4b FIELD CROPS 



49. Botanical Characters. Botanically, corn is a grass; 

 that is, it belongs to the same family of plants as timothy, 

 wheat, and blue grass. The roots are fibrous and spread 

 several feet in the ground in all directions, the extent vary- 

 ing with the type of soil and the weather conditions. After 

 the plant is partly grown, brace roots grow out from one or 

 two, and in some cases several of the lower joints. Their 

 function is simply to l^race the plant, to aid it in with- 

 standing the strain caused In' the wind. 



The stem, like that of all the common grasses, is made 

 up of nodes and internodes, varying greatly in length in 

 different varieties and different seasons. The internodes 

 are much longer near the top than near the bottom of the 

 stalk. The stem, which is flattened or grooved on one side, 

 has a hard fibrous coat or outer wall and a soft, spongy 

 pith, differing in this respect from the hollow stems of most 

 grasses. The height of the plant varies from 2 to 20 or 

 more feet; the usual height is from 5 to 10 feet. 



The leaves grow out from the nodes. As in other grasses, 

 they clasp the stem in the form of a sheath which fits very 

 closely. Where the leaf spreads out from the stalk, the 

 sheath clasps about it so tightly that under ordinary circum- 

 stances water is prevented from getting in between the 

 sheath and stem. The blades of the leaves vary in breadth 

 from 2 to 4 inches and in length from 2 to 4 feet. The leaves 

 have the useful habit of rolling up from the edges when there 

 is a shortage of moisture, thus greatly- reducing the trans- 

 piration from them. 



The male arid female flowers of corn are borne on differ- 

 ent parts of the plant. The tassel l^ears the male flowers 

 and the silks are the visible parts of the female flowers. The 

 male flower produces the pollen which is to pollinate the 

 female flower. As it is produced at the top of the stalk, the 

 pollen easily falls by gravity or more commonly it is blown 

 from the tassel to the Stigma of the female flower. On 



