THE WHEAT COLTUKIST. 67 



eral supply of pabulum has not been prepared by the vege 

 tation and decay of other plants, the young wheat plant 

 fails to attain its wonted size, and to yield its accustom 

 ed amount of grain. Growing wheat must have its ap 

 propriate and chosen pabulum, or it will be folly to at 

 tempt to grow this kind of grain. Wheat, like the 

 grape, must and will have mineral food. The wheat 

 plant cannot produce line grain out of coarse straw and 

 barren clods of earth. 



FORCE IN THE VEGETATION OF WHEAT. 



The exercise of force in the production of the wheat 

 plant is an idea that is seldom thought of by farmers 

 of common intelligence. There is a vital force exer 

 cised when the kernel first sends out the germ and the 

 roots ; and this force is constantly exercised, until every 

 plant is fully developed and the seed matured. It is 

 one of the fundamental laws of the universe, that where 

 there is motion there must be the exercise of some 

 force. When masons build a house, a force adequate to 

 the erection of the various parts of the edifice must be 

 exerted in fitting one part to another and bringing 

 everything to its proper place. There is a constant ex 

 ercise of force against the force of gravitation, until the 

 house is finished. So it is in the growth of a wheat 

 plant : the roots must be formed, and the stem must be 

 produced by the vital force of the growing plant. 

 There is great force exercised by the plant in throwing 

 out numerous roots, sometimes as far downward, or in 

 a horizontal direction, as the plumule, or stem, grows 

 upward. 



That man who has made holes in the ground with a 



