8 BULLETIN 653, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the kernel and make it develop. There must be a great abundance 
of pollen, because so much is lost. Each silk extends to one kernel © 
only.) — 
The corn leaves and stalks: How are the leaves arranged on the ~ 
stalks? What is the position of the ears with respect to the leaves? 
Notice that the margin of the leaf is longer than the middle of the — 
leaf. This makes the leaf wavy. Would this help to prevent the 
wind from tearing the leaves? Does the wind damage corn leaves 
much in your country? What do the corn leaves do in very drv — 
weather? Is this an advantage to the corn plant? How? Cut © 
across a cornstalk. Notice the threads that run through it. Where — 
are they thickest—in the middle or near the outside of the stalk? 
These threads are woody bundles called fibro-vascular bundles. Split 
a stalk and see if they go the whole length of it. Do they extend 
into the leaf? Cut out about 3 inches of a stalk between joints. “ Put 
one end of this in water and blow through it. Through what part | 
of the stalk does the air go? The chief function of the fibro-vascular 
bundles is to conduct the sap up and the prepared food down in the © 
plant. They extend into the leaves and become the veins, and thus 
help to make up the leaf framework. 
The joints of the carnstalk are called “nodes,” and the spaces 
between them are called “internodes.” If a stalk of corn is broken — 
down, at what point does it begin to straighten up again? Is the 
node, then, of the same length all around? Which side. of the 
internodes is flattened or channeled? Is it the same side all the 
way up? What other crop plants have nodes and internodes like 
corn? Is corna grass plant? Is wheat, flax, clover? 
Corn ears: On which side of the internode is the ear always found ? 
Is a leaf sheath always found on the other side of the ear? Sup- 
pose the ear were borne on the end of a long branch, with leaves 
arranged just as they are on the stalk. Now, if you could “ tele- 
scope” this branch from tip to base, so that it would be only an — 
inch long, would the leaves, then, have the place of husks around 
the ear? Are the husks corn leaves? What is the short branch — 
that bears the ear called? How does it come to be so short? Could | 
it hold a large ear up off the ground if it were very long? Is it 
better to have the shank hold the ear upright or allow the tip to © 
hang down a little? Why? What is the advantage in having the | 
tassel at the top of the stalk? Which would be the better kind of 
corn to cultivate—the sort we have now, or one with long stalks | 
and branches and with both stamens and pistils at the ends? Do we | 
sometimes still find a few kernels in the tassels or parts of the tas- 
sel attached to the ear? (Have such specimens collected at husk- | 
ing time and brought to the school.) Are they the best kind of 
corn to plant? (Try it and see.) 
