200 LESSONS IN AC K (CULTURE 



vigorously should not be planted in the field. Every 

 poor ear planted spoils about one-fifteenth of an acre in 

 the cornfield and yet some farmers would blame it 

 on the crows or the weather, or something else which 

 they could not help. This is certainly a better way to 

 get a "stand" of corn than to plant "one for the black- 

 bird, one for the crow, one for the cut-worm and two 

 to grow." 



After selecting the ears that will be used as seed, 

 place them where they will be protected from freezing, 

 moulding, or getting wet. Each pupil should bring sam- 

 ples of seed corn from his home and make the germinat- 

 ing test at school, or have a box of his own at home and 

 test the seed corn there and report the results at school. 

 Keep a note-book record of the results of these tests. 



NOTE. The practice of smoking the seed corn before 

 shelling and planting has proven an effective preventive 

 against the corn-root louse and other insect pests of the 

 sprouting grain. 



References: Fanners' Bulletin, No. 253, No. 409. 



LESSON LX 



THE PLANT AND WATER 



We are now ready to study the growth of the plant 

 from the seed into root, stem and leaf, and to under- 

 stand how the plant gets its food. We have already 

 learned that the seed furnishes the food for the little 

 plant until it is large enough to get food from the soil. 



