BOTANICAL CHARACTERS 



lor 



productive breeds from I, too to 2,800. Allowing for a pro- 

 duction of 1,000 ovules (IT 75) requiring pollination, and a 

 minimum of 6,000,000 grains of pollen available, we have 

 6,000 grains of pollen for every grain of corn. As only one 

 is actually required, there is abundance to spare for the bees 

 and chafers, and for waste. The amount of waste must be 

 enormous, yet we often find large numbers of cars incompletely 



CHAP. 

 IV. 



Fig. 47, — Two-Iobed ear. 



Fig. 48. — Bifid ear. 



fertilized, probably through having been receptive at a time 

 when little pollen was available in their vicinity. 



Maize pollen retains its vitality for seven or eight days in 

 the Eastern United States ; in the dry climate of South Africa 

 it keeps well for three days, but after five days most of it is 

 no longer viable. 



75. The Young Ear. — The ear is situate at the end of a 

 much shortened branch, which develops leaf sheaths forming 

 the husk of the ear (Fig. 45). It is composed of a more or 



