corresponding to sex in animals. One silk 
proceeds from each flower and there are sev- 
hundred of them upon each cob. The cob or 
flower stalk, the flowers and the long delicate 
silks or filaments with the stigmas at the end, 
are protected by a number of leaves folded 
around them, which are called the husk. The 
silk projects from the point of the oar and as 
the pollen is shaken from the tassel above by 
the wind, or as it gently falls from it by its 
own weight it drops upon the euds of the silk 
(the stigmas) and fertilizes them and enables 
the minute germ in the ovary at the other end 
of the silk to form a grain. For every grain 
there must be a “silk’’ and this silk must be 
fertilized by pollen from a flower of the tassel. 
Every silk has a genu attached to it, but if 
the silk receives no pollen it withers and the 
germ dies. As soon as the germ is fertilized 
the silk dries and is of no more service. 
Sometimes, tassel or stamina to flowers are 
found on the ear mixed with pistillate flow¬ 
ers. This is oik! of those strange occurrences 
which, however, appear to be very simple 
when the cause is understood; and the stu¬ 
dent of botany, remembering that flowers 
and fruit, and even the thorns of the prickly 
plants, are only chan, ed leaves, will be no 
longer surprised that the changes may even 
change their manner of changing, and may 
cause variations in the manner oi growth. 
Corn is a very productive plant. A seed 
produces a stalk and the stalk may bear an 
ear having 500 grains, or several earn having 
in all more than a thousand grains. It is very 
easily grown and if it is well cultivated and 
given space for light and air it will produce 
a fair crop upon soil too poor to produce any 
other kind of grain. But when grown upon 
good soil it will produce a very ahundant 
crop. Some crops recently grown by boys 
who competed for a prize both in New York 
and Vermont produced over a hundred bush¬ 
els of shelled corn per acre. This shows what 
a clever, industrious boy can do when he tries 
to do his best. 
imiale. Kuos with Less wind 
" O 'Mid lias more power than any 
oilier. Never blows down. Ten 
It. 'fill k. Warranted forS years. Full 
description free.N. I*. Mix. A veiiuc,0. 
FARMING FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, 
No. 34. 
HENRY STEWART. 
CHALLENGE WIND MILLS 
Vlctorioua at all fairs, Over 1.000 In 
actual wne in every State and Terri¬ 
tory of the V. S, It is a eectlo u wheel— 
lum been mode by the present Co. for 
ten yearn; in all that time not one has 
blown down without tower breaking— 
Corn. 
Corn is our greatest feeding crop; and if 
wheat is the human food crop of the world, 
corn is the food of onr domestic animals. Its 
importance may be seen when we consider 
that coni is the chief food of our working 
horses and mules; our beef, mutton, pork and 
poultry are fattened upon it; it is the chief 
supply of the dairymen who produce butter 
from it, and the owner of a flock of hens 
supplies them with corn in exchange for 
eggs. Nearly all our starch is made from 
corn, and a vast quantity of other products 
is used in different aids and manufactures. 
Besides this, the fodder is of very great value. 
The quantity grown every year would fill 
more than 3,000,000 freight ears, which would 
reach from New York completely around the 
world and lap over nearly enough to reach 
from New York to Chicago. The carrying 
of this vast quantity of corn to the various 
markets where it is sold emploj-s thousands 
of men, and the cars, engines, elevators and 
ships needed to transport and store it em¬ 
ploy still more thousands of workmen and 
mechanics in their construction. So that if 
it were not for com a large part of the 
work and industry of the world must stop. 
.We see in all this what a great service the 
farmer performs in finding work for the 
world, as well as in producing food for it. 
Com is a species of grass. There is but one 
species of it, but there are many varieties. 
There are white, yellow, black, blue, red and 
brown lands, and some are striped and varie¬ 
gated with several of these colors. The plant 
has a strong, stiff stem, broad, long leaves, a 
spike of flowers on the top of the stalk, w hick 
we call the tassel, and another or others on the 
stem at the joints, which we call the ear. Its 
manner of growth and flowering is remark¬ 
able and is sometimes irregular. The young 
plant appears as a straight, smooth spire, in 
which the leaves are tightly rolled tip, present¬ 
ing only a sharp point as it emerges from tho 
soil. Then the leaf unrolls, and by-and-by 
other leaves unroll until the plant shoots up 
and gro^vs from four to sixteen or even twenty 
feet in bight. The stem has several joints; 
from each of these a broad leaf starts, clasping 
the stem at its base. These leaves are ar¬ 
ranged alternately upon opposite sides of the 
stem, and each is closely wrapped around the 
stem to the joint below it, where it becomes a 
a part of the substance of the stalk, the stalk 
gradually increasing in thickness from the top 
leaf to the bottom. From the lowest joint a 
number of strong root-like stems often proceed 
and enter the ground: these are called serial 
roots. The true roots are spreading and reach 
several feet from the stem, both sidewise and 
in depth. 
The center of the stem, within the layers 
formed by the leaf substance, consists of a 
stalk formed of pith and a stout covering. 
This is the flower stalk which bears the tassel. 
The tassel, or panicle, consists of a number of 
spikes arranged in pairs, each pair spreading 
on opposite sides of the stalk and in a cross¬ 
wise direction from that of the next pair. Tin- 
spike contains a number of spikelets, each con¬ 
sisting of two small greenish flowers, The 
flowers consists of tliree chaffy scales, and out 
of the center of these come three slender 
threads or stamens. At the end of each sta¬ 
men are the anthers, which appear as small 
scales, and these contain the pollen or fertiliz 
ing material, which appears as fine dust when 
the ripe tassel is shaken. The tassel thus bears 
only staminate or male flowers, as a rule, but 
sometimes the pistillate or female flowers ap¬ 
pear on the branches of the tassel and produce 
grain. The pith of the central stem and flower 
stalk is very sweet and contains a good deal of 
sugar. The fertile or pistillate flowers are 
borne upon a stem which proceeds from a 
trial. Beet Fond Hilts, Corn BheUera, 
rue free. 
»Ali>jn.NOK MILL OO., )<ai»v:*. ill. 
WIN’S MILL. fljwm 
Known and Hold throughout the world Jfffiui, 
and Hritoovrledtrod The Beet. Simp’* vW\\ir i/Av/ 
Durable, strooK. Few Joint*. Fric- )jd/‘AV 
tionlee*^ Tnru To.. ■ .\w 
Ball Governor? AT ji-j y * 
riree 1 or Ball Ilona, \ 
Kilternriae Feed Mills IfM*® 
New and atortW. For Wind, Horee, V iW 
btvaiu orWater Power. Climax Corn 1 
ana Cotton Cultivator*. Rump*. 1 
ran kit, Ac. .Send for brown Catalogue 
SANDWICH ENTEKRU1SE OO., Sandwich, I1L 
IMPROVED CALIFORNIA 
A WIND MILL. 
Simple, StrouK, Durable. Rosette Wheel 
and perfectly tW-regulating. avoiding 
low wearing joints. Also, Stovixi’g Pony 
Feed Grinder and a perfect Rotary Mo¬ 
tion attachment, without gearing. the 
power twins: communicated by the lift 
or up stroke of Frunp Rod. Cau be used 
for cutting feed, churning, Ac. The 
best, cheapeet and most useful power in 
the market. Full particulars, circulars, 
Ac., sent free. Address the M&nuf&c- 
OLARK A OO., Bomaxauk, 111. 
turers, 
^ubUfati0it5i 
A QUINTETTE OF 
NEW MUSIC BOOKS. 
NOTES. 
Although the Horticultural Club has been 
organized some time, and its members are nu¬ 
merous, yet the original plans have not been 
fully carried out, for various reasons. How ¬ 
ever, we now- propose, with the aid of the 
cousins, to Organize a series of “ Horticultural 
Club Discussions,” somewhat as follows : A 
topic for discussion will be given this week 
which I wish alt the cousins, if possible, to 
consider, and upon which they are to gain the 
best, information they can, and then, by postal 
or letter, send me their views upon the subject 
as soon as possible. The best of these will be 
published under the heading, “ Horticultural 
Club Discussions,” in the second or third issues 
following the announcement of the topic. 
Thus a “meeting” of tho club will be held 
every two or three weeks. It will he seen 
that the success of these discussions will depend 
almost wholly upon the interest which the 
members of the Club take in them, 
and as it is for their benefit we shall expect 
them to respond heartily. It is our desire to 
make this a lively, practical department., and 
with the co-operation of the members of the 
Club, it can be done. 
We shall also, as often as once a year, pub¬ 
lish the names of all the active members of 
the Club, and shall drop from the list all who 
do not correspond for this department, and 
who seem to lack interest in it. During the 
Fall and Winter, we shall call upon certain 
of our best writers for brief essays on topics 
to be suggested, to alternate with our “ Dis¬ 
cussions,” stories, etc. 
The topic for the first meeting of the Club, 
to be reported in tue Rural for Oct. 1, if 
possible, will be “ Crapes—their culture, best 
varieties, etc,” Now, let’s see how interesting 
we can make our first meeting! 
Ditson ifc Co. have ready for the Fall Trade, and 
for the -use of Music Teachers , Choirs and Singing 
Classes, the following books, of unapproachable excel¬ 
lence in their special departments. 
k”"'I HERALD OF PRAISE,| 
The new Church Music Book for 18S1-1882. 
Semi $ 1 . for Specimen Copy. 
I IDEAL. I 
KmeraonS I IMtHL. | (75 cts.) The new 
anil superior hook for HI iigiug classes. 
Send 75 cts. for Specimen Copy. 
Emerson's lOUNII D EL LL O ■ I (50 cts.) The 
new, genial and beautiful collection of School 
Hongs, 
Send 50 cts. for Specimen Copy. 
T T" I BEACON LIGHT. I !,». 
(31) cts.) All radiant with beauty and full of tlie 
sweetest melody. For Holiday Schools. 
Send 3D cts. for Specimen Copy. 
tosh’s LIGHT AND LIFE.I tosh’s 
OLIVER DITSON & CO., Eoston. 
CHAS. H. DITSON & CO. J. E. DITSON & CO. 
843 Broadway, New York. 1228 Chestnut St., Phlla. 
ACENTS MAKE MONEY RAPIDLY SELLING 
THE COMPLETE HOME 
The Great Household Book of the Day. lni«r«*t- 
Ing, Practical, Allractlve and. Uncial. 
Tallo Umn Ta hive noinfortablyonajmAlUncome. 
I 0119 now I II M»ko hotun beautiful and happy. 
Full of thing, which every hotuckeepur want* to know. 
Fine paper. Clear type, Beautiful bindings. Low price, 
A yen Is Wanted. Mill tr Knplil. leiiccc*. Sure. 
Experience in canvassing not necessary. Full description 
and liberal terms sent free. Address 
Jo C. McCURDl' <Si CO., PHiladelpHia, Pa- 
J5ecdsi, 
Peach, 
Plum, 
Apple 
I wish to acknowledge, with thanks, the re¬ 
ceipt of a little box of fruit from M. C., St. 
Paul, Minn. 
And a Full Assortment of Nursery Stock. 
CEORCE ACHELIS, West Chester. r>a. 
160 acres of good unimproved laud for sale In rumens 
at $$5.50 per acre. 
We are always glad to receive letters from 
the older “Cousins,” and hope they will write 
ns whenever they have anything of interest, 
to the young people, to communicate. 
LTRSERYMEN AND DEALERS, selul for terms of 
The Duciikss Gkai’k for Full and Spring. 
A. J. CAYWOOl) 4t SON, Marlboro, N. Y. 
Hereafter the names of those who wish to 
join the Horticultural Club will be published 
each week. We do this so that they may 
know that their applications have been re¬ 
ceived. Uncle Mark. 
LEADINC NEW & OLD VARIETIES 
New Members of the Club fbr the Week 
Ending September 10. 
H. R. Roberts, Atlantic, Iowa ; Maggie 
Belle Lash, West Newton, Pa.; Sarah E. 
Shisler, Williams Ville, N. Y.; Jennie W. 
Pherrin, Springville, Iowa; Mary E. Bohn, 
Dallas Center, Iowa ; Minnie SchlepegreU, 
Well ville, Va. 
Uxdona 
(Sr/e/uU 
Layer Plants at lowest prices. Send for descriptive 
Circular. Address 
A timely use of Hop Bitters will keep a 
whole family in robust health a year with but 
little cost.— AcLv. 
B. L. RYDER & SONS 
CtiaiiibersburB, Penn’a, 
