68 



SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 



Beans and Peas as Food for Man. — The young plant within 

 a pea or bean is well supplied with nourishment until it is able to 

 take care of itself. In this respect it is somewhat hke a young 

 animal within the egg, a bird or fish, for example.. So much 

 food is stored in legumes (as beans and peas are named) that 

 man has come to consider them a very valuable and cheap source 

 of food. The following table shows the amount of food material 

 that can be purchased for 10 cents in fresh and dried peas and 

 beans. 



Nutrients furnished for Ten Cents in Beans and Peas at Cer- 

 tain Prices per Pound 



The Corn. — The ear of corn is not a single fruit, but a large 

 number of fruits in a cluster like a bunch of bananas, for example. 

 The husk of an ear of coxn is simply a covering of leaflike parts 

 which has grown over the young fruits for their better protection. 

 The corn cob is the much thickened flower stalk on which the 

 flowers were clustered. If you have removed the husk carefully, 

 you will see part of each flower remaining attached to each grain 

 of corn. The so-called silk of corn is nothing more than a long 

 style and stigma. The corn grain itself was also part of the 



