40 



FIELD CROPS 



THE PRODUCTION OF SEED 



42. Reason for Seed Production. It is the function of 

 nearly all plants to produce seed so as to perpetuate their 

 kind. Very frequently man has taken advantage of this 

 circumstance and has used the seed for liis own purposes. 

 It is the seed of corn, wheat, oats, 

 rye, and other grains which is used 

 as food l)y man; he also uses the 

 seeds, stalks, leaves, and roots of 

 many plants to feed domestic ani- 

 mals. He uses the lint, or fiber, 

 which is attached to the seed of cot- 

 ton, and a large variety of products 

 are made from the seed it self. Nearly 

 all our cultivated crops must be 

 grown from the seed every year. 

 Hence the subject of seed produc- 

 tion is important to the farmer and 

 the student of field crops. 



43. Reproductive Organs. The 

 flowers are the reproductive organs 

 of the plant. They consist usually 

 of a protective green covering, the 

 calyx; the corolla, a colored portion, the main function of 

 which is to attract insects that are of assistance in pollina- 

 tion; a number of stamens; and one or more pistils. The 

 stamens and pistils are the essential parts for the production 

 of seed. The stamen consists of a slender stem, the filament, 

 and an enlarged upper portion, the anther; the anther con- 

 tains a fine dust, usually yellow in color, the pollen. The 

 lower portion of the pistil is the ovary, which later develops 

 into the fruit or seeds; the upper portion, usually somewhat 

 enlarged, is the stigma; connecting these two is the more or 

 less elongated central portion, the style. The style contains 

 a slender tube through which the pollen grain grows down 



Figure 11. — Flowrrs of flax. 



