PLANT LIFE ON THE FARM. 



in promoting the development of the fibrous tissue in 

 grasses, has been already alluded to ; the largest absolute 

 amount of straw being yielded by a mixed mineral manure 

 with a large supply of ammonia. 



Plants grown for their seed The remarks just made 

 as to the development of timber as a consequence of matu- 

 ration, apply mutatis mutandis to the development of the 

 fruits and seeds. The farmer, however, especially requires 

 for the culture of seed-plants which are grown as annuals, 

 a rapid, uniform, vigorous growth, followed by a steady 

 progress towards maturity, a condition favoured by the 

 gradual cessation or modification of leaf- work, and as simul- 

 taneous a ripening of all the fruits or seeds on the plant as 

 possible. The mode of development of the inflorescence 

 generally considered of mere technical or botanical interest, 

 is here obviously a matter of practical importance, for 

 plants in which the flowers and fruits ripen in succession 

 are obviously less suited for the farmer's purposes than 

 those in which the flowers of a particular inflorescence 

 open approximately at the same time as they do in the 

 cereals. To ensure the production and good condition of 

 the crop, as in the case of cereals, of beans, peas, buck- 

 wheat, etc., the first requisites to success are, of course, 

 those which promote the proper germination of the seed, 

 and then those which favour the due development of the 

 root according to the nature of the plant. To a consider- 

 able extent the farmer is here master of the situation, and 

 by drainage and tillage appropriate to the varied nature of 

 the soil and the character of the season, he can promote 

 and favour both germination and root-growth. Over leaf- 

 action, independent of that which is the direct outcome of 



