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formed by the cross-pollination of two different kinds of plants are known as hybrid fruits. The orange hybrid fruits thus developed were sent to Washington, where the seeds were removed and planted in greenhouses. When the young hybrid trees were about a foot high, they were sent to Florida and grown in a garden of the Department of Agriculture.

After a great many experiments in crossing the two kinds of oranges, and after rejecting hundreds of plants that proved to be worthless, Dr. Webber has succeeded in producing a type of tree that will withstand the winters of regions from three hundred to four hundred miles north of the present orange-growing section of Florida, and which will also produce a valuable, juicy fruit. These new fruits, which have been named citranges, make a delightful citrangeade and may be used in making pies, cakes, marmalades, and the like. In a similar way Dr. Webber has produced new varieties of tangerines, pineapples, cotton plants, and grass for hay.

The work of Luther Burbank1 in California has likewise resulted in astonishing colors and sizes of pinks and poppy blossoms, in plums and peaches of great size, and in entirely new plants like the "pomato," produced by crossing the potato with the tomato.

132. Some of the valuable crops of New York State.? New York ranks first of all the States of the Union in the production of the following crops:

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1 See "New Creations in Plant Life," by W. S. Harwood.

2 The authors are indebted to Professors of Cornell University,

for the use of the figures recently compiled.

(Since dairy products are directly dependent on agricultural conditions, they are also included in this tabulation.)

Dairy Products.
Milk

$55,474,155

36,284,833

In spite, however, of its preeminence among the States in the production of the crops just named, experts tell us that the average yield per acre throughout the State is probably less than half what

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FIG. 58. Map of New York State, showing the crops grown in various areas. (Courtesy of Prof. E. O. Fippin, of Cornell University.)

it should be or might be if more intelligence were used by the average farmer. The following quotation from an investigation made among 1303 of the farmers in the vicinity of Cornell University, near the center of the State of New York, shows in a striking way

the commercial advantage of even a high school education. "Of the owners, those who went only to district school made an average labor income of $318. The average labor income of high school men was $622. Of the more than high school men (i.e. college, normal, or agriculture courses) it was $847. The differences are emphatic. The labor income of the high school farmers is $304 greater than that of the district school men. This would be 5 per cent interest on $6080. In other words the high school education of a farmer is equivalent, on the average, to $6000 worth of 5 per cent bonds." 1

133. Summary of some of the methods employed for increasing crop production. The farmers of the future,

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FIG. 59. A, pile of corn resulting from cross-pollination; B, pile of corn resulting from self-pollination. - (Bailey.)

therefore, to be successful must have special training. They must be able to carry on selection and breeding experiments, or at least know how to take advantage of these experiments in the choice of their seeds; they should know the principles involved in thorough cultivation and in the application of manures and fertilizers; they should determine by experiment the type of crop best adapted to the soil of their farms, and should by proper rotation of crops (that is, by sowing clover or other nitrogen-fixing plants, 150, one year and corn the next) increase the fertility of their soil. If a farmer is a fruit grower, he should know how to prune properly, and he

1 An Agricultural Survey of the Townships of Ithaca, Dryden, Danby, and Lansing, published by Cornell University, 1911.

should practice grafting to develop better types of fruits. If he has soil adapted for woodland, he should plant forest trees, and put into effect the principles of forestry. In fact, there are countless ways in which the farmer of the future can increase the yield of his acres if he but mixes brains with the labor of his hands.

CHAPTER IX

PLANTS IN THEIR RELATION TO HUMAN WELFARE

134. Introduction. Thus far in our study of plant biology we have considered the principal functions carried on by

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plants and have observed some of the adaptations of structure for performing these functions. We have proved, for example, that plants must feed, digest, breathe, and carry

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