1 8 A STUDY OF WHEAT. 



now nothing except the seed left. There are two seed-coats, 

 made up of long, slender cells, with very thin, nearly transpa- 

 rent cell walls, the cells of two coats cross each other at right 

 angles. The outer seed-coat or testa is the coat which furnishes 

 the coloring matter, and decides whether the grain shall be red, 

 yellow, or white. The coloring matter exists in little roundish 

 masses, seen in greater quantities on the surface of the grain 

 which is protected by the deep groove, or near a vascular 

 bundle. If there are none of these little masses of coloring 

 matter present in the coat, the wheat is white, if there is a 

 great quantity the wheat is of the red variety; and between 

 these come the different quantities, and in proportion to the 

 amount, the wheat is light or dark yellow. 



6. The second seed-coat is similar to the first, only wanting 

 the pigment or coloring matter. The cells of both coats are 

 collapsed and hard to demonstrate, and not of sufficient im- 

 portance to illustrate. 



Thinking some of our readers might like to make some of 

 these examinations themselves, we give some of the details of 

 the work. 



Let the grains soak in warm water for about twelve hours, 

 then hold a grain on the end of a needle which has been 

 wedged into a wooden handle, and with another needle pick 

 off .carefully the outer fruit-coat and examine with a micro- 

 scope. It is so coarse as to be seen readily with a magnify- 

 ing power of fifty diameters. After this it should be examined 

 with a higher magnifying power in order to see the beaded 

 structure. After removing carefully the epidermis place the 

 grains back in the water and allow them to soak from twelve 

 to twenty-four hours longer. The second and third fruit-coats 

 can now be examined. If these are picked off carefully and 

 the grain allowed to soak a few hours longer, the remaining 

 structures can be separated and examined. 



