36 OUR FARM CROPS. 



As soon as this change has been effected, and the plant 

 recovers from it and assumes its independent functions, a 

 knot or node is formed at the surface of the soil, just above 

 where the stem and roots meet, and from this other roots 

 and stems branch out, forming independent plants, and 

 materially adding to the produce of the original seed. This 

 is what is known by the term "tillering" in the wheat, and 

 never is commenced until the plant has assumed its inde- 

 pendent functions, and the roots have begun to assimilate 

 inorganic food from the soil. Here the vigorous and healthy 

 constitution of the plant exhibits itself, by the " tillering " 

 power it possesses in the formation of new roots and stems; 

 while the condition and quality of the soil are also seen 

 by the manner in which the subsequent development of 

 the plants is carried out, as, unless it contains plenty of 

 food in a suitable condition for the crop, the roots, vigorous 

 though they may be, will not, of course, be able to obtain 

 the necessary supplies. We should then see that an in- 

 creased number of plants does not always produce an in- 

 creased return that, in fact, the stock was in excess of 

 the keep ; for, if we have increased numbers, we must have 

 an equivalent increased power of supplies, or their vitality 

 will be affected, and their produce diminished. 



In suitable soils, and under favourable conditions, this 

 power of increase in the cereal plants is remarkable. Pliny 

 relates that in the time of Augustus Caesar a sheaf of wheat, 

 containing 400 perfect stems rising from a single stock, the 

 produce of Mauritania (now Algeria), was exhibited at 

 Rome, and that at a later period, another sheaf, containing 

 360 perfect stems, the produce of a single grain, was pre- 

 sented to the Emperor Nero. There are numerous well 

 authenticated instances of the reproductive powers of the 

 cereals, under favourable conditions of soil and climate, in 

 our own, as well as in other countries. At the Exhibition 

 in Paris, 1849, two plants of wheat were shown, the one 



