18 THE SMALL GRAINS 



cereals by their broad leaves and their well developed 

 auricles. Rye seedlings have narrow leaves, and the 

 first leaves usually have a purplish tinge of color. Winter 

 varieties of any cereal usually have narrower leaves than 

 spring varieties. This character, together with the 

 spreading habit, will at once indicate a winter variety in 

 spring seeding that may have been planted by mistake. 

 Seedling leaves vary in color from very light green or yel- 

 low green through dark green to purple. Color of seed- 

 ling leaves is of distinct value in classification. The 

 character of spreading or growing erect is also of impor- 

 tance, also the amount of growth and the time of emer- 

 gence of successive leaves through a certain period. 1 



16. Jointing. After reaching a height of 8 to 12 inches 

 the first visible node or joint of the plant appears. The 

 height of jointing as well as heading varies greatly, how- 

 ever, according to the variety and season. The first one 

 or more joints above the crown have already formed, of 

 course, some time before, but were invisible. Winter 

 cereals pass the entire winter resting period before joint- 

 ing, while spring varieties joint without such a resting 

 period. The upper part of the plant grows in length 

 much more rapidly than the lower, and the upper inter- 

 nodes are longer than the lower. The upper nodes also 

 usually show above the leaf sheath, while the lower ones 

 are hidden. 



17. Heading. As before stated, there is great varia- 

 tion in the height of the plant at which jointing or heading 

 takes place in different cereals and varieties, depending 

 on the season. It may be 8 inches or 4 feet. It may be 



1 In this country it is a remarkable fact that the seedling 

 stage and the root systems of our most common crop plants are 

 pretty nearly unknown subjects. 



