HOME WORK 
397 
SUMMARY 
No one can be a successful agriculturist or a successful 
forester without having a knowledge of what plants are, 
how they grow, what conditions suit each kind of plant best, 
how to till the soil to secure those conditions as nearly as 
possible, what the relations are among the plants themselves 
and what the relations of other organisms are to plants, 
especially to cultivated plants. This makes necessary a 
wide study of insects, the worst enemies of plants, and of 
birds, the enemies of insects, also a study of bacteria and of 
fungi, which cause large losses to the farmer in attacking 
the crops he is raising. Until we realize how complex these 
relations are and how much depends on knowing them, we 
shall, as a nation, never make the best use of the resources 
we have. The study of biology ought to help boys and girls 
to think about these things, and to make applications of 
them in their everyday life. 
QUESTIONS 
What is the use of studying plants scientifically ? Name the plant 
diseases discussed. Tell how each is caused. What is the remedy for 
each? What is plant breeding? What are the objects of plant breed¬ 
ing ? What is conservation ? In what ways is land being conserved ? 
Why should wild flowers be conserved? How can this be accom¬ 
plished ? 
HOME WORK 
Make a list of the plant diseases you know. Try to find out what 
causes each and how it injures the plant. Make a list of the remedies 
you know of for each disease, such as sprays. Find out from the 
owner of a farm how many bushels of each crop his land produced to 
the acre. Compare this with the average for the United States. Ac¬ 
count for the difference. What can be done to improve a low yield? 
Make a list of the wild flowers that grow in your locality. Inquire 
from some older person what flowers formerly grew there in abundance. 
What can you do to help save those that remain? If you own a 
camera, try making photographs of wild flowers growing in their nat¬ 
ural surroundings. 
