IN THE FIELD 185 



close together, they protect one another in a strong wind, 

 and although they easily bend, so that a grainfield often re- 

 minds us of the rolling waves of a lake, they become kneed 

 only by a severe rain storm and by hail. If grain is laid by 

 a heavy rain, the nodes shorten on the upper side and 

 lengthen and thicken on the lower side. In this way the 

 culms rise again to enjoy their share of the sunlight and the 

 summer breeze. Only in places where for various reasons 

 the growth is too rank, the grain will not rise again, if it 

 once becomes laid. 



Ears and flowers. The ears of wheat, rye, and barley 

 consist of numerous smaller ears which are called spikelets. 

 The spikelets are attached to the common stem in two 

 columns which are opposite each other. In wheat and rye 

 we find one spikelet on each joint of the stem ; in barley, 

 three. A wheat spikelet has three to four, a rye spikelet 

 two flowers, and a barley spikelet has only one flower. 

 . For a large green calyx and a bright corolla we look in vain. 

 Their place is taken by a number of chaff-like scales, which 

 are persistent and later enclose the seeds. In rye and 

 barley, some of the scales end in a long awn ; these awns 

 are called beards by farmers. Most varieties of wheat are 

 beardless. On those ears which are now in bloom we find 

 in each flower three anthers, suspended from long, thread- 

 like filaments which surround a young ovary, provided with 

 delicate, feather-shaped stigmas. The flowers of the oats 

 are not produced in ears, but in loose, open heads ; in other 

 respects the flower does not differ so very much from those 

 just studied. 



Now you may tell me how the flowers of grain are ferti- 

 lized. Recollect what you have learned about wild grasses. 



Plants that produce only one germ-leaf, like wheat, rye, and 

 other grasses, are monocotyledon* r ms plants; those which, pro- 

 Observe the cunning, playful ways of the striped gopher. 



