THE ROMANCE OF THE WHEAT KERNEL 87 



all this necessary food out of the soil and they are 

 just yelling their heads off for something to live on. 

 They are all very weak. Many have died, while 

 most of the heads of wheat are very small. 



"But over here there is a very different story. 

 This field is just filled with all the best plant food 

 imaginable. When you needed nitrogen to build 

 the stalk, the roots just heaped the food on you that 

 made you a great strong plant. Now when you 

 needed phosphorus to produce the big plump ker- 

 nels, all you had to do was to tell the roots to gather 

 the phosphorus from the bone meal that was put 

 on the field this spring, and you had a regular ban- 

 quet. Farmer Good feeds the crops through the 

 soil, then he has enough left over to feed us for 

 helping catch the bugs and worms that would injure 

 you," concluded Bob White. 



A few days later the field began to assume a new 

 color. The vivid green of the spring was changing 

 to a greenish yellow. The wheat was in bloom. The 

 odor could be detected everywhere, and Bob White 

 and Mr. Rooster knew that soon the fields would 

 be covered with shattered grain, affording them a 

 great feast. The following week the wheat field 

 turned a beautiful golden yellow, and early one 

 morning, after the dewdrops had been chased away 



