196 Singing Valleys 



way upward through the earth of the hill toward the air and 

 sunshine. One day, about a week or ten days after you dropped 

 that kernel of corn into the hill, if the weather is favorable, a 

 brave green leaf shows itself above ground. 



The crows will see it, if you don't. 



That green leaf comes through the ground only just in time. 

 Like the chick when it comes out of the shell, it is ravenously 

 hungry. It has eaten up all the food supply that Nature put 

 into the hull for it, and it reaches out greedily for more, and 

 more. Now the earth feeds it. The air supplies it with oxygen, 

 and the sun's rays work chemical changes in the stalk and 

 leaves as they grow. Nothing is left of that yellow kernel you 

 once held in your hand. Even the horny hull has disintegrated, 

 and contributed its bit of nourishment to the growing plant. 



This follows the general plan of the growth of every seed. 

 Except that the corn is not a seed, but a fruit. It is classed as a 

 fruit because the tough skin of the hull is actually the seed 

 vessel in which the seed is formed. 



Every seed, even one as tiny as a grain of mustard seed, 

 contains the life germ of the plant and a store of food to 

 nourish the embryo as this develops toward planthood. The 

 endosperm of every seed of grain whether wheat, barley, mil- 

 let, rye, rice or corn contains carbohydrates and protein for 

 the food supply. It contains some fat too; but most of the 

 fat supply is in the germ itself. The endosperm of the Amer- 

 ican corn is richer in carbohydrates than is the endosperm of 

 any other cereal grain, except rice. 



That high starch content in the substance which surrounds 

 the germ in the kernel of corn is the story of this chapter. 



Eighty percent of this country's corn crop never leaves the 

 farms on which it is grown. It is fed to hogs, to poultry, to 

 horses and to cattle. Its cheapness, and its high percentage of 

 starch make it the ideal food to fatten animals for market. 



But corn has another value on the farm besides that of mak- 

 ing pork and bacon and lard and beef. Corn is milk. And milk 



