282 ELEMENTS OF GENERAL SCIENCE 



which we began, in five years would produce 243,000,000,- 

 000,000,000 seeds. If this number of seeds were to grow in 

 the sixth year, and if there is an average of 20 feet of vines to 

 each plant, the total length of the vines of the sixth-year crop 

 would reach over 36 billion tunes around the earth. Since 

 light travels 186,000 miles per second, how long would it 

 take light to travel the length of this sixth-year crop of 

 morning-glory plants? 



Another illustration may show in a better way the possi- 

 bilities of plant production. A common kind of garden sweet 

 corn may have 4 good ears on a stalk, may have 12 rows of 

 grains on each ear, and may have 20 grains in each row. There- 

 fore one ear may have 240 grains upon it, and one plant may 

 have 960 grains. If each grain produces a new plant the next 

 year, and this process continues for five years, the fifth-year 

 crop will consist of 3,397,346,240,000 ears. That would be 

 over 37,000 ears for each man, woman, and child in the United 

 States. That would be two ears of sweet corn per day for 

 each man, woman, and child for over fifty years. 



Other calculations based upon actual rates of reproduction 

 show equally well what enormous numbers of individuals 

 would soon be produced if these possibilities were allowed to 

 become realities. Jordan says, "An annual plant producing 

 two seeds only would have 1,048,576 descendants in 21 years, 

 if each seed sprouted and matured." It is a matter of com- 

 mon knowledge, however, that the enormous reproduction 

 suggested by these figures does not really occur. 



311. Overproduction among animals. Animal reproduction 

 in enormous numbers is also inherently possible. A single 

 female codfish has been known to produce as many as 9,100,- 

 000 eggs in one year. A female salmon fish four years old 

 may lay 4000 eggs. If half of these 4000 eggs grew into 

 female salmon and produced 4000 eggs each, as did their 

 mother, there would be 8,000,000 eggs. If we suppose that 

 each of these 8,000,000 grows into an adult salmon four years 



