38 THE NEW METHOD 



inches long, and is of the same color as the stalk, and 

 there are spikelets growing out alternately on the 

 rachis all the way up. The rachis is the stem that 

 runs through the spike, and it is all zigzagged, first 

 curving to one side and then to the other, with a little 

 notch at each bend. 



" The spikelets are made of many parts. First on 

 the right and left, is a little boat-shaped husk, called 

 the glumes. The glumes are about one-third of an 

 inch long. Then come some more little husks of 

 nearly the same shape, called paleae. The seed, or 

 kernel of wheat grows in the cavity between the two 

 paleae, and is completely covered by them. The 

 kernel is of a brown color and it has a groove run- 

 ning the whole length. There are many varieties of 

 wheat, and the kernels of different varieties vary in 

 size and hardness, and the color of the flour. 



11 Wheat is one of the most valuable of all plants. 

 The seeds are made up of twelve elements so com- 

 bined into several compounds as to make the best of 

 food. Wheat will grow in nearly all parts of the world 

 except the frigid zones. But it does not grow well in 

 the torrid zone, except high on the mountains where 

 the climate is cool. A belt of land a thousand miles 

 wide, extending across America, Europe and Asia, 

 with its southern boundary half way between the 



