Chapter II: Part I: General Principles Underlying Plant Culture

Chapter Page

I.--INTRODUCTION TO PLANTS 3

II.--ROOTS 9
Uses of roots to plants 9
Habit of growth of roots 11
Conditions necessary for root growth 20

III.--SOILS 23
Relation of soil to plants 23
Classification of soils 26
How were soils made? 30
Soil texture 37

IV.--RELATION OF SOILS TO WATER 39
Importance of water to plants 39
Sources of soil water 40
Attitude of soils toward water:
Percolation
Absorption from below
Power to hold water 40
The effect of working soils when wet 45

V.--FORMS OF SOIL WATER 48
Free water 48
Capillary water 49
Film water 50

VI.--LOSS OF SOIL WATER
By surface wash
By percolation and leaching
By evaporation
By transpiration
How to check these losses 53

VII.--SOIL TEMPERATURE 57
How soils are warmed 58
How soils lose heat
How to check loss of heat 59
Conditions which influence soil temperature 60
Value of organic matter 61

VIII.--PLANT FOOD IN THE SOIL 63

IX.--SEEDS 70
Conditions necessary for sprouting 70
Seed testing 75
How the seeds come up 77
Use of cotyledons and endosperm 79

X.--SEED PLANTING 81
Depth of planting:
Operation of planting
Planting machines 81
Seed classification 85
Transplanting 87

XI.--SPADING AND PLOWING 90
Spading the soil 90
Plowing 91
Why we spade and plow 91
Parts of a plow 92
Characteristics of a good plow 95
The furrow slice 96
How deep to plow 96
"Breaking out the middles" 97
Ridging the land 98
Time to plow 98
Bare fallow 100

XII.--HARROWING AND ROLLING 101
Harrowing:
Why we harrow
Time to harrow 101
Types of harrows 102
Rolling 106

XIII.--LEAVES 108
Facts about leaves 108
The uses of leaves to plants:
Transpiration
Starch making
Digestion of food
Conditions necessary for leaf work 109
How the work of leaves is interfered with 115

XIV.--STEMS 120
What are stems for? 120
How the work of the stem may be interfered with 126

XV.--FLOWERS 128
Function of flowers 128
Parts of flowers 129
Functions of the parts:
Cross pollination 130
Value of a knowledge of the flowers 134
Fruit 136