BOOK OF THE HOME GARDEN 



tiny grain of corn inside the husk; if the pollen 

 grains on the tassel do not fall on the silk and 

 touch the end of each silk thread, the grain of corn 

 at the other end will not grow. Pollen from corn 

 tassels has been known to blow several miles and 

 fall on the silk of another field of corn. Of course 

 if the pollen blows from Black Mexican corn and 

 falls on the silk of white corn, the two kinds are 

 "crossed" and the seed children will be both white 

 and black. 



I have known some gardeners who had heard 

 about pruning vines and thinning fruit, thought it 

 would be interesting to try on corn. They cut off 

 the tassels with the idea it would throw all the 

 strength into the ears. They did not know what 

 they were doing, did they? Imagine their surprise 

 when they found only a few grains of corn on each 

 ear! They would not have had that much if some 

 neighbor's corn had not been in "tassel" about the 

 same time. 



The principle is the same with flowers, if you 

 want large blossoms you must allow the plant to 

 have only a few, so you pick off many buds. Did 

 you know that is the way florists get such huge 

 chrysanthemums? They allow a plant to have 

 only one blossom, picking off all the buds except 



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