26 THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 



4, 5, 6, 7 an awned glume and kernel is represented, 

 with the grain laid bare. Before thrashing-machines 

 were invented, farmers considered it an important char- 

 acteristic of wheat to thrash easily, and be free from 

 white caps. The old bald wheat, and the Hutchinson 

 wheat always thrashed easily. But the Whiteflint 

 variety furnished white caps in untold numbers. But 

 now some wheat-growers consider the Whiteflint variety 

 the most desirable, as the kernels are enveloped closely 

 in the inner chaff; consequent!}^ the wheat midge is not 

 so apt to injure the grain as if the chaif were more 

 open. 



How KERNELS OF WHEAT GERMINATE. 



"Lo ! on each seed, within its slender rind, 

 Life's golden threads in endless circles wind ; 

 Maze within maze the lucid webs are rolled, 

 And as they burst, the living flames unfold : 

 Grain within grain, successive harvests dwell, 

 And boundless forests slumber in a shell. 1 ' 



The germination of a kernel of grain, the manner of 

 the growth of the roots of the young plant and their 

 ramifications through the soil, the unfolding of plumule, 

 or stem, and the full and perfect development of the 

 ear and the full corn in the ear, all considered collec- 

 tively, constitute a wonderful mystery ! When we con- 

 sider what a very minute and tender thing the germ of . 

 a kernel of wheat is ; how easily a score of enemies may 

 destroy it, or how quickly some adverse influence of 

 cold or heat, or of both operating alternately, may de- 

 stroy the vitality of the germ, it is really a wonder 

 that farmers are ever able to produce a single bushel of 

 wheat. 



The accompanying illustration represents a kernel of 



