12 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



working 16 hours a day for 120 days. All this energy, how- 

 ever, is not lost, because the carbon stored in the grain and 

 body of the plant, when burned or eaten by man or beast, 

 is transformed again into energy, heat, and life processes. 



Before the plant whose history we are tracing is finally 

 mature, steps are taken to reproduce the species before it 

 dies. Somewhere upon the plant special adaptations are 

 made for the development of the reproductive cells. These 

 adaptations constitute the flowers. Two kinds of cells are 

 produced. They may be in the same flower or in different 

 flowers. The female or egg cell is formed as the foundation 

 of the seed in the pistil of the flower in which the future 

 embryo is to develop. The male cell is formed as a pollen 

 grain in the stamen of the flower. Before the embryo plant 

 will develop and the seed mature, there must be a union of 

 the male and female cells of the plant. The agencies for 

 bringing these two cells together vary widely. Among the 

 plants, gravity, winds, and insects are the common agencies*. 

 When the pollen cell and the egg cell unite, then the embryo 

 plant begins to form. The little leaves, the short stem on. which 

 the roots develop, the cotyledons containing the plant-food 

 for the developing embryo mature, and the seed enters a 

 dormant or resting period, awaiting the time when under 

 favorable conditions it may begin the growth as mentioned 

 at the beginning of this discussion. 



