Contents 
CHAPTER XXI 
CONIFERS 
PAGE 
Werchojansk—Polar coniferous forests—Frozen soil—Northern forests— 
Scotch pine—British Columbian forests—Larch in Europe—Larch 
disease—Sequoia of California—Monkey puzzle forests—Primzval 
forest in Bohemia—Highland woods—Woodfloor plants—Area of 
forest in Britain—Royal Commission—Forestry prospects—Labour 
—Finest Scotch conifers . . . ‘ . . . . 236 
CHAPTER XXII 
ARABLE LAND 
England before 1789—Nomadic agriculture—King Alfred—Irish system 
—Braunton Great Field—Commons and Enclosures—Preparation 
of the land—Origin of weeds—Rate of travel—Weeds reclaiming 
clay—Vicia orobus in Germany—Times of flowering—Underground 
runners—Thistles, electrocution and spraying—Numbers of weeds 
—Production of Britain per acre—Food-supply in war . é + 250 
CHAPTER XXIII 
GRASS 
Bamboos—Australian grasses—Rice and oats—Shooting of grass— 
Tussocks—-Steppe grasses—Flowering and colours—Mechanical 
system—Hygroscopic awns and sheep-killing—Prairies and fires— 
Effect of fires on trees—Wasteful system of agriculture—Grass 
pasture—Food value, vigour, method of growth, quickness of 
development, germination, preferences and price of the various 
grasses in pasture—Mr. R. H. Elliot . . * . » 261 
CHAPTER XXIV 
FORTUNATE ISLANDS 
Utopias—Cocoa-nut, banana and sago palm—Teneriffe and Von Hum- 
boldt—Zones of vegetation—Colonisation of lava flows and tree 
branches—Orchid seeds—Shorea fruits travelling—Bird migration 
—American seeds on the Hebrides—Navigator seeds of the Pacific 
—Currents and floating seeds—Development of new species in 
islands—Araucaria distribution—Giant lobelias . : . + 274 
CHAPTER XXV 
PRACTICE OF PLANT-BREEDING 
Selection of best single seed—Sea island cotton crisis—Seven-leaved 
clover—Natural hybrids—Fern mongrels—Mr. Biffen’s wheats— 
Orchid crosses—Luther Burbank—Prune-trees in a year and a half 
—Bonfires—Walnut hybrids—Spineless cacti—Larch experiments 
~—Effect of altitude on seed—Sycamores and leaf fall—Varying 
conditions—Potatoes in icehouse—Degeneration of potatoes—Fife 
wheat . . . . . : . . . . A + 284 
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