30 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 
out. The seeding should be done in the early spring, and, if the land 
is dry enough, a sharp harrow, followed by a heavy roller, may be 
used to cover the seed and secure a smooth surface. 
Hillsides and exposed places in newly-seeded as well as long- 
standing meadows and pastures often need renovating and re-seeding 
after a severe winter. A liberal re-seeding followed by the harrow 
or roller, or both, usually gives satisfactory results. If the soil on 
the re-seeded patches is apt to become hard and baked, a light dressing 
of well-rotted stable manure is necessary to insure a good catch. 
Both new and old meadows are benefited by spring rolling, 
especially if they have been repeatedly frozen and thawed during 
the early spring. 
CORN (Zea Mays L.) 
Other English names: Indian Corn, Maize. 
Botanical description: Corn is one of the tallest and most 
vigorous of the annual grasses. The stems, which vary in height 
in different types and varieties, are solid, whereas in most other grasses 
they are hollow. The leaves are long and broad, wavy and gradually 
tapering towards the apex. The top of the stem bears a large panicle 
with spreading branches, each of which forms a spike with numerous 
flowers. These flowers contain only the stamens or male organs 
and are normally unable to form seeds. The seeds are developed in 
the ear, a kind of fleshy spike, the flowers of which are arranged 
in distinct rows and contain only the pistils or female organs. When 
young the ears are enclosed within a husk of broad leaves and nothing 
can be seen of the flowers. At flowering time a cluster of long, 
slender, yellowish-green or reddish threads protrude from the top 
of the ear. These threads, called the silk, are the top ends of the 
female flowers and catch the dust-like pollen developed in the male 
flowers and transported by the wind. The development of the ear 
starts, as in all other inflorescences of grasses, at the base and proceeds 
upwards. Thus the first visible silk threads belong to the lower 
flowers, which consequently, under normal conditions, are fertilized 
earlier than the upper ones. Should the weather during the latter 
part of the flowering period be unfavourable, the pollen will not be 
freely transported and depositied on the silk and the upper part of 
the ear may be partly or wholly barren, as the seeds are unable to 
develop properly without fertilization. 
