74 Practical Farming 



that it is some color beside green). Inside of this calyx 

 there is a row or rows of colored leaves, known as petals, 

 and these taken together form the corolla of the flower. 

 The calyx, the separate leaves of which are called sepals, 

 and the corolla take no part in the formation of the seed. 

 They are the protective parts of the flower; and by the 

 color of the corolla bees and other insects are attracted 

 to the flowers and serve to set the seed, as we shall see. 

 Inside the corolla there are a row or rows of still more 

 transformed leaves, commonly slender and hair-like, and 

 on the end of each of these is a closed vessel containing 

 minute cells of living matter. These are called the sta- 

 mens or male part of the flower, and the vessels at the 

 ends are called anthers. The little cells of Hving matter 

 contained in these anthers are what is called pollen. As 

 this pollen matures the vessels containing it open in 

 various ways, so that the fine pollen grains are dispersed. 

 In the interior center of the flower is another organ called 

 the pistil. A normal pistil consists of an ovary or seed 

 vessel at the base, a more or less elongated stem called 

 the style, and a space at the top of this which is entirely 

 bare of any skin or covering and for a time is moist, and 

 which is called the stigma. Now, when the pollen in the 

 anthers of the stamens is mature and is dispersed it falls 

 on this moist stigma. At once the little cells begin to 

 grow and penetrate downward through the style of the 

 pistil till they reach the ovary or seed vessel. In this 

 ovary there are certain bodies known as ovules. The 

 living matter of the pollen reaches the living matter in 

 these ovules, and at once a new growth is started and 

 finally the germ of a new plant is formed — a seed — and is 



