. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 20 THE PLANT: ITS STRUCTURE, LIFE - PROCESSES AND ENVIRONMENT exposed to light, assumes a cactus-like habit, with no leaves and with very short internodes and thick- ened stems. The water-supply directly influences the produc- tion of flowers and fruit. Aquatic plants cannot as a rule produce ilowers under water. Land plants with abundant water-supply run to stem and leaf, and produce little fruit. Cutting oft' the water sup- ply at the proper time greatly increases the pro- duction of fruit, and also makes it sweeter and of higher flavor.
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 20 THE PLANT: ITS STRUCTURE, LIFE - PROCESSES AND ENVIRONMENT exposed to light, assumes a cactus-like habit, with no leaves and with very short internodes and thick- ened stems. The water-supply directly influences the produc- tion of flowers and fruit. Aquatic plants cannot as a rule produce ilowers under water. Land plants with abundant water-supply run to stem and leaf, and produce little fruit. Cutting oft' the water sup- ply at the proper time greatly increases the pro- duction of fruit, and also makes it sweeter and of higher flavor. By irrigating properly, we may con-. The reach for light of a tres on the edge of a wood. trol both the quantity and quality of the crop. An excess of water soon kills the plant by suH'ocating the roots. Light.—The efl'ect of light on the plant is very similar to that of dryness, and in the case of desert plants the strong light increases the eft'ects due to lack of water. Plants that prefer the sun are known as sun-plants (grasses), while those that can grow only in shade are known as shade-plants (ferns). The latter have longer, thinner leaves, usually of paler color. A similar difference may often be observed between exposed and shaded leaves on the same individual plant. The exposed leaves have thicker epidermis, longer palisade cells, smaller air-spaces and fewer stomata. Both leaves and branches arrange themselves with reference to the direction of the light, and the same is true to a large extent of flowers. This is well illustrated by plants that grow near houses so that they are shaded on one side. A furtner illustration is the dift'erent arrangement of leaves on upright and on horizontal branches of the same plant. Excessive light produces "sunscald" and other bad eft'ects. Some leaves avoid this danger by assuming a vertical position. On the other hand, absence of light produces marked effects. Chief of these is the pale color (etiolation) which is so no
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
