234 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



season gets warm enough, in order to hold a place among 

 aggressive competitors. To be outrun in the race for light 

 is fatal. So, they put forth tender shoots with all the leaves 

 they can carry, leaves being their working capital. So, 

 in early summer, all the world is full of soft green tints. 

 New growth is everywhere. In dark-hued evergreens, like 

 hemlock and spruce, the contrast between the pale new 

 shoots and the mature old ones is very striking. In the 

 heat of summer the new growth will harden and new reserves 

 of food will be accumulated. 



This is the ordinary routine for the larger perennial plants 

 that are best suited to our temperate climate. But there 

 are some little plants that avoid the strife of summer by 

 making haste to finish all their work in the spring. Such 

 is the narcissus, now withering on our lawns; and like it 

 are the adder's-tongue and the squirrel-corn, and many other 

 early spring flowers that dwell under the heavy shade of the 

 woods. Doubtless the onion grew originally where it was 

 subject to late-season shading, and there acquired the habits 

 which it still retains when grown in the open fields. 



Our field crops are mostly annuals, brought from various 

 climes. Some, like oats, are natives of cold countries, and 

 are sown early and mature early. Some, like corn, are semi- 

 tropical, and are sown late and grow well only in hot weather. 

 Our hottest spells are proverbial "corn weather". Some, 

 like wheat, spend a part of the season thickening up their 

 "stand" by producing offsets from the bases before rising 

 to full height and flowering. We plant one grain of corn for 

 each stalk wanted in the field, but not so with wheat or 

 timothy: seedlings of these, early in the season, produce 

 at the surface of the ground a clump of buds, which later 

 shoot up tall flowering stalks simultaneously. The wheat, 

 after fruiting, dies, but the timothy goes on producing other 

 offsets at the base, holding its ground after the manner of 

 perennials, and getting ready for another season. 



