Cultivated-Plant Study 



663 



the cob shows distinctly that the rows are paired. 

 The corn-silk is the style of the pistillate flowers ; and 

 therefore, in order to secure pollen, it must extend 

 from the ovule, which later develops into a kernel, 

 to the tip of the ear, where it protrudes from the end 

 of the husk. A computation of the number of 

 kernels in a row and on the ear makes a very good 

 arithmetic lesson for the primary pupils, especially 

 as the kernels occur in pairs. 



THE GROWTH OF THE CORN 



i, The anthers of corn; 2, 

 The tip of the corn-silk 

 showing the stigma; j, 

 The pistillate flower, 

 which will develop into 

 the kernel. 



If we cut a kernel of corn crosswise we can see, near the point where it 

 joins the cob, the little plant and the root. Corn should be germinated 

 between wet blotters, in a seed-testing experiment, before observations 

 are made on the growing corn of the fields. When the corn first appears, 

 the corn leaves are in a pointed roll which pierces the soil. Soon they 

 spread apart, but it may -be some time before the corn-stalk proper 

 appears. Then it stretches up rapidly, and very soon will be tipped with 

 beautiful pale brown tassels. These tassels merit careful study for they 

 are the staminate flowers. Each floret has two anthers hanging down 

 from it, and each half of each anther is a little bag of pollen-grains ; and in 

 order that they shall be shaken down upon the waiting corn-silk below, 

 the bottom of each bag opens wide when the pollen is ripe. The corn-silk, 

 at this stage, is branched at the tip and clothed with fine hairs, so that it 

 may catch a grain of the precious pollen. Then occurs one of the most 

 wonderful pollen stories in all nature, for the pollen -tube must push down 

 through the center of the corn-silk for its whole length, in order to reach 

 the waiting ovule and thus enable it to become a kernel of corn. These 



young, unfertilized kernels are pretty 

 objects, looking like seed-pearls, each 

 wrapped in furry bracts. If the silk from 

 one of these young flowers does not 

 receive its grain of pollen, then the kernel 

 will not develop and the ear will be im- 

 perfect. On the other hand if the pollen 

 from another variety of corn falls upon 

 the waiting stigmas of the silk, we shall 

 find the ear will have upon it a mixture 

 of the two varieties . This is best exemp] i- 

 fied when we have the black and white 

 varieties of sweet corn growing near each 

 other. 



One reason why corn is such a valu- 

 able plant to us is that its growth is so 

 rapid. It is usually not planted until 

 late spring, yet, with some varieties, by 

 September the stalks are twenty feet 

 high . The secret of this is that the corn, 

 unlike many other plants, has many 

 points of growth. While young, the 



Corn ears with braided husks as the lower P art of } he . sta]k ^.S Between 

 Indians used to carry them. every two nodes is a growing center 



