DESCRIPTION OF TBE COBN PLANT 33 



19. Tillers. — ^ If a young corn plant about 8 inches high 

 is carefully dissected, two or more small buds will be noted 

 in the axils of the first leaves. If conditions are favorable, 

 one or more of these buds will develop into a branch of 

 the plant, or a " tiller." If conditions are unfavorable, 

 as in poor soil, or when the plants are close, the buds may 

 remain suppressed and never grow. On a cold clay or wet 

 soil very few of the tillers develop ; while on a warm, sandy 

 soil, especially if fertile, every plant may develop one to 

 three or four tillers. A good example of this is the very 

 abundant tillering common in cornfields in the light but 

 fertile soils on the west edge of the corn-belt (central 

 Nebraska) ; while the same varieties on the heavier clay 

 soils of Ohio or New York will rarely develop tillers. 

 Every corn plant has several latent buds, which may 

 develop if conditions are favorable, but which otherwise 

 may remain dormant. The tiller may develop its own 

 root system and ears, and may function in all respects as a 

 normal plant. A tendency to tiller, however, is somewhat 

 hereditary, as certain small varieties of flint and sweet 

 corn normally produce well-developed ear-bearing tillers, 

 while some of the large dent varieties seldom tiller. 



20. Leaves. — ■ If a small corn plant a few days old be 

 taken and a cross-section made just above the first node, 

 the full number of leaves may be identified, wrapped into 

 a kind of stem (Fig. 13). As the stem elongates the 

 leaves are gradually exposed, but the leaf growth takes 

 place mostly while the leaves are yet enfolded. There is 

 very little increase in size after the leaf is fully exposed. 



The structure of a leaf is more complicated than appears 

 from a casual examination, because of its many functions. 

 The functions are principally : (1) to provide for the free 

 circulation of solutions and air throughout the leaf ; (2) to 



