1050 Rural School Leaflet, 



'And still later, when the Autumn 

 Changed the long, green leaves to yellow. 

 And the soft and juicy kernels 

 Grew like wampum hard and yellow, 

 Then the ripened ears he gathered. 

 Stripped the withered husks from off them 

 As he once had stripped the wrestler, 

 Gave the first Feast of Mondamin, 

 And made known unto the people, 

 This new gift of the Great Spirit." 



THE CORN PLANT • 



Anna Botsford Comstock 



^VERY student of plant life is interested in corn, one of 

 the most beautiful plants in the world; it is a native of 

 America, the first white men who came to our shores 

 finding it extensively cultivated by the Indians. In study- 

 ing corn it is well to keep before the pupils' minds that 

 its worst enemy is the wind, which lays it low; it has, 

 therefore, been obliged to develop certain forms of stalk, 

 leaf, and root which enable it to withstand the onslaught of this foe. 

 The cornstalk is a strong cylinder with a pithy center strengthened 

 at short intervals by hard nodes or joints; if all of the stalk were as 

 compact and rigid as the nodes, it would be inelastic and break instead 

 of bend; as it is, the stalk is elastic and will bend far over without break- 

 ing. The nodes are near together at the bottom, thus giving strength 

 to the base; they are farther apart at the top, where the wind strikes 

 and where the stalk must bow rather than break. 



The corn leaf comes off the stalk at a node and its base clasps the 

 stalk completely for some distance, thus rendering the latter stronger. 

 Just where the leaf bends away from the stem is a little growth, which 

 fits tightly around the stalk and is called the rain-guard, since it pre- 

 vents rain from seeping down between the stalk and the clasping leaf, 

 where dampness would harbor destructive fungi. 



The structure of the corn leaf is especially adapted to escape injury 

 from the wind; the strong veins are parallel and there is a flexible but 

 strong midrib at the center; and the most severe wind storm injures 

 only the tips of the leaves. The edges of the leaf are ruffled; this 

 allows for a side wise movement without breaking the margins. 



