Chapter XVI: Introduction: By L. H. Bailey (9)

Potatoes are easily raised, even under adverse conditions, although they respond quickly to superior fertility and tillage. The average yield in the United States during the last ten years was 76.6 bushels an acre, although from three to four hundred bushels an acre are not uncommon under superior tillage when soil and climate are at their best.

The area devoted to potatoes during the last decade was two and a half million acres annually. Potatoes do best on a moderately moist and deep soil and in a climate relatively cool.

Since the period of growth is short, varying from three to five months, they should be planted in soil which has an abundance of readily available plant-food. Notice in Fig. 272 that most of the underground stems which have produced potatoes leave the main stem about four inches below the surface and but a short distance above the seed-piece. This suggests that the seed should be planted about four inches deep. To produce three hundred bushels of potatoes requires the exhalation of over three hundred tons of water: therefore water or moisture is of quite as much importance in securing large yields as plant-food.

It is best to prepare the land deeply, to plant deep, and then to practice nearly or quite level culture. The practice of hilling up potatoes, so common in most parts of the country, is to be discouraged, usually, because it is wasteful of moisture and the tubers do not grow in the coolest part of the soil. For very early potatoes, hilling-up may be allowable. Till the soil very often to save the moisture. For the philosophy of this, see Leaflet No. IX.

Not infrequently the potato is seriously injured by blights which attack the leaves. The early blight, which usually appears in June, may destroy some of the foliage, thereby checking growth. The late blight, which also attacks the foliage, is far more serious. It differs little in outward appearance from the early blight. In rare cases the vines are so seriously injured that no potatoes are formed. The potato rot or blight did great damage to the potato in many localities in the United States in 1845. In 1846 the blight appeared in Ireland and virtually destroyed the entire crop. Before this date the potato had become the chief food supply of the peasantry. The cultivation of oats as a food crop had been universal before the introduction of the potato, but oats furnished so little food on a given area as compared to the potato that the cultivation of them at the time the blight appeared had been very largely abandoned. The loss of the potato crop produced widespread famine. The most conservative estimate of the numbers who perished for want of food or by disease caused by a meager diet of unhealthy and innutritions food is set down at six hundred thousand during the two years of the potato blight. This disease was not so destructive in 1847 as in 1846; and by 1848 it had virtually disappeared. Some one has said that if Great Britain had expended one dollar for investigating the diseases of potatoes where she had spent a thousand dollars for perfecting the engines of war, the terrible famine might have been averted. We now think it a relatively easy matter to keep the blight in check by thorough spraying with Bordeaux mixture.

HOW THE POTATO HAS BEEN IMPROVED.

All plants have their origin in pre-existing plants. While the young plant is always similar to the one from which it was derived, it is never exactly like its parent in every detail. This arises from the fact that all of the conditions under which the parent plant and its offspring grow are never exactly alike. The variations or differences in the plants are usually exceedingly small in a single generation; but occasionally they are wide, in which case they are called "sports" and are usually difficult to perpetuate. If successive generations of plants are reared under continuously improved conditions, there will be a continuous and accumulating variation from generation to generation, which in time may come to be so great as to make it difficult to discover a marked similarity between the wild and the cultivated forms of the same plant.

When conditions are undisturbed by man there is found to be a fierce struggle for existence. The hardiest or those best suited to the conditions preponderate, and this without any reference to the wants of mankind. The farmer steps in and selects those plants which give promise of being most useful or most beautiful and then decreases or eliminates the struggle for these selected plants, by destroying the plants which are least desirable, by fertilizing and tilling the soil, by conserving moisture, and by improving the physical conditions of the land, thereby making it more comfortable for the plants which he has chosen. The selected or "improved" plant, by reason of being more comfortable and better nourished, tends to vary in one or more directions from the wild and unimproved types. Whenever these variations tend towards greater productiveness, better quality or enhanced beauty, selection is again made of such specimens as give promise of supplying the wants and gratifying the desires of civilized man. The bettered conditions of the plant, by reason of man's effort, do not usually result in producing like variation along all lines. One part of the plant as the flower, the fruit, or the stem, varies more than the other parts. All this tends to break up a single type or stock into many varieties. There are hundreds of varieties of potatoes all traceable to a single wild species. The kind and quantity of nourishment supplied plays the most important part of any single factor in producing variation.

The general character of the cultivated potato plant as to leaf, stem, root, and habit of growth, is virtually the same as the wild plant, variation having been directed and accentuated along the line of increasing the size and quality of the underground tubers. This habit of producing enormously enlarged underground stems has been operating so long that the plant has inherited the power of transmitting this acquired quality to the succeeding plants. The most improved varieties seldom produce seed balls, because growth has been directed so largely toward enlarging and multiplying the tubers. By selecting tubers with shallow buds or eyes and avoiding those with deep, sunken eyes, varieties have been produced with few eyes or buds, and these set not in deep indentations but nearly even with the surface of the potato.

* * * * *

As a school-room subject, the potato is not very tractable, unless we study merely the tubers. If the school is in session in summer, the growing plant may be had. Then it will be found to be an interesting and profitable exercise to set the children at the problem of determining the root-system of the potato plant. How do the roots look? Does the plant have a tap-root, or do the roots spread laterally? Are the tubers borne on roots? Or on underground stems? Why do you think so? Does the tuber terminate the branch? What relation, in position, do the tuber-bearing branches bear to other parts of the underground system? Do you think that the tuber-bearing branches aid in collecting food from the soil?

The top of the plant may be studied in the same spirit,--branching, leaves, flowers, berries.

If the growing plant cannot be had, study tubers. Compare as to size, shape, color, character of eyes, whether scabby or smooth. Use them as objects in drawing.

Plant tubers in the school-room, in boxes or flower pots. This Leaflet will suggest some interesting observations.

How important is the potato crop in the State and nation? The pupil can use his mathematics here.

LEAFLET XL.

THE HEPATICA.[54]

BY ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.

[54] Home Nature-Study Course, Vol. IV, No. 30, March, 1903.

As children are always especially interested in the wild flowers in spring, I have thought best to study a few of the woodland blossoms. The wonderful processes of plant life are as well shown in these as in any. The hepatica is among the first which greets us in the spring, and we will study this first.

There are several ways of getting acquainted with a plant: one is to go-a-visiting, and another is to invite the plant to our own home, either as guest on the window-sill, or as a tenant of the garden. When we visit the hepatica in its own haunts it is usually with the longing for spring in our hearts that awakens with the first warm sunshine and which is really one of the subtlest as well as greatest charms of living in a climate that has a snowy winter. As we thread our way into the sodden woods, avoiding the streams and puddles that are little glacial rivers and lakes from fast disappearing snow-drifts still heaped on the north sides of things, we look eagerly for signs of returning life. The eye slowly differentiates from the various shades of brown in the floor of the forest a bit of pale blue or pink purple that at first seems as if it were an optical delusion; but as we look again to make sure, lo! it is the hepatica. There it is, rising from its mass of purple brown leaves, leaves that are always beautiful in shape and color and suggest patterns for sculpture like the acanthus or for rich tapestries like the palm-leaf in the Orient. There the brave little flower stands with its face to the sun and its back to the snow-drift and looks out on a gray brown world and nods at it and calls it "good."

It is when the hepatica is our guest that we have a better opportunity for studying its form and features. Take up a hepatica root in the fall and pot it and place it in a cool cellar until March 1. Then give it light, warmth, and moisture on your table and see how gladly it will blossom and tell its secrets. Or perhaps if we are not sufficiently forehanded to get the root in the fall we can get it during a thaw in March when we go foraging for spring feelings in winter woods.

When finally a bud has uncuddled and lifted itself into a flower, it will tell us the story of leaves in different disguises, and we may be able to notice whether the pollen ripens and is all distributed when the flower begins to fade and fall. We may note also the number of seeds and examine one of them with a lens. It is what the botanists call an akene, which simply means just one seed with a tight envelope about it. We have a careless habit of forgetting all about plants after their blossoms fade unless their fruits or seed are good to eat or good to look at. This is as inconsistent as it would be to lose all interest in the farm before the fields were planted. After the flower is gone the plant must mature its seeds and somehow must sow them. We will study the hepatica through the summer and autumn, for we must know what is happening to it every month.

QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE HEPATICA TO BE ANSWERED DURING MARCH AND APRIL.

1. In what situations are the hepaticas found?

2. How does the hepatica prepare for the winter and store up energy for blossoming early in the spring?

3. How early do you find blossom buds down in the center of the plant? Did you ever look for these buds in the fall?

4. Do the flowers come out of the crown bud?

5. Are the leaves that come up late in the spring as fuzzy when they first appear as those that come up early?

6. Make out as complete a life-history of the hepatica as you can,--how it sows itself, where it grows, how long it lives, with what plant it keeps company.

LEAFLET XLI.

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.[55]

BY ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.

[55] Home Nature-Study Course, Vol. IV, No. 31, April, 1903.

"Jack-in-the-Pulpit preaches to-day
Under the green trees, just over the way.
Squirrel and song sparrow high on their perch
Hear the sweet lily bells ringing to church.
Come, hear what his reverence rises to say,
In his low, painted pulpit this calm Sabbath day,
Fair is the canopy over him seen,
Penciled by nature's hand, black, brown, and green."

_J. G. Whittier._

At one time or another, perhaps all of us are given to the belief that all flowers blossom for our especial enjoyment. It is hard to think back for a thousand years and imagine hepaticas blooming on our New York hills; yet no doubt, they blossomed then in far greater numbers than they do to-day. Many of our native plants played their part in sustaining the lives of the native Americans, and that little preacher, Jack-in-the-pulpit, was a turnip long before he was a preacher. Indian turnip was his name in the days of our ancestors because the Indians boiled his bulb-like root and the ripe berries, thus making them a less peppery and a more palatable food.

The St. Nicholas Magazine was for so many years the organ through which Jack preached so many sermons to children all over our land that he is even to-day one of the best loved of the woodland flowers. Whittier, in his "Child Life," and Lucy Larcom have both celebrated Jack-in-the-pulpit in song, and these verses should be given to the children when they are studying the habits of this interesting plant.

Jack-in-the-pulpit is a wild cousin of the over-civilized calla lily. It is interesting to study the way the flowers resemble each other, and this you and the children will be able to study for yourselves. It will teach you that the showy parts of a blossom may be merely a protection, and an advertisement for the true flower hidden within.

QUESTIONS CONCERNING JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.

1. Where do you find this plant, in dry or in wet locations?

2. What is the shape of the root? Is it pleasant to the taste?

3. How do the leaves look when they first appear above the ground?

4. How far are the leaves developed when the flowers appear?

5. Does the tip of the hood fold over at first?

6. Do you see a resemblance to the calla lily when you bend the tip of the hood backward? Compare or contrast the two plants.

7. How many leaves has Jack-in-the-pulpit? Are they simple or compound?

8. What are the colors of the "pulpits" in your locality?

LEAFLET XLII.

INDIAN CORN.[56]

BY ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.

[56] Home Nature-Study Course, Vol. IV, No. 32, May, 1903.

_"Hail! Ha-wen-ni-yu! Listen with open ears to the words of thy people. Continue to listen. We thank our mother earth which sustains us. We thank the winds which have banished disease. We thank He-no for rain. We thank the moon and stars which give us light when the sun has gone to rest. We thank the sun for warmth and light by day. Keep us from evil ways that the sun may never hide his face from us for shame and leave us in darkness. We thank thee, oh, mighty Ha-wen-ni-yu that we still live. We thank thee that thou hast made our corn to grow. Thou art our creator and our good ruler, thou canst do no evil. Everything thou doest is for our happiness."_

Thus prayed the Iroquois Indians when the corn had ripened on the hills and valleys of New York State long before it was a state, and even before Columbus had turned his ambitious prows westward in quest of the Indies. Had he found the Indies with their wealth of fabrics and spices he would have found there nothing so valuable to the world as has proved this golden treasure of ripened corn.

The origin of Indian corn, or maize, is shrouded in mystery. There is a plant which grows on the tablelands of Mexico which is possibly the original species, but so long had maize been cultivated by the American Indians that it was thoroughly domesticated when America was discovered. In those early days of American colonization it is doubtful, says Professor John Fiske, if our forefathers could have remained here had it not been for Indian corn. No plowing nor even clearing was necessary for the successful raising of this grain. The trees were girdled, thus killing their tops to let in the sunlight; the rich earth was scratched a little with a primitive tool and the seed put in and covered; and the plants that grew therefrom took care of themselves. If the pioneers had been obliged to depend alone upon the wheat and rye of Europe which would only grow with good tillage they might have starved before they had gained a foothold on our forest-covered shores. While maize has never been a popular grain in European countries outside of the southermost parts, yet on the great continents of Africa and Asia it was welcomed from the first, and is now largely grown. It has ripened for so many centuries on the slopes of the Himalayas that if you were to ask one of the natives to-day how long it had grown there he would answer you "always."

It is fitting that a grain which is so peculiarly adapted to be the aid and support of a great civilization should grow upon a plant of such dignity and beauty as is the maize. The perfect proportions of the slender stalk to the long gracefully curving leaves; the plumed tassels swaying and bowing to every breeze and sending their pollen showers to the waiting skeins of silk hidden below; the ripened ear with its exact rows of shining yellow grains wrapped in silken husks; all these make the corn plant as delightful to the eye as it is intrinsically important to the welfare of nations. No more wonderful lesson in plant growth can we find for our study than this lesson of the Indian corn.

LESSON ON INDIAN CORN FOR SPRING AND SUMMER.

Secure a kernel of corn and cut it in halves (Fig. 277) and with the naked eye you will be able to see there the young plant pressed close to its stored up food, which, though largely composed of starch, also has in it proteids and oil. You will see that this food is dry and thus cannot be used by the young plant, for plants, whether young or old, must take their nourishment in a fluid condition. Soak the seed and see how soon the young plant passes on the moisture to soften the food so that it may imbibe it and grow. Fill a tumbler with earth and plant a grain of corn next to the glass so that you may be able to see how it grows.

CORN STALKS, LEAVES AND ROOTS.

1. Which appears first, root parts or leaf?

2. How does the leaf look when it first comes up?

3. How old is the corn when the blossom stalks begin to show above the leaves?

4. Does the stalk break more easily at the joints than elsewhere? Measure the distances between the joints in a stalk of young corn and two weeks later measure these distances again, and compare your figures. From these measurements tell whether the plant grows only at the top, or has it several growing places?

5. Are the joints nearer each other at the bottom or at the top?

6. Where do the bases of the leaves clasp the stalks?

7. Tell why this arrangement gives strength to the stalk.

8. Do you see a little growth at the base of the leaf that prevents the rain from flowing down between the stalk and the clasping leaf? This is called the rain-guard. How might it damage the plant if the water should get in between the leaf and stem?

9. What is the structure of the leaf and direction of the ribs?

10. How does this structure keep the long leaf from being torn to pieces by the wind?

11. Note the ruffled edge of the leaf. Lay such a leaf flat on a table and bend it this way and that, and note how this fullness allows it to bend without breaking the edges. What advantage is this to the plant?

12. Study the roots of a corn plant. How far do they extend into the ground? Describe them.

13. Study the brace roots that come off the stalk an inch or more above the ground. Of what utility are these to the plant?

14. Bend down a stalk of growing corn and place a stone on it near its base so as to hold it down, and note how it acts. Does it commence to lift itself up straight from the joint, or from a place between the joints?

15. Cut off the water supply from a plant, or watch the corn during a drought and tell how the leaves behave.

16. Do they offer as much surface to the air for evaporation when they are curled? Is this the way the plant protects itself by retaining this moisture during a dry time?

17. Do the stalks or leaves grow after the ears begin to form?

18. Do you find "suckers" growing; if so what is the variety?

FLOWERS.

There are two kinds of flowers on the corn: the tassels bearing
the pollen, and the ears bearing the ovules which develop into
seeds. Study first the tassel. Observe the flowerets through a
lens if you have one and note that the pollen sacs open a little
at one side instead of at the tip so that the wind is needed in
order to shake out the pollen. It is estimated that on each corn
plant there may be developed eighteen million pollen grains and
two thousand ovules. The pollen-tube must penetrate the whole
length of each thread of corn-silk in order to reach the ovules.

19. What agency carries the pollen grains to the ear?

20. What would happen to a field of corn if the farmer cut off all the tassels as soon as they were formed?

21. Find a tassel before it appears and study it. Secure an ear when only an inch or two long and study it. These should be studied as flower parts.

22. How early can you find the ear? Look at every joint and tell how many ears you find on a young stalk.

23. In studying the ear, take first the husk. Does it resemble the leaf in structure? What is the difference between the outer and the inner husks?

24. Do you believe that the husk is a modified leaf; if so why? In the young ear does each thread of silk extend out to the end of the ear; if so why?

25. Is there a thread of silk for each kernel in the ear?

26. Study corn when it is in the "milk." Is the taste sweet?

27. Does this sweet taste continue as the kernel matures?

28. How is the stalk modified to fit the ear?

ENEMIES.

The corn has many difficulties to contend with: there are heavy
winds, too much or too little rain, hail, and, worst of all,
frosts which not only kill it when it is first planted, but
also hurt it before it is matured. The corn has living enemies
also, such as wire-worms and cut-worms. Our forefathers were
much troubled with the mischief which crows did in pulling corn.
However, many of our observing farmers to-day say that only in
rare instances do the crows injure corn much. The work done by
cut-worms is often attributed to crows.

29. Please note in your locality what difficulties the corn has to contend with. If possible make a special study of the damage said to be done by crows. Give the results.

LEAFLET XLIII.

THE RIPENED CORN.[57]

BY ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.

[57] Home Nature-Study Course, Vol. V, No. 1, October, 1903.

Every boy and girl living on a farm in New York State twenty-five years or more ago, has in memory a picture like this: a stubbly hill-side field beset with russet shocks of corn and constellations of orange pumpkins, whence might be seen wide valleys filled with purple haze, and far hills bedecked with autumn tapestries woven about emerald patches of new wheat.

To such a field, after the laggard sun had changed the hoar frost to dew, would they hasten of an October morning, to begin the corn-husking. The enthusiastic youngster, who had an eye to artistic unity in the situation, invariably selected a pumpkin for his seat, scorning his more sordid fellows who had brought milking-stools from the barn, when nature had placed so many golden thrones at their disposal. Too soon a discovery was made about this that applies as well to other thrones,--it proved an uneasy seat, and was abandoned for a sofa constructed of corn-stalks. Here, leaning back with a full sense of luxury, listening to the rustle of the dry leaves and husks and the monotonous song of the cricket, enlivened now and then by the lazy call of the crow from the hemlocks on the hill, the sweet note of the belated meadow-lark from the valley, or the excited bark of the dog as he chased a squirrel along the fence, the busy husker passed the autumn day. On either side of him were evidences of his labor. On the right stood great disheveled stooks of corn stalks bereft of their pockets of gold; on the left lay in a heap the shining yellow ears, ready to be measured in the waiting bushel-basket; in front was always a little pile of noble ears with some of the husks still attached,--the seed corn. Proud was the boy when he had learned to select successfully "the ear of good length, cylindrical rather than pointed, the cob firm and well filled from butt to tip with grains uniformly large, of good color and in regular rows that showed no space between." Now-a-days, we challenge this ideal of the "perfect ear."

As "chore time" approached, came the wagon afield to gather the harvest of ears and take them to the cribs, where their gold gleaming between the boards gave comfortable assurance of peace and plenty. But the seed corn was stored in a way learned by our forefathers from the American Indians; the ears were braided together by their husks, by the skilled farmer, who could make a braid two or three feet long, strong enough to hold the weight of the ears that hung a heavy fringe along each side; this braid when completed was tied with a bit of soft, tow twine, long saved for the purpose, and then was hung on hooks on the granary walls. There, until spring, waited the elect of the cornfield, holding in perfect kernels all the future corn wealth of that farm.

From the first day's husking a bushel of ears was reserved from the crib and was spread on a chamber floor to dry quickly; later this was taken to the mill and ground into samp, one of the prized luxuries of the autumn bill of fare. Other corn was ground into finer meal for the delicious Johnny-cake and the Indian bread, the latter reaching fullest perfection when baked in a brick oven.

To the tenants of the farm barns the corn meant even more than to those in the farm house. In August the cattle in dry pastures cast longing eyes and expressive voices toward the pale, green leaves and waving tassels of the sowed-corn, and great was their joy the first day they tasted this delicacy; in November, they munched the dry leaves of the planted crop, leaving in the barn-yard an angular patterned carpet of bare, hard stalks. In winter the corn meal, in proper proportions, made for them a food that kept them warm despite the cold winds that clutched at them, through crevices, with fingers of drifted snow. And no less dependent on this important crop were the denizens of the fold, of the sty, and of the chicken-yard.

The old-time harvesting and husking are passing from the New York farm of to-day. The granary is no longer frescoed with braids of model ears, for the seed corn is now bought by the bushel from the seedsmen. The corn harvester has dissolved the partnership between corn and pumpkin and fells the stalks by the acre, doing away with the old-time stooks or shocks. Corn-stalks now become silage and are fed in a green condition throughout the winter. How often do we lose something of picturesqueness when we gain the advantages of modern improvements! Let us be thankful, however, that the corn harvester and the silo make efficient use of the great fields of corn.

Although there is but one species of corn recognized (_Zea Mays_), there have been an endless number of varieties developed from it. Seven hundred and seventy of these were sufficiently distinct to be recognized when the Department of Agriculture published its account of varieties. The importance of the corn crop to this country and to others is almost incalculable. In 1902, the United States produced more than two and a half billion bushels and the export price was $.60 per bushel. When the corn crop fails every man, rich or poor, in America, suffers from it, and every business is affected by it. Though the man working in the cornfield may think only of his own crop, yet he is the man that is helping maintain the prosperity of our country. He is working for us all.

QUESTIONS ON THE RIPENED CORN.

1. Is the corn crop in your vicinity good this year?

2. What affected it, beneficially or otherwise?

3. How many ears of corn are there usually on a mature stalk?

4. Are they on the same side of the stalk, or how are they disposed?

5. How many kinds of corn do you know?

6. Describe an average ear of each in the following particulars: shape and color of kernel; number of rows of kernels on the cob; number of kernels in a row; length of cob. Are the rows in distinct pairs? Do any of the rows disappear near the tip; if so, how many?

7. Study a cob with corn on it. Are the kernel-sockets of adjacent rows opposite each other or alternate?

8. Cut a kernel of pop-corn and a kernel of field corn across and compare the texture of the two. What has this texture to do with causing the kernel to "pop?"

9. How many foods do you know made from the grain of the corn?

10. How many products do you know made from stalks of the corn?

11. Do you know of any part of the corn that is used in constructing battleships?

12. What is the corn crop of New York State worth in dollars a year? (See U. S. Census Bulletin, No. 179.)

13. How many bushels of shelled corn are usually produced on an acre of well cultivated land?

14. Could the corn plant itself without the agency of man?

If you are able to draw, please make a sketch of a kernel of sweet corn and a kernel of field corn. Break an ear of corn in two and sketch the broken end, showing shape of the cob and its relation to the kernels.

NOTE ON THE NEW CORN BREEDING.[58]

[58] Extracted from an article by L. H. Bailey in Country Life in America, July, 1903.

The particular materials that give the corn kernel most of its value are the oil, the protein and the starch. For the production of corn oil--for which the demand is large--a corn that has a high oil content is, of course, particularly valuable; while for the production of starch or for the feeding of bacon hogs, a relatively higher percentage of other materials is desirable. It is apparent, therefore, that races of corn should be bred for a particular content, depending on the disposition to be made of the grain. Equal economic results cannot be attained, however, in increasing the content of any of the three leading ingredients, since a pound of gluten is worth one cent, a pound of starch one and one-half cents, and a pound of oil five cents. The amounts of these ingredients in the corn kernel are amenable to increase or diminution by means of selection,--by choosing for seed the kernels of ears that are rich or poor in one or the other of these materials. Fortunately, the oil and starch and protein of the corn kernel occupy rather distinct zones. Next the outside hull is a dark and horny layer that is very rich in protein; in the center is the large germ, very rich in oil; between the two is a white layer of starch. It is found that the kernels on any ear are remarkably uniform in their content; the dissection of a few kernels, therefore, enables the breeder to determine the ears that are rich in any one of the substances. Experiment stations in the corn-growing States are already making great headway in this new breeding of corn, and one private concern in Illinois is taking it up as a commercial enterprise. All this recalls the remarkable breeding experiments of the Vilmorins in France, whereby the sugar-content of the beet was raised several points. It is impossible to overestimate the value of any concerted corn-breeding work of this general type. The grain alone of the corn crop is worth about one billion dollars annually. It is possible to increase this efficiency several percentages; the coming generation will see it accomplished.

An interesting cognate inquiry to this direct breeding work is the study of the commercial grades of grains. It is a most singular fact that the dealer's "grades" are of a very different kind from the farmer's "varieties." In the great markets, for example, corn is sold as "No. 1 yellow," "No. 2 yellow," "No. 3 yellow," and the like. Any yellow corn may be thrown into these grades. What constitutes a grade is essentially a judgment on the part of every dealer. The result is that the grain is likely to be condemned or criticised when it reaches its destination. Complaints having come to the government, the United States Department of Agriculture has undertaken to determine how far the grades of grain can be reduced to indisputable instrumental measurement. The result is likely to be a closer defining of what a grade is; and, this point once determined, the producer will make an effort to grow such grain as will grade to No. 1, and thereby attain to the extra price. Eventually, the efficiency points of the grower and the commercial grades of the dealer ought nearly or quite to coincide. There should come a time when corn is sold on its intrinsic merits, as, for example, on its starch content. This corn would not then be graded 1, 2 and 3, on its starch content, because that content would be assured in the entire product; but the grade 1 would mean prime physical condition, and the lower grades inferior physical condition. Eventually, something like varietal names may be attached to those kinds of corn that, for example, grade fifteen per cent protein. The name would be something like a guarantee of the approximate content, as it now is in a commercial fertilizer.

The first thing that strikes one in all this new work is its strong contrast with the old ideals. The "points" of the plants are those of "performance" and "efficiency." It brings into sharp relief the accustomed ideals as to what are the "good points" in any plant, illustrating the fact that these points are for the most part only fanciful, are founded on a priori judgments, and are more often correlated with mere "looks" than with efficiency. An excellent example may be taken from corn. In "scaling" any variety of corn it is customary to assume that the perfect ear is one nearly or quite uniformly cylindrical throughout its length, and having the tip and butt well covered with kernels. Now, this ideal is clearly one of perfectness and completeness of mere form. We have no knowledge that such form has any correlation with productiveness in ears, hardiness, drought-resisting qualities, protein or starch content,--and yet these attributes are the ones that make corn worth growing at all. We only know that such ears may bear more kernels. An illustration also may be taken from string beans. The ideal pod is considered to be one of which the tip-projection is very short and only slightly curved. This, apparently, is a question of comeliness, although a short tip may be associated in the popular mind with the absence of "string" in the pod; but it is a question whether this character has any direct relation to the efficiency of the bean-pod. We are also undergoing much the same challenging of ideas respecting the "points" of animals. Now, animals and plants are bred to the ideals expressed in these arbitrary points by choosing for parents the individuals that score the highest. When it becomes necessary to recast our "scales of points," the whole course of evolution of domestic plants and animals is likely to be changed. We are to breed not so much for merely new and striking characters, that will enable us to name, describe and sell a "novelty," as to improve the performance along accustomed lines. It may be worth while to produce a "new variety" of potato by raising new plants from the seed-bolls; but it is much more to the point to augment the mealiness of some existing variety or to intensify its blight-resisting qualities. We are not to start with a variety, but with a plant.

LEAFLET XLIV.

THE USES OF FOOD STORED IN SEEDS.[59]

BY ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.

[59] Home Nature-Study Course, Vol. V, No. 4, January, 1904.

"A mystery passing strange,
Is the seed in its wondrous change;
Forest and flower in its husk concealed,
And the golden wealth of the harvest field."

--LUCY LARCOM.

As is the case with our own babies, the first necessity of the infant plant is food close at hand to sustain this tiny speck of life until it shall be large and strong enough to provide for itself. If we study any seed whatever we shall find some such motherly provision for the plant baby or germ. Sometimes the germ is a mere speck with a large amount of food packed around it, as is the case with the nutmeg; sometimes the baby is larger and its food is packed in a part adjacent to it, as is the case with the corn (Fig. 279); and sometimes the mother stuffs the baby itself so that it has enough to last it until its own little roots and leaves bring it mature food, as is the case with the squash seed. In any case this "lunch put up by the mother," to use Uncle John's words, is so close at hand that as soon as favorable conditions occur the little plant may eat and grow, and establish itself in the soil.

Nature is remarkable for her skill in doing up compact packages, and in no other place is this skill better shown than in storing food in seeds for the young plants. Not only is it concentrated, but it is protected and of such chemical composition that it is able to remain fresh and good for many years awaiting the favorable moment when it may nourish the starting germ. People often wonder why, when a forest is cleared of one species of trees, another species grows in its place. This often may have resulted from the seeds lying many years dormant awaiting the opportunity. This preservation of the food in the seed is largely due to the protecting shell that keeps out the enemies of all sorts, especially mould. And yet, however strong this box may be, as it is in the hard-shelled hickory nut, it falls apart like magic when the germ within begins to expand.

Brain rather than brawn is the cause of man's supremacy in this world. Of all the beings that inhabit the earth he knows best how to use for his own advantage all things that exist. His progress from savagery to civilization is marked by his growing power to domesticate animals and plants. Very early in his history man learned the value to himself of the seeds of the cereals. He discovered that they may be kept a long time without injury; that they contain a great amount of nutrition for their bulk; that they are easily prepared for food; that, when planted, they give largest return. Thus, we see, the advantages the plant mother had developed for her young, man has turned to his own use. That the food put up for the young plant is so protected and constituted as to endure unhurt for a long time gives the cereal grains their keeping quality. That it is concentrated and well packed renders it convenient for man to transport. That the "box" is easily separated from the "lunch" makes the preparation of food by crushing and sifting an easy matter for man. That every mother plant, to insure the continuation of the species, develops many seeds, so that in the great struggle for existence at least some shall survive, makes the cereals profitable for man to plant, and harvest the increase. Think once, how few ears of corn it requires to plant an acre.

Because of all these things there has grown up between domestic plants and man a partnership. Man relieves the plant of the responsibility of scattering its seeds, and in return takes for himself that proportion of the seeds which would have died in the struggle for existence had the plant remained uncultivated. This partnership is fair to both parties.

Different plants store food materials in different proportions in their seeds; the most important of these food substances are starch, oil, protein, and mineral matter. All of these materials are necessary to man as food. In the cereals the seeds contain a large proportion of starch, but in the nuts, like the butternuts and walnuts, there is a predominance of oil. Let us for a moment examine a kernel of corn and a kernel of wheat and see how the food is arranged. Fig. 279 is a kernel of corn cut in two lengthwise; at the lower left-hand corner are the root parts and leaf parts of the young plant (the embryo); above the embryo is the loose starch material. Now we have the baby corn plant lying at one side, and its food packed about it. However, this food is in the form of starch, and must be changed to sugar before the young plant can partake of it and grow. There lies a connecting part between the germ and its food, the scutellum. This is so constituted that when soaked with water it ferments the starch and changes it to sugar for the young plant's use.

The germ itself is also a very nutritious food for man; hence the seed is eaten, "baby and all." In the corn, those kernels with the largest germs have the largest food value, and, therefore, to-day corn breeders are developing kernels with very large embryos.

If we examine the microscopic structure of the food part of a grain of wheat (Fig. 280), we find that there are two outer layers, _a_ and _b_. Next there is a row of cells _d_ that divides these outer layers from the flour cells within. This is the aleurone layer. At _e_ are the flour cells which constitute the central portion of the wheat kernel. They contain starch, and also gluten, and some oil, and some mineral substances. In grinding to make white flour, the miller tries to leave the aleurone layer of cells _d_ with the outer layers _a_ and _b_, for if it is mixed with the flour the latter spoils much sooner, and it is also darker in color. In the seed is a ferment that helps digest the food for the young plant.

In order to think more intelligently about our use of food, let us find out, if we can, which parts of the food stored up by the plant for its sustenance are used by us both for ourselves and our livestock. The intelligent farmer gives his stock a carefully balanced ration, _i. e._, food that is well proportioned for the growth and product of the animal. If he wishes his cows to give more milk he may give them more proteids in their food, and less starch and fat. If he wishes to fatten them he may give them a greater amount of starch and fat and less of the proteids. In order to know what these proteids and starch and fat mean, both to us and to the plant, we have to know a little chemistry. The following table may aid us in this:

Nutritive substances which {Proteids (casein, gluten, legumen,
contain nitrogen. { etc., albuminoids, gelatine,
{ white of egg, etc.).

Nutritive substances which {The carbohydrates (sugar and
do not contain nitrogen. { starch). Fats (oils, butter).

Mineral substances. {Lime, phosphorus, sulfur, etc.

The substances mentioned in the above table are all needful to sustain the life of man and beast. If we compare the body to a steam engine, then we can see that its whole framework is built out of the proteids, mineral matter and water. The starch and sugar and fats constitute the fuel used to heat the boiler and make the engine move. Strictly speaking the proteids are also used somewhat as fuel, as well as for framework. It is easily seen from this that in order to be healthy we should try to give ourselves food containing a proper amount of building material to repair the breakage and wear and tear in the engine, and also give ourselves enough fuel to make the boiler do its greatest possible work. For if we do not have sufficient building material we break down, and if we do not have sufficient fuel we lack energy. Food thus properly proportioned is called a "well balanced ration."

A well balanced ration per day for the average human being is as follows:

Proteids, - - - - - - .40 lbs.
Starch, - - - - - - - 1.00 "
Fats, - - - - - - - - .40 "
Mineral matter, - - - .10 "
-----------
1.90 lbs.

The above is the amount of nutriment necessary, and in addition to this there should be sufficient bulk to keep the digestive organs healthy. We are just now entering upon the era of intelligence in relation to our food. It seems strange that this intelligence should first be applied to our domestic animals rather than to man. As soon as the farmer discovered that to make his animals pay better he must give them the right proportions of building material and fuel for energy, he demanded that the agricultural chemists give him directions for mixing and preparing their food. But how few of the cooks in our land understand in the slightest degree this necessity for the proper proportions to our food! When they do we may look forward to entering upon an era of serene good health, when we shall have strength to bear and ability to do.

In answering the following list of questions you may be obliged to consult with the miller, or feed-dealer, but it is to be hoped that you will gain a clear conception of the parts of the seed used in making foods from cereals.

1. What is graham flour? How does it differ from white wheat flour?

2. What is whole wheat flour?

3. What is bran?

4. What is cracked wheat?

5. What are shorts, middlings, or canaille?

6. Which of the above are considered the more nutritious and why?

7. What part of the corn kernel is hominy?

8. What is corn meal?

9. Is corn bran considered good food?

10. What is gluten meal?

11. What is germ meal?

12. Why is corn fattening to cattle?

13. How much of the oat grain is contained in oat meal?

14. What is a cotyledon?

15. Show by sketch or describe the cotyledon in the chestnut, the walnut or hickory nut, and the bean.

16. Describe or show by sketch the position of the germinal portion in each of these.

If you cannot find the germ in these, soak them in water for several days and then observe.

The following publications may be had from the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., on application:

Circular No. 46, Revised--The Functions and Uses of Food. By C. F. Langworthy.

Circular No. 43, Revised--Food-Nutrients-Food Economy. The Cost of Food as Related to its Nutritive Value. By R. D. Milner.

A PROBLEM IN FEEDING.

As our knowledge increases, we give greater attention to the economical and efficient use of all feeds for live-stock. We cannot afford to feed even the corn stalks carelessly, either for the immediate concern of the pocket-book or for the good of the animal. The results of many experiments in feeding lead to the conclusion that a suitable daily ration for a cow giving milk and weighing 1,000 pounds should contain 24 pounds of dry matter, of which 2.5 pounds is digestible protein; .4 pounds digestible fat; and 12.5 pounds digestible carbohydrates. In such a ration, the ratio of digestible protein to digestible carbohydrates in the ration will be as 1 is to 5.4. In computing this ratio the amount of fat, multiplied by 2.4, is added to the carbohydrates. The fiber and the nitrogen-free extract constitute the carbohydrates. Individual animals vary so much in digestive capacity and in other respects that the foregoing standards may be frequently widely departed from to advantage. Thus many animals will profitably use more than 24 pounds of dry matter in a day and the ratio of protein to carbohydrates may vary from 1:5 to 1:6.5 without materially affecting the amount or character of the product. Standards are useful as guides. The art of feeding and the skill of the feeder consist in determining in how far the standard should be conformed to or departed from in each individual case.

Suppose a farmer has corn silage and timothy hay, and may purchase cotton seed meal, wheat bran and buckwheat middlings, how may they be combined so that the ration shall contain 24 pounds dry matter, and the ratio of protein to the carbohydrates shall be approximately 1:5.4? The following table gives the data:

Water. Protein. Fiber. Nitrogen-free Fat.
extract.

In 100 pounds of silage[60]. 79.1 1.2 4.3 7.4 .6
Timothy hay 13.2 3.4 16.8 28.4 1.2
Cotton seed meal 8.2 31.3 1.3 10.9 11.9
Wheat bran 11.9 13.6 1.8 43.1 3.2
Buckwheat middlings 13.2 22. [61] 33.4 5.4

[60] Silage is often put up when the corn is more mature, and then the water content is less than here given.

[61] Included with nitrogen-free extract.

LEAFLET XLV.

THE LIFE HISTORY OF A BEET.[62]

BY MARY ROGERS MILLER.

[62] Home Nature-Study Course, Vol. IV, No. 29, February, 1903.

If you are fond of a dish of "greens" made of young beet leaves in early summer, you must see to it that there are beets in the garden. What shall be planted? Seeds. Certainly; but where do the seeds come from? Most of us buy them from a seedsman, it is true; but somebody must grow them. They are not manufactured articles. If the beet plant produces seeds it must first have flowers. Have you ever seen the beet in blossom? When do the flowers come and how do they look?

Study the picture in Leaflet LII. Read the history beneath the picture. Better still, get a plump red beet from the cellar, and plant it in a can, a box, or a flower-pot. If no beets are to be had, a turnip, a carrot, or a parsnip will do as well. It seems that "plants" come from beet roots as well as from beet seed. The root you plant in the flower-pot grew last summer from a seed. When may we expect the plant to produce seeds of its own, thus multiplying according to its nature? If you keep a beet plant long enough it will answer this question.

Beet seeds are rather slow in germinating. For this reason it is common to soak them in warm water several hours or a day before planting in the garden. These facts are interesting in themselves; and instead of being discouraged should we not try to find out some reason why the beet seed should take more time than the corn or the bean? From a comparative study of a beet seedling and of a plant which comes from a beet root throughout a season, one may learn the whole life history of a beet. This story is not written down in books. Every stage of growth noted in the two plants should be regarded as typical of the life of an individual, for each plant must pass through all these stages in its development from seed to seed again.