 of our diminishing food supply in comparison with our popu- 

 lation is the persistent movement of population from the 

 country to the cities, changing producers of food into mere 

 consumers of food. Now that agriculture is becoming as 

 scientific a profession as engineering or medicine, it is to be 

 hoped that it will be attractive to an increasing number of 

 vigorous young men, who might well recoil from the blind 

 drudgery of the old-time farm, but will welcome the new and 

 highly important science of agriculture. 



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