THE WHEAT PLANT 



come weak and inactive or they may die. The 

 early closing of several workshops weakens the 

 plant and results in a lessened crop and inferior 

 quality of grain. 



The Heads or Spikes. - These bear the fruit. 

 The head or spike is composed 

 of several parts. Furthermore, 

 the heads of different kinds of 

 wheat are unlike in form, length, 

 size, and number of parts. They 

 may be flattened, square, taper- 

 ing, or club form. Some wheats 

 have long awns or beards and 

 in others the beards are of me- 

 dium length, short, or nearly 

 wanting. The appearance of 

 the head is affected much by 

 the position of the beards, 

 whether parallel or spreading. 

 Heads of beardless wheat ap- 

 pear smooth and easy to han- 

 dle. Figure 4 shows these 

 types of heads. Note how they 

 differ. 



The head is made up principally of spikelets 

 (Fig. 5). These are attached to the upper part 

 of the stem, and contain first the flowers and 

 later the kernels. The kernels are inclosed in 

 scale-like coverings called ' glumes," some of 



FIG. 4. - - Bearded and 

 beardless wheat. 



