Elementary Agriculture for Alberta Schools by James McCaig (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915. Excerpt: ... PARTIV-CROPS CHAPTER XIX CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS The Plant Kingdom. The plant kingdom has countless forms and types of life. An obvious feature of plant life is the difference in size of different kinds of plants as, for example, the forest tree on one hand and the moss on the other. Plants differ widely also according to their home, or habitat, as it is called. Water plants, desert plants, and garden vegetables have constant characteristic qualities and differences. Again, most plants are independent providers for their own needs and find part of their food in the soil; others live on their fellows. The same kind of plant also may show great variations according to locality. There is always some place where a particular kind of plant will do best, and though it may live and survive in another place it will usually be smaller or at least different. The same kind of plant may vary greatly even in the same locality owing to differences in light, moisture, shelter, or to competition with other plants for room and plant food. The great variety and multiplicity of plants may be realized by the most casual observer in the forest or garden or on the lake shore. Though the variety is bewildering, it is scarcely possible to help seeing that the kinds of plants that have established themselves are such as suit the conditions. It is an interesting and profitable exercise to study how plant character fits the environment of the plant. Plants Highly Organized. The botanist has established an order and system in the apparent confusion of plant forms. There is only one respect in which all plants agree. They all have the elementary constituent unit from which the body of every plant is built up, which is the plant cell. Some plants consist of a single cell, but highly ...