ON THE POSSIBILITIES 



plenty of suggestions toward this end — which shall 

 utilize cheap land to give the world its supply of 

 wood pulp for paper making, the demand for 

 which has already eaten up our forests and is fast 

 encroaching on Canada's? 



Who shall say that within twenty years there 

 will not be some new plant better than flax, some 

 plant which, unlike flax for this purpose, can be 

 grown in the United States, to supply us with a 

 fabric as cheap as cotton, but as fine as linen? 



Who will be the one to produce a plant which 

 shall yield us rubber — a plant growing, perhaps, 

 on the deserts, which shall make the cost of 

 motor car tires seem only an insignificant item in 

 upkeep? 



And who, on those same deserts, and growing, 

 perhaps, side by side, shall perfect a plant which 

 can be transformed into five cent alcohol for the 

 motors themselves? 



***** 



We see that the openings for plant improve- 

 ment broadly divide themselves into four classes. 



First, improving the quality of the product of 

 existing plants. 



Second, saving plants from their own extrava- 

 gance, thereby increasing their yield. 



Third, fitting plants more closely to specific 

 conditions of soil, climate and locality. 



[271] 



