36 FARM SPIES 



cornstalks near the surface of the ground. With 

 their beaks they would slit them and eat the juicy 

 parts on the inside, which would soon kill the bud, 

 leaving a few green leaves at the bottom of the 

 stalk. There was not very much excitement in this 

 for Johnny. "Because/' he said, "the beetles just 

 kill the young corn and that ends it." However, 

 his curiosity had been aroused, and so he kept watch- 

 ing. It was well that he did, for later in the season 

 he had a chance to see something that stirred his 

 blood. He saw them attack the corn in a field 

 where the plants were from ten to twenty inches 

 high, and the way the plants battled for life was as 

 good an example of perseverance and true courage 

 as he had ever read about in his books. "And this 

 is a living example right before my own eyes," he 

 said. 



When the plants had become twisted and dis- 

 torted from the hard attacks of the bill-bugs and 

 growth seemed no longer possible, each plant threw 

 out suckers near the ground as if to say, "If I must 

 die, then maybe these young sprouts will succeed 

 in making corn. ' ' Often these suckers were attacked, 

 but being as brave as the old stalks from which 

 they came they were determined not to give up 

 the fight, but before they died produced a second 

 set of suckers. In their heroic struggle for life the 

 plants continued to produce suckers, until at last 



