Corn plants; their uses and ways of life

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Fig. 1. Ceres, the Roman goddess of grains. AVall-paiuting from Pompeii.

CORN PLANTS

THEIR USES AND WAYS OF LIFE

BY

FREDERICK LEROY SARGENT

Formerly Instructor in Botany in the University of Wisconsin, and

Teacfier in the Summer School of Botany of

Harvard University

WITH NUMEROUS
ILLUSTRATIONS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

^bE fliDcrsiDc prcs?, "CambriDae

COPYRIGHT, 1S99

BY FREDEUICK LEROY SARGENT

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PREFACE.

This little volume aims to present attractively to
young people trustworthy information regarding a
few of the most important plants in the world. It is
believed that the book will be of value also to older
readers who seek an elementary knowledge of the
subject, and do not object to being addressed on such
matters in simple language freed from unnecessary
technicalities. Not that the unwise attempt has been
made to avoid all technical expressions ; they have
been introduced, however, always with a sufficient
indication of their meaning, and none are used which
all readers are not likely to welcome as saving more
trouble than they make.

Although intended for use in schools, this volume
is not offered as a text-book, but rather as affording
profitable reading supplementary to text-books, or as
giving material for teachers' talks.

The main purpose is to enliven the study of plants
by showing some of their most intimate relations with
our daily lives. This purpose involves the casting of
helpfid side-lights upon a wide range of human con-
cerns. In these pages not only are corn plants viewed
sympathetically as living things, but the story is told
of how man has been helped by them in different
parts of the world, and at different periods of his

iv PREFACE.

advance from savagery. Studied in this way these
familiar natural objects come to have an important
educational value in helping the student to feel those
vital connections between his various studies which
should serve to knit them firmly together in his mind.
In a word, the attempt has been made to show how
the peculiarities of half a dozen supremely useful
plants have affected the welfare of humanity, and
have in turn been affected by human influence.

Only such features of these plants have been dealt
with as may be readily observed with specimen in
hand. Aided by the illustrations it should be pos-
sible for any one to recognize in the living or the
dried plant all the parts referred to, and to repeat
the simple experiments suggested. Every competent
teacher must realize that no pictures or descriptions,
however accurate, can well take the place of good
specimens of the objects portrayed. The best service
which this little book can render is to enhance the
keen enjoyment which comes from careful and
thoughtful examination of corn plants. If the reader
desires to know these plants as they are, he must see
them, handle them, and watch them at different
periods of their life.

A large share of the figures were drawn by tlie
author directly from nature. The others have been
copied from well-known sources M'hich are duly indi-
cated. To the botanists of the Harvard Herbarium
grateful acknowledgments are due for the use of
books and specimens. To the schoolteachers whose

PREFACE. V

kindly criticisms have given the author much help
and encouragement in his effort to meet an educa-
tional need, he would here tender his sincere thanks ;
and finally, he would also express his warmest grati-
tude to the other friends who have aided him most
practically in the details of prej)aration.
Cambridge, March, 1S99.

The silver coin reproduced on the cover and title-page is
of the ancient Greek colony of Metapontum in Southern
Italy, and dates from 330-314 b. c. On the obverse ap-
pears the head of Persephone, the corn maiden, or of her
mother, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. The hair is
bound with corn. On the reverse of the coin are an ear of
barley and a plough, symbolizing the great fertility of the
territory of Metapontum.

CONTENTS.

FAOB

I. What Corn Plants are 1

II. The Importance of Corn Plants to Mankind . 3

The Story of Ceres aud Proserpine 3

The Roman Cereal Festivals 6

Other Corn Rites and their Meaning , . . . 7

III. Corn Plants in the Field 11

How they manage against Wind, Weight, and

Wet 11

Defenses against Drought 26

Food-making and Growth 30

IV. How Corn Plants provide for their Off-

spring 34

Seed-making 34

The Floral Parts 35

The Beginning of the Seed 42

Ripening and Protection of the Fruit .... 48

Scattering and Planting of Seeds 53

The Infant Plant and its Food 62

V. The Advantages of Cereals as Food Plants . 68

Yield 69

Separation 72

Bulk 73

Keeping 74

Summary 75

YI. Wheat, the King of Cereals 75

VII. Oats, the Grain of Hardiness 80

V^III. Rye, the Grain of Poverty 83

IX. Barley, the Brewer's Grain 85

X. Rice, the Corn of the East 89

XI. Maize, the Corn of the West 91

XII. A General View of Corn Plants ..... 102

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIO. PAGE

1. Ceres Frontispiece

2. Assumazirpal 9

3. Maize plant 13

4. Spikelet from the tassel of maize 13

5. Experiment with paper tube 15

6. Maize, leaf at rest 23

7. The same, in the wind 23

8. A young ear, a spikelet, and the upper part of a

stigma of maize 27

9. A ripe kernel of maize 33

10. Maize kernels sprouting „ 33

11. Coyote corn 37

12. Oat plant showing tillers 45

13. Oat plant recovered from effects of storm .... 50

14. Sheath ring of oat 51

15. Rain guard of oat 54'

16. Inflorescence of oat 58

17. Diagram of oat spikelet 59

18. Spikelet of cultivated oat in frnit 65

19. Spikelet of wild oat in fruit 65

20. Rice, part of a plant, a spikelet and a ligule ... 71

21. Rice, inflorescence, spikelet, flower, and kernel ... 77

22. Rice, a bearded spikelet and part of the awu ... 77

23. Inflorescence of rye 81

24. Spikelet, bracts, and kernel of rj-e 81

25. Inflorescence of common bearded wheat 87

26. Inflorescence of club wheat 87

27. Spikelet, rachis, bracts, pistil, and kernel of wheat . 93

28. Common barley, inflorescence 97

29. Two-rowed barley, inflorescence 97

30. Six-rowed barlej-, spikelets, flower, and kernel ... 99

31. Wild oat-grass, flowering spikelets showing arrange-

ments for pollination 101

32. Map, showing probable native homes of various corn

plants 103

CORN PLANTS.

I. What Corn Plants are.

It is somewhat curious how differently the word
" corn " is understood by different peoples. In the
United States we generally mean by it simply maize
or Indian corn ; but the Scotch use it as meaning oats,
and to most Englishmen an " ear of corn " suggests
nothing but a head of wheat, while throughout the
northern part of the European continent a " corn-
field " is understood almost always as a field of rye.

If we turn to our Authorized Version of the Bible
we find the word " corn " used in several interesting
ways. It is said that Ruth coming to Bethlehem " in
the beginning of the barley harvest " asked " to go
into the field and glean ears of corn " (Ruth i. 22 and
ii. 2). But it was " in the time of the wheat harvest"
that Samson burned " the standing corn of the Philis-
tines " by tying firebrands to the foxes' tails (Judges
XV. 1, 5). The humane statute of Moses " Thou shalt
not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn "
(Deuteronomy xxv. 4) undoubtedly applies to all the
grain plants harvested by the Israelites. Finally, in
the words of Jesus, " except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone " (John xii. 24),
the meaning of corn is plainly hernel.

How did " corn " come to have these different mean-
ings ? The dictionary tells us that the word first

2 CORN PLANTS.

meant simply a hard, edible seed, grain, or kernel,^
and was applied especially to such kinds as were
of most importance for food. From this it would be
but a short step to speak of the plants which bore
such kernels, as " corn plants " or " corn " in general.
Then whichever of these plants was most familiar to
a people naturally came to be known as " the com "
of that region, or simply as " corn," while those corn
plants which were in less common use were distin-
guished by their separate names. Thus we account for
the different ways in which " corn " has been under-
stood by different people at different times. In this
book we shall use the word as a general name to in-
clude wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, and maize — the
six plants which produce the principal breadstuffs of
the world, and the most valuable of all vegetable
foods.'*^

1 An example of this use is fomid in the word " barleycorn,"
which means either a kernel of barley or a measure of length,
three barleycorns being equal to oAe inch.

^ The general name " corn " is applied also to several other
plants which resemble more or less the six above named. Thus,
there is the Kaffir- or Guinea-corn, otherwise known as dhourra
or Indian millet. This is extensively used for food in Africa and
Soutliern Asia. Then there are tlie true millet, and the Italian
millet, which are somewhat similar plants that have been long
cultivated in the Okl World. In Central America a corn-like
plant called teosinte is highly valued for food. Quinoa, a South
American plant very like our common pigweed, produces grain
much used in the mountainous regions. These and also buck-
wheat, which is grown to a considerable extent in many coun-
tries, are sometimes included among corn plants : but all of
them, and others which might be mentioned, are of so much less
importance to us than are the six great corn plants named
above, that we shall not need to consider them further in these
pages.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CORN PLANTS. 3

II. The Importance of Corn Plants to Man-
kind.

Corn plants, as we know, are called also cereals or
cereal grains. How they came to receive this name
is a question which is of interest not only because the
answer must lead us very far into the past, but also
because it will help us to realize how important these
plants have been to civilized people from the eai-liest
times.

Like so many of our words this name is of Latin
origin, and was used in nearly its present form by the
ancient Romans over two thousand years ago. The
people of those days, as we know, had many myths.
These often meant a great deal to them, for it was
only through such stories of gods and heroes that
they felt able to account for the wonders of nature.
Of all these ancient myths one of the most beautiful
and significant was the following, which will aid us
in understanding the origin of the name " cereal."

27ie Story of Ceres and Proserpine.

Ceres was the goddess of agriculture and especially
watched over the growth of gi-ains. (See Fig. 1.)
Proserpine, her only daughter, was a girl of wonderful
loveliness and the joy of her mother's heart. When
the world was new they dwelt together upon the
earth. The maiden loved flowers dearly and was
never hajipier than when playing among them in the
fields. One day she strayed off by herself to gather
some rare blossoms which grew in a certain valley.
There Pluto, the god of the underworld, chanced to
see her, and so charmed was he by her exquisite
beauty that he determined at once to carry her off,

4 CORN PLANTS.

that she might always live with him and brighten the
gloom of his realm below. As he caught up the
frightened girl into liis golden chariot, her flowers
fell to the ground. So also did the girdle which she
had worn. When night came and Proserpine did not
return, Ceres was filled with fear lest some harm
had befallen her daughter. With torch in hand she
searched far and wide. Dawn came and found the
poor mother distracted with grief and still wandering
with the lighted torch. No one whom she met could
tell her where Proserpine had gone, though all were
moved with pity. Day after day and night after night
she searched, passing through many lands, till at last
she came to a place in Greece called Eleusis. Here,
utterly discouraged, she sat down to weep. Toward
nightfall a poor man and his wife found the goddess,
thus bowed with grief, and, thinking her to be a mor-
tal, tried to comfort her. They offered her the hospi-
tality of their home. They, too, were full of sorrow,
for their only son, Triptolemus, was sick unto death.
Touched by the tender kindness of these good people,
Ceres went with them, and to their exceeding joy
healed Triptolemus. Then revealing her true nature
she promised some day to teach the lad what would
make him honored by all mankind. She then con-
tinued her anxious search, yet with a lighter heart,
for the hope had come again that she might soon find
some trace of her daughter. It was not long before
she came upon a bunch of withered flowers and the
girdle which Proserpine had let fall from the chariot.
Near by was a Inige crack in the ground. Now Ceres
felt sure that the earth had opened to swallow her
child. Full of anger at the earth's ingratitude the
goddess cursed the land, and brought drought and

THE IMPORTANCE OF CORN PLANTS. 5

famine. Though every creature suffered, still even
those who knew well what had happened dared not
tell Ceres, for fear of Pluto's wrath. At last the
nymph of a certain fountain which flowed from the
underworld was so moved by all the misery which had
come upon the earth, that she could hold the secret
no longer. So, when Ceres came one day to the foun-
tain, the nymph cried out to her, " O Goddess, blame
not the land for what has befallen ! I have seen thy
daughter in the realms below. Pluto has made her
his queen." On hearing this Ceres hastened to the
throne of Jupiter, chief of the gods, and implored
him to give command for Proserpine's release. This
he agreed to do, provided the maiden had eaten no
food while in the lower world : for so willed the Fates,
whom even the gods obey. But alas! it was found
that she had tasted some of the pulp of a pomegranate
which the wily Pluto had given her, and in so doing
had put six of the seeds into her mouth. She was
doomed therefore to remain six months of every year
with Pluto in the world below ; but for the other half
of the year she was permitted to live in the realm of
sunshine with her mother, and each year Spring was
to lead her forth. Pluto had been so kind to Pro-
serpine that she had grown fond of him and did not
feel at all sorry about the seeds. Ceres was content
in that her daughter was so far restored to her. Be-
stowing once more her favor on the land she caused
it to bring forth abundantly. She remembered, more-
over, her promise to Triptolemus and taught him the
use of the plough, the sowing of seed, and the rais-
ing of grain. These things, in his turn, he taught
mankind, and thus through his teachings came the
beginnings of agriculture.

6 CORN PLANTS.

As the reader has doubtless already discovered, we
have in this charming myth little more than a poetic
story of the corn plant, which, like Proserpine, passes
a season in the earth, awaiting the gentle hand of
Spring to lead it into the light of day. Also we have
the thought that the beginnings of agriculture came
with man's first knowledge of the growth of grain.

The Roman Cereal Festivals.

That such was the real meaning of the myth to the
ancient Romans is shown by the way in which they
celebrated their great agricultural festivals. These
were held each year at springtime and harvest. From
the twelfth to the nineteenth of April came a series of
important ceremonies in memory of the return of Pro-
serpine. Throughout the country the people marched
in procession around their fields, imploring the favor
of Ceres upon the growing grain. In the city the
worshipers, all dressed in white, went to the temple
of Ceres, bringing incense and honey, and cakes of
wheat and barley as offerings to the goddess. On the
last day of the festival elaborate games were held in
her honor. The second festival coming in August
was a feast of thanksgiving. At this the firstfruits
of the grain harvest were brought as an offering to
Ceres. The ceremony was performed by women
alone, dressed as before in pure white. So sacred
was this office considered that a fast of nine days was
required as a preparation.

The gifts to Ceres, offered at these festivals, were
called by the Romans cerealia munera (Ceres' gifts),
or simply cerealia. We can now answer our question
as to how corn plants came to be known as " cereals."
Since by far the most important of the gifts to Ceres

THE IMPORTANCE OF CORN PLANTS. 1

were from wheat and barley, it was very natural that
these plants should come to have the name cerealia
or cereals applied especially to them ; and when other
similar grains came into use, it was equally natural
that they should be included under the same general
name. Thus it was that the word came finally to have
the wide sense in which we use it to-day.

Other Corn Hites and their Meaning.

How came the Romans to have this story of Ceres
and Proserpine ? The fact is that they borrowed it
from their neighbors, the Greeks. Long before the
Romans began to hold their cereal festivals, the
Greeks celebrated ^\^th even greater magnificence
what were known as the " Eleusinian Mysteries."
These were so called because the chief ceremonies
took place at Eleusis, the home of Triptolemus, where,
as the Greeks believed, this great benefactor of man-
kind had first established the worship of the goddess
of grains. The celebration of these '"Mysteries,"
which took place early in autumn, formed the great
religious event of the year. It lasted many days, and
the various ceremonies were arranged to commemorate
in a striking manner the doings of the leading persons
in the myth of the corn maiden. But most significant
of all were the concluding rites, iu which the worship-
ers were permitted to handle and taste the sacred sym-
bols of the goddess, and finally amid profound silence
beheld a living corn plant cut down by the priest.

In the Hebrew Scriptures we read of the Israelites,
at the yearly festival of the Passover, preparing, at
Moses' command, unleavened bread in memory of
their flight from Egypt ; and also as part of the same
celebration, bringing the first sheaf of the harvest as

,8 CORN PLANTS.

an offering to Jehovah. After the harvest was gath-
ered came the festival of Pentecost or Harvest Feast,
when, amid great rejoicings and thanksgivings, loaves
of leavened bread were bronght before the Lord.
" The whole ceremony," says a learned writer, " was
the comjiletion of that dedication of the harvest to
God, the giver, . . . which was begun by the offering
of the wave-sheaf at the Passover." ^

Among the Assyrians and Babylonians who were
akin to the Hebrews, and dwelt in the fertile valley
of the Tigris and Euphrates, we find evidences of a
similar appreciation of the value of corn plants. One
of their ancient monuments recently discovered shows
a great king in priestly robes offering for a sacrifice
an ear of wheat. (Fig. 2.)

As wheat was valued by the peoples of Assyi-ia and
Babylonia, so has rice been held for ages in the high-
est estimation by the people of China. One interest-
ing proof of this is a royal ceremony of seed-planting,
believed to have been instituted by one of their
emperors who reigned 2700 b. c. Every year for
these many centuries the seeds of rice and of four
other food plants have been sown with appropriate
rites by members of the government. The rice is
always planted by the emperor in token of its supreme
importance.

We learn from accounts of early explorers in the
New World that maize was similarly valued by that
remarkable people, the Nahuas of ancient Mexico.
This grain was extensively cultivated as the staple
crop of the region, and in much the same way in
which the Romans sacrificed to Ceres the firstfruits of
their grain harvests, the Nahuas offered with elaborate
» See Exodus xxix. 23, 24.

Fio. 2. Assumazirpal, king of Assyria (883-&50 b. c), as priest offering a kid and
a head of wheat for a sacrifice. Bas-relief. (Layard.)

10 CORN PLANTS.

ceremony the firstf ruits of their cornfields to Centoatl,
their goddess of maize. The ancient Peruvians ahnost
worshiped the inaize plant as a divinity. At harvest
time, as they returned home singing from the fields,
the people reverently carried a large bundle of maize
wrapped in rich garments. This they called by the
name of their harvest deity, Perua. For three nights
they continued the worship of Perua, imploring pro-
tection for the maize they had gathered.

When our forefathers came to this country they
found the " Indian corn," as will be remembered,
largely cultivated by the aborigines of North Amer-
ica. In fact it was to this fortunate circumstance
that many of the colonists owed their lives ; and we
may well believe that if it had not been for the corn
of the Indians, the brave attempts to establish colonies
in the colder parts of the New World might have
failed for lack of food. Hence in the celebration
of our Thanksgiving Day, since this festival was
founded by those who were thus sustained, it has
been deemed particularly appropriate that especial
prominence should be given to Indian corn among
the grains which are used in church decoration and
otherwise on that occasion.

From what has been said and from what is to fol-
low, it will be seen that throughout the world there
has been from earliest times tlie closest connection
between the growing of grains and the progress of
mankind — that, in a word, cereals and civilization
have ever gone hand in hand. Moreover, it will ap-
pear that as nations have advanced in culture and im-
portance, their dependence upon corn plants has been
not less but greater. In this we may see the reason
why among all peoples these plants which have yielded

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 11

to them their daily bread have ever stood as a symbol
and supreme example of the best gifts of the Giver
of Life.

III. Corn Plants in the Field.

Why it is that corn plants play so important a part
in our daily lives, and why certain of them are more
highly valued than others, are questions which must
be answered by referring to peculiarities of the plants
themselves. We shall be helped, therefore, in trying
to understand the deep connection between our lives
and theirs, if we consider first the way in which they
live.

Hoio they Manage against Wind, Weight, and Wet

It may be said in general of all these plants that
they are never so much at home as when growing in
broad, wind-swept fields. A special fitness for such
life in the open is shown in every part of a corn plant
and in its whole behavior. We may well credit those
who tell us that in order to realize fully what corn
plants are like when at their best, one should see
them growing in the vast fields of our great North-
western States.

Not long ago I heard of a little girl who had come
East from a Western wheat farm. She had never
seen the ocean, and when taken to get her first view
of it she did not seem to be so much impressed as
her friends expected she would be. After a while
they asked her if she did n't like it. " Oh yes," she
replied, " I like it very well because it has waves, but
I like the waving wheat at home a great deal better."
Those of us who have seen the ocean only may wonder
at such a comparison, but it will not surprise us when

12 CORN PLANTS.

we stop to think that not even the Atlantic can give
a greater impression of immense extent than a grain
field stretching out on every side as far as the eye can
reach.

The very characteristic and beautiful wave effect,
which every one has noticed in a field of grain as the
leaves or ripening heads bow before the wind, is made
possible by a remarkable arrangement of elastic ma-
terial in the framework of the plant. If we examine
one of the long, slender leaves, we find it to be
strengthened by numerous springy threads extending
from base to tip. They form a sort of skeleton for
the leaf. In the larger leaves of corn plants, especially
those of maize, we find, besides the many slender
threads which run side by side throughout the length
of the leaf, a bundle of threads of extra thickness and
strength, running like a backbone through the middle
of the blade. It is owing to these threads that the
blade of a corn plant when at rest naturally takes a
broad, graceful curve, like that shown in Figure 3.
Yet the springs are so delicately elastic that thej'
yield at the slightest breath of air, while the leaves
are so formed as to allow a stronger wind to pass
with only the least possible pull upon the stalk.

In the stalk we have the same sort of springy mate-
rial formed into similar threads, but, instead of beinjr
in a flat row like those of the leaf -blade, they are
arranged in the form of a tube. The tubular form
gives much greater stiffness, and that is what the
stem especially needs, since it has not only its own
weight to support but also that of the leaves and, in
course of time, the f ruit.^

* We mean by fruit the seeds and whatever adjoining parts
ripen in connection with them.

Fio. 3. Maize plant. T, tassel ; S, stalk ;
L, leaf ; K, K, E, ears ; N, N, nodes ; B, B,
brace roots ; R, earth roots ; 6, G, surface
of grouud. (Original.)

Fio. 4. Maize. A spikelet from the
tassel cut lengthwise to show its two
flowers, the one on the right fully
open, the other not yet mature. Sk,
stalklet ; C, C, outer bracts ; D, E,
inner bracts of the open flower ; G,
lodicules, which by swelling spread
the bracts apart ; F', F", filaments
cut across ; F, filament bearing ripe
anther (R A) shedding pollen (P);
Y A, young anthers, the left hand
one cut to show the polleu. Enlarged.
(Original.)

14 CORN PLANTS.

The great advantage derived from the tubular ar-
rangemeut is well shown by the following simple ex-
periment. Take a piece of writing paper, say eight
inches long by three wide. Observe that when flat it
has not stiffness enough to sustain even its own
weight in an upright position. Now roll it lengthwise
into a tube about three quarters of an inch in dia-
meter, and to prevent its unrolling slide on to the
tube three squares of paper having a hole of the same
diameter as the tube cut from the centre. Place the
tube upright on the table and arrange books as shown
in the diagram (Fig. 5) at P, B and G, so that the
middle of one end of the book B will rest squarely on
the tube. If now on this support additional books
(W) be placed carefully, one at a time, it will be
found that the tube will hold up a weight likely to
astonish any one who has never tested the strength of
such a seemingly feeble column.

Moreover, builders have discovered that in making
a column for support the tubular form gives far
greater strength than if the same amount of material
were made into a solid cylinder. Hence the use of
tubes as far as possible in bicycle frames, which re-
quire the utmost strength attainable with a small
weight of material. There is only this drawback, that
when the tube is very long in comparison with its
width there comes the danger of collapse or flattening
and falling together of the sides. In the grain stalk
this is avoided by means of solid joints ^ called nodes,

1 As the word " joint " is liable to be misunderstood, since it
may mean either the place of a partition or a portion extending
from one partition to another, we shall avoid confusion by using
the botanical terms node (from the Latin nodus meaning a knot)
and internode (Latin inter, between).

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD.

15

which act as cross partitions dividing the whole stem
into a series of tubes (the mtomodes) each of safe
length. (Figs. 3, 12, 13, and 14 II.)

It should be noticed, also, that the need for stiffness
is not the same in all j^arts of the stem, but increases
towards the base ; for, plainly, the weight to be upheld

r— ?

Fig. 5. Experiment with paper tube. T, paper tube; S, S, S, pieces of paper
slipped over the tube to prevent unrolling; P, pile of books as liigh as tube ; B, book,
of which one end rests on P, while the other is supported by the tube; W, books
added as weight; G, pile of books slightly lower than P, coining under B, to guard
against fall of W. (Original.)

and the bending strain caused by wind become greater
and greater in the lower parts. To provide this extra
stiffness the distances between the nodes are less and
less as the base is approached, while at the same time
there is in the internodes some thickening of the wall.
As we pass upwards from the base of the stem not
only does the need for stiffness become less but there
is a steadily increasing need for as much springiness
as possible. This is necessary in order that the upper
parts may yield readily before the wind, and allow it
to pass with least resistance, and hence with least

16 CORN PLANTS.

strain upon the lower portions. We know that a
slender rod is the best form to secure flexibility in
every direction, just as a tube is the form of greatest
stiffness for a given amount of material. As miglit
be expected, therefore, we find the upper portion of
grain stems increasingly slender and the cavity of
each internode becoming much less in proportion to
the wall. That is, the internodes are more and more
rodlike, until finally the uppermost are nearly or quite
solid. We see this particularly well shown in the
upper branchlets of the oat stalk, where the springy
material is made into wirelike supports well-nigh as
delicate and elastic as the steel hairspring of a watch.

An apparent exception to the general rule that
corn plants build their stems on the tubular principle
is found in the stalk of Indian corn. Here, instead
of a cavity, as in the straw of the other cereals, there
is a core of pith through which run lengthwise a few
slender threads. But we have only to remove a thin
ring of the outer firm material of a maize stalk to find
that the inner part, although forming the main bulk
of the stem, is in reality very weak. Indeed, its value
as an element of strength may be compared to a fill-
ing of sponge put into our paper tube. Hence we
must conclude that whatever may be the use of this
core of pith, the strength of a maize stalk is gained
chiefly by its tubes of firm material, quite as truly as
in the case of the other cereals.

These tubes of the maize stalk, it should also be
said, are not always entirely cylindrical (as they are
in the straw of other corn plants), but at several of
the internodes are grooved or flattened on one side.
Those of my readers who have ever made a " corn
stalk fiddle " will remember that it was this peculiar

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 17

flattening which rendered possible the manufacture of
that rustic instrument. The part of the stalk chosen
for the purpose always includes an internode which
has one side flattened against an ear. Along the edges
of this flattened part run woody threads of remarkable
toughness, which provide the strings for the fiddle.
With a sharp knife these threads are separated from
the rest of the internode except at the ends where
they join the nodes, and are then stretched over a
" bridge " consisting of a cross slice cut from a neigh-
boring internode. When played upon by a " bow "
made from the upper and more slender part of the
stalk, such a fiddle will give forth a perceptible if not
always an agreeable tone.

In making this interesting toy one is led to observe
certain facts which help to an understanding of the
peculiar form of the maize stalk. Thus the fact that
those internodes which are grooved have each an ear
on the grooved side clearly indicates that this form
helps to make room for the growth of the young ear.
Moreover, any weakening which may result from the
change of form is largely offset by the extra strength
of the woody threads. It will also be noticed that
iisually the only internodes which are much flattened
are those that come well above the base and hence
are not so much subject to strain. The lower inter-
nodes, which have the greatest strain to bear, are, as
we should expect, almost if not entirely cylindrical.
Finally, it may be remarked that even the flattened
internodes are really constructed on the tubular prin-
ciple, although they are not quite so strong as if, with
the same amount of material, they had been cylindrical
in form.

We have seen that the tubular form of stem is the

18 CORN PLANTS.

one which makes the strongest sort of a column that
can be constructed with a limited amount of material.
But we may also view it as the form requiring least
material to be used in making a column which must
have a given strength. ^Vhen the tubular principle
of stem construction is viewed in this way, it becomes
plain that corn plants accomplish an important eco-
nomy of their building material. This saving will in
part account for the remarkable height which they
attain during their short season of growth.

Another peculiarity of corn plants which greatly
favors their rapid increase in height is the way in
which new material is added at a number of sepa-
rate places along the stem all at the same time. With
most plants, as is well known, the stem becomes longer
by the addition of new material entirely within a
young and tender region at the tip. The way such a
plant grows in length we may liken to the extension
of a pocket telescope, when the sections beginning
with the lowest are pulled out one at a time. If there
were four sections to pull out and we took, let us say,
one minute in pulling out each, then it would of course
require four minutes to bring the telescope to its full
length, in this way. Suppose, however, that instead
of pulling out the sections one at a time, we could so
manage that all of them would be extending at the
same time and each as rapidly as before, then, plainly,
the telescope would reach its full length in one minute.
That is to say, in the second case, we shoukl be pull-
ing out the telescope four times as rapidly as in the
first, or, in other words, as many times faster as the
number of the sections extending at once. With corn
plants, as we shall see, the extraordinarily rapid in-
crease in length of stem is accomplished by having

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 19

many sections extending at once, in much the same
way as in our imaginary telescope.

Let us now see what we actually find in a growing
grain stem. During the period of rapid elongation
an examination of one of the older internodes even
will show that while the upper portion has become so
firm as to be incapable of further growth, the portion
below is still rather tender, and near its base it is
as full of sap and vigor as the tip of an ordinary
shoot in springtime. Each internode by having its
own special region of growth, which remains active
for a comparatively long while, is therefore able to
add to its length at the same time as the growing
parts of the other internodes. Moreover we must not
forget that in cereals, as well as in other plants, the
stem grows also at the tip. This makes the extension
of the separated growth regions of the older inter-
nodes in cornlike stems just so much clear gain for
the plants which have this advantage. A large share
of the life of field plants is an upward striving for
light and air. The weeds which grow beside our
cereal grains are for the most part easily beaten in
this race, for they have not learned the secret which
makes corn plants supreme. It would be hard to find
among self-supporting plants a more rapid grower
than maize, for example, which sometimes during its
few months of growth reaches a height of nearly
twenty feet.

Thus far we have been considering the stem as if it
were the only part concerned in maintaining an up-
right position against the pulls of weight and wind.
In any fair distribution of credit, however, the leaves
must come in for a large share. The earliest green
of the infant plant, which makes its way to the sur-

20 CORN PLANTS.

face of the ground, is leaf, and until the appearance
of a " tassel " or " head " at the top of the elongated
stalk, a leaf -blade always forms the uppermost part
of the plant. At first the whole leaf is rolled into a
tube. As it grows, the upper part unrolls into a long
flat blade. This blade bending outward exposes the
rolled blade of a younger leaf. This younger leaf
may in turn inclose a succession of still younger
leaves, which will in time come out, but until they
are ready to appear, each of them is infolded by the
leaf next older than itself. Unlike the blade, the
lower part of each leaf even when full grown does
not unroll, but remains as a tubular sheath tightly
wrapped about the stem. It thus reinforces the in-
ternode in the best possible way, especially toward
the base where the younger growth makes support
and protection most necessary.

By this admirable arrangement of tube within tube,
each of the growing parts is given all the protection it
needs, but no more than is good for it at any time.
The youngest and tenderest leaves are the most pro-
tected. As they grow older and are better able to
protect themselves, they are permitted more and more
to do so, and at the same time they become of in-
creasing importance as guards to the younger growth
within. For the baby leaves, a tube forms the snug-
gest sort of a cradle. Moreover, the tubular form
also enables the leaf to do stem's work, and this in
two ways : first, in the blade, secondly, in the sheath.
The blade, so long as it remains unrolled, grows, as
we have seen, with remarkable rapidity, straight up-
wards in advance of the stem. The sheath, by retain-
ing permanently its tubular form, continues not only
to protect but also to give fii'm support to the lower

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 21

end of the internode, which it infolds. In military
language, it may be said that the blade forms the
vanguard, while the sheath serves as the rearguard of
the column.

Besides the mechanical support which a sheath pro-
vides and the protection it affords as a covering, there
is yet another advantage gained by most corn plants
from having the lower part of their leaves in the form
of a cylindrical tube surrounding the stem. It will
generally be found that the sheath, although firmly
fixed at its lower end, revolves more or less freely in
its upper part around the stem. This amount of play
in the parts, as a trial readily shows, permits the blade
to swing horizontally through nearly half a circle with-
out bringing to bear on the stem more than a very
slight twisting strain. The importance of this addi-
tional provision for lessening even the small resistance
offered to the wind by these delicately responsive,
pennon-like leaves will be apparent when we remember
to what severe tests such field plants must often be
subjected.

In maize there is still another provision for lessen-
ing the strain of the wind-tossed leaves on the stem.
As the blade elongates, the parts toward the edge
grow much more than the middle portion. Hence,
the margin is thrown into the ample folds which give
such a beautiful wavy effect to the leaf. (See Fig. 3.)
At tbe base of the blade, on each side of the " back-
bone " or " midrib," are folds of especial prominence.
(F, Figs. 6 and 7.) When the wind blows, say on
the left side of a blade, the folds on that side permit
the elastic midrib to bend readily away from the wind
to a considerable extent before the edge is taut. Mean-
while, the other half of the blade, on the right of the

22 CORN PLANTS.

midrib, is being folded into more of a ruffle ; or it
may be that the blade avoids the fidl force of the
wind by a spiral twist which is made particularly
easy on account of the ample edges. In any event
the prominent folds at the base of the blade permit
the midrib to bend at that point almost as if hinged.
Thus in these largest of corn leaves, even though the
sheath be immovable, a very wide swing away from
the wind is made possible by simple means.

It is generally found to be true in mechanics that
wherever special delicacy of action is required the
danger of getting out of order is correspondingly
increased. So it is with the revolving mechanism of
the sheath. Since the successful operation of this
depends upon the easy sliding of an outer tube upon
an inner, danger arises from the possibility of rain
getting in between the tubes and carrying along par-
ticles of dust or agencies of decay. Not only would
this interfere more or less with the free swing of the
leaf, but the accumulation of such particles, together
with the moisture, might seriously injure both the
stem and the sheath. Even in maize, where the
sheath is immovable, such accumulations would be
dangerous. To avoid all this is doubtless the pur-
pose of that special outgrowth of the leaf at the
junction of blade and sheath shown in Figure 15,
li. This outgrowth, which we may call the rain
guards is generally pressed close to the stem, and
along its line of union with the blade there is formed
a broad channel to right and left. Whatever water
may flow along the blade toward the stem is by this
means carried around the rain guard to the opposite
side, and there falls down over the sheath to the next
rain guard below. Here the stream is similarly led

Fio. 6. Maize, leaf at rest. B, blade; S, Fio. 7. The same, with the Made

sheath; F, a region of special fulluess. (Ori- (B) Mown to the right and tliereby
ginal.) twisted, and a deep fold made at

F, thus relieving the sheath (S)
and the stalk of strain. (Origi-
nal.)

24 CORN PLANTS.

around the stem once more, and downward, and so on
till it reaches the roots. Thus, these several parts
cooperate to lead the water away from where it would
be harmful to where it is of greatest use. All this
may be readily observed by watching a growing grain
plant during a shower, or by imitating the effect of
rain by a watering-pot.

When we were considering the strains coming upon
an upright stem, we found that these must steadily
increase towards the base, and thus become greater
near the surface of the earth. This extra strain, as
will be remembered, is met by having the lower inter-
nodes both thicker and shorter than the others. We
have now to add the interesting fact that the forces of
wind and weight are still further resisted by certain
special roots which grow out from nodes near the
ground. These brace roots, as they are called, extend
on all sides obliquely downwards into the soil, and
thus help to keep the stem upright in much the same
way that shrouds support the mast of a vessel. As we
should expect, the best examples of such roots are
afforded by maize (Fig. 3), for this is by far the tall-
est of the corn plants, and most needs the extra sup-
port. The brace roots of maize are of especial interest
also, from the fact that they often become remarkably
stiff, and thus serve as proj^s as well as shroudlike
stays.

Were it not that corn plants have such effective
means of resisting or avoiding the constant pushes
and pulls upon every part, they could not accomj)lish
their remarkable growth in the fields. Under all or-
dinary circumstances these brave plants manage to
hold their own in a way that must win our admiration.
But a moment's thought will show that however strong

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 25

the lower parts may be and however widely spread-
ing the brace roots, their strength is of little account
unless the soil affords a firm anchorage. Hence, if a
violent rainstorm soften the ground or perhaps wash
away so much of the earth as to uncover the upper
roots, then nothing can save these plants from being
blown over flat upon the ground. To any one not
familiar with the ways of corn plants, a field of grain
overthrown seems hopelessly ruined. Yet the farmer
knows better. Experience tells him that usually a
few hours after such a storm has cleared away nearly
every stalk will be found standing up as straight as
ever. In reality to have been blown down was per-
haj^s the best thing that could have happened to the
plants under the circumstances, for if the lower parts
had not given way they might have been seriously
injured.

How is this fortunate recovery accomplished ?
Again the leaf sheath comes to the rescue. In order
to understand just what has taken place, we need to
examine with special care the parts near one of the
lower nodes. In the oat, for example (Fig. 14 I.), on
the outside of the stalk a swollen riug is to be seen (R)
which at first sight miglit be taken for a part of the
stem at the place of a partition. AVhen, however, we
cut through the whole lengthwise, as in Figure 14 II.,
the ring is found to be situated entirely above the
partition, and to constitute in fact the base of the
sheath. Even after the sheath is fully grown and
has become stiffened as a support for the internode,
this ring still retains its original sappy condition.
Hence, the base of the sheath is ready at any time to
grow again in case of need. It does grow, and in a
peculiar manner, whenever the parts are placed in an

26 CORN PLANTS.

unnatural position. So long as the axis points up-
wards the power of growth is not awakened ; but let
it point for a while in any other direction and the
undermost part of the ring is stimulated to elongate.

This one-sided growth produces a bend in the stalk
where the ring comes. The stem at this point, fol-
lowing the same curve as the sheath ring, causes the
parts above to come gradually into an upright position.
That is to say, the stalk rises as if by a self-acting
hinge. Figure 14 III. shows pai-t of an oat stalk
which has become erect in this way. All corn plants,
at least when their stalks are growing vigorously, have
much the same power of recovery from the effects of
violent storms. With maize, how^ever, there is this
difference, that instead of having a sheath ring play
the most important part in bending the stalk, it de-
pends in this matter mainly upon its stout lower inter-
nodes. These retain for a considerable time the same
power of curving in case of need as displayed by a
sheath ring.

Defenses against Drought.

TJainstorms, for all their violence, are not so hard
a trial for field plants as drought. It has been esti-
mated that wlieat, under ordinarily favorable condi-
tions, absorbs from the earth, and transpires, or
breathes out through its foliage each day, an amount
of water about equal to the weight of the plant. In
an acre of wheat, during the course of the growing
season, this would mean a loss of two hundred and
fifty tons. Long continuance of dry wind and hot
sun, by promoting loss of moisture from the foliage,
would increase very much the amount thus withilrawn
each day. At the same time, the supply of rain liav-

Fio. S. Maize. I. A young ear cut through the middle lengthwiae. Sk. Sk, the
main stalk ; Sk', the branch stalk which bears the ear ; Sh, sheath of the leaf
infoldhig tlie whole ear; R G, rain guard; B, blade of the same leaf; H, husks;
So, stigmas (" silk "') protruding beyond the husks.

II. A single spikelet of the ear, showing the bracts (C, C, D, E, D', E') and
the ovary (O) and lower part of the style (Sy) of the single pistil. Enlarged.

III. Upper part of stigma, showing tlie delicate hairs that cover it. Enlarged.
VOriginal.)

28 CORN PLANTS.

ing ceased, there would be less and less moisture to
draw from in the ground. We know that the growth
of plants is retarded if their active parts are deprived
of even a small share of the large amount of water
they ordinarily contain ; while if the amount be much
decreased they die. It thus apj^ears that drouglit
offers a most serious problem to plants of the fit Id.
There are two ways open to them for meeting the
difficulty ; they may extend their roots as far as pos-
sible into the deeper and moister layers of the soil, or
they may in some way check the loss of water from
their leaves. Corn plants do both.

The depth to which the roots of cereals will some-
times jjenetrate is not a little remarkable. No true
idea of their full length may be gained by simply
pulling up the roots from the soil, for they are so slen-
der as to be easily broken far above the tip. The
most satisfactory way is that described in the follow-
ing account of observations carried on by a German
botanist : " An excavation was made in the field to
the depth of six feet, and a stream of water was di-
rected ao-ainst the vertical wall of soil until it was
washed away, so that the roots of the plant growing
in it were laid bare. The roots thus exposed in a
field of rye . . . presented the appearance of a mat
or felt of white fibres, to a depth of about four feet
from the surface of the ground. The roots of winter
wheat 1 he observed at a depth of seven feet, in a light
subsoil, forty-seven days after sowing." ^ Such deep

^ The name " winter wheat " is applied to those sorts which
are sown in the fall, live over the winter, and ripen the follow-
ing season. " Spring or summer wheat " is planted in the
spring, and harvested before cold weather.

2 Johnson's How Crops Gi-ow.

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 29

penetration of the parts through which absorption
takes place cannot fail to give to these plants a great
advantage in times of drought.

Yet even the reserve supply of water in the lower
layers of the soil would soon become exhausted if
transpiration from the leaves went on as freely as
under ordinary circumstances. This deep-lying water
is the plant's last resource. Hence the special need
for stringent economy of this reserve, by checking
as much as possible all needless transpiration. We
know that the loss of moisture from any part depends
largely upon the extent of surface exposed to the sur-
rounding air. A comparison of wheat plants from
dry and from moist localities has shown that leaves of
the former are narrower than those of the latter, of the
same length, thus giving a helpful reduction of leaf
surface in the drier localities. Perhaps a similar com-
parison of other corn plants from like localities might
show similar difference in the leaves. It is not pos-
sible, however, for corn plants to have their leaf -blades
much narrower than they generally are, without at
the same time losing much of the benefit which comes
from good exposure to sunlight.

What these plants need above all for safety and
success in the field is some means of chanoingf the
form of their leaf-blades at different times. Only
thus can a corn plant avoid the dangers of over-drying
at one time, and yet at another time be able to take
full advantage of the sunshine. Fortunately just such
a ready adjustment to varying conditions is made pos-
sible by the easy change from the expanded to the
tubular form of blade. It will be remembered that
the leaf -blades in all cereals, so long as they are young
and so in special danger of wilting from too rapid

30 CORN PLANTS.

transpiration, retain the tubular form, and thus expose
only a small portion of their surface to the drying
action of the air. Yet even after they have become
full grown and flat, the blades seem never to forget
how well the earlier form had served their needs ; for
whenever it becomes necessary to check waste of
moisture, the blade assumes once more as nearly as
possible the form it had when young. That is to say,
the edges roll inwards so as to cover the upper sur-
face, and in some instances overlap in order to reduce
still more the amount of surface exposed. In the
ample leaves of maize not only do parts of the edge
roll inwards, but the two halves of the blade fold to-
gether as if hinged at the midrib. Among farmers
this " curling of the corn " is recognized as one of the
most significant signs of drought.

IVruch the same tubular rolling of the leaves may
be seen also in pasture grasses under similar circum-
stances or when the plants are being dried for hay.
In all cases, when there is again sufficient moisture,
the blade becomes flat as before. This power of re-
suming the expanded form promi)tly on the return of
favorable conditions is, as we have seen, scarcely less
important than the power of " curling." We know
that the great work of food-making, which is what
leaves are chiefly for, can be done to best advantage
only when the blade is provided with plenty of moist-
ure and spread out to receive the rays of the sun.

Food-making and Growth.

Food-making is the main purpose of the plant dur-
ing what we may call the youthful period of its exist-
ence. To this end all the parts cooperate from the
beginning. Some of the parts help by getting the

CORN PLANTS IN THE FIELD. 31

necessary raw materials from the earth and air.
Other parts serve by bringing these materials together
in the foliage. Here the green parts use the power
of sunlight to make over these crude substances into
food in a way that only green plants can do. Finally
there are other parts which carry off most of this pre-
cious product, in the form of a nutritious sap, to those
portions of the plant which are actively engaged in
building new structures or at least in doing other work
than food-making. It is true that much of the inner
workings of these various parts we can only guess at,
for the plant is like a factory with the discouraging
sign " no admittance." Yet even such general results
of the work as may be seen from the outside are
enough to show us that the whole is run on a singu-
larly perfect system. There is no hiding the fact
that so long as the plant is young there is a rapid
growth of the organs which are especially concerned
in making food, namely, the roots, stems, and leaves.
We find, also, that the plant makes provision, as early
as possible, for avoiding or repairing injury to those
organs from wind, rain, or drought. Thus we may
see that our self-building food-factory is governed by
advanced business methods. From the start, the pol-
icy pursued is to devote at once as much as possible
of the product of manufacture to building additions
to the establishment and to insuring its future safety.
It is as if there were a wise and enterprising manager
in charge of its affairs.

The same spirit of enterprise which leads these
plants to take fullest advantage of their opportunities
appears also in the establishment of what we may call
" branch factories." That is to say, under favorable
circumstances, extra stalks are developed as out-

32 CORN PLANTS.

growths from near the base of the main stem. (See
Figures 12 and 13.) These additional stalks are called
" tillers." Each may grow into a leafy grain-bearing
shoot like that from which it sprang. Each, more-
over, sends out its own set of roots which enable it
very soon to obtain for itself the necessary materials
from the soil without depending upon the supply ab-
sorbed by the main roots. So complete is the inde-
pendence thus secured that even if the connection
with the main stem should happen to be severed the
new branch can live on vigorously as a separate plant
forming tillers of its own. This habit of tillering is
especially well shown in wheat, oats, and rye, which
not uncommonly produce as many as twenty stalks or
more from one.

At the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, England, an
experimenter who was curious to see how far this
power might be taken advantage of to increase the
yield from a single seed made the following trial. A
kernel of common red wheat sown in June was found
in August to have produced a plant so well tillered
that it could be divided into eighteen separate plants.
These being transplanted to give room for further de-
velopment were found in the autumn to have branched
so freely as to permit dividing them again into sixty-
seven plants. After resting over the winter they
resumed their vigorous growth in the spring, and til-
lered so well that a third division gave five hundred
plants. These being transplanted were allowed to re-
main undisturbed until harvest, when it was found
that some had produced over one hundred grain-bear-
ing branches. Altogether, there were 21,109 heads
yielding forty-seven pounds, seven ounces, of clear
corn, or about 576,840 kernels as the product of a

m

Fig. 9. Maize, a ripe kernel cut lengthwise
through the germ, c, c, the outer layer or
"bull"; n, the base of the .style; fs, stalklet;
eg, bard, yellowisb part of seed food ; eu\ whiter
portion of seed food; sc, sc, scutelluni of the
germ; ss, its point; e, its skin; k, the leaves of
the germ packed closely in a bud; .<:^, stem-part
of the germ; w (below), the main root protected
by a special covering or root slieath (icv);
w (above), secondary root. Enlarged about 6
diameters. (Sachs.)

B,ir

Fio. 10. Maize, kernels sprouting.

I. Kernel seen from the germ side. The main
root (»') has just broken through the root
sheath {>vs). k shows where the young leaves
and stem are still incased, and e, the part of the kernel where the food is stored.
A, the germ removed, showing in front view the scutellum (sc) broken through,
and the margins of the rift (r, r) spread apart. B, the same in side view.

II. The .same as I, furtlier advanced, showing, besides the more elongated root,
the leaf cylinder (b) protruded beyond the covering (/), wliich it has pushed aside.

III. The same, still further advanced; side view. 6', 6", young leaves; w',w"f
U)'", secondary roots. Natural size. (Sachs.)

34 CORN PLANTS.

single seed. The gardener believed that if he had
divided the plants once more in the spring (as he had
done successfully in a previous experiment) the yield
would have been increased fourfold.

IV. How Corn Plants provide for their
Offspring.

So far as we have yet considered the life of corn
plants, we have found them devoting their energies
mainly to the making of food. The only use we have
seen the jjlant make of this food is the building of
additional food-making parts. Of course such in-
crease of facilities for food-making cannot go on inde-
finitely, even though the tiller-branches become sepa-
rated as independent plants. Sooner or later every
individual plant must die. Hence the necessity for
providing some means of starting new plants like it-
self. In corn plants the life of the kind is continued
from generation to generation by means of seeds con-
taining the beginnings of offspring. To produce such
offspring and provide for their welfare becomes thus
the final duty of the plant.

Seed-mahing.

Just as soon as its food-making arrangements are
in good running order, the plant begins to devote a
share of its surplus to the formation of new parts espe-
cially fitted to bring the seeds to perfection. These
new parts develop more and more rapidly as tlie
season advances, and so consume a larger and lai-ger
share of food, until finally, as we shall see, they take
up about all the plant can make.

The parts which are especially concerned in perfect-
ing the seeds present some interesting differences

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING 35

from the parts we have already examined. This we
should expect, in view of the very different kind of
service they have to render. We shall find, also, that
they show some significant resemblances to those other
parts, as if old forms had been, in a way, made over
for new uses. Before we can well understand how
the new parts serve their purpose we must carefully
examine their peculiarities.

The Floral Parts.

If we examine a corn plant soon after the last leaf
has appeared, there will be seen peeping out from its
protecting folds a crowded cluster of numerous, small,
delicate parts which, upon further growth, are found
to be grouped into clusters of clusters. (Figures 12,
13, and 16.) This compound cluster constitutes what
botanists call the inflorescence or floral portion of the
plant, although it must be admitted that the flowers
which it includes are very different in appearance
fi'om what are ordinarily so called. They agree with
other flowers, however, in producing seeds. When
this is accomplished, the inflorescence becomes the
" head " or " ear " of grain. All the different corn
plants agree in having the inflorescence borne at the
top of the stalk as a termination to its growth.

Perhaps the most striking difference among grain
plants is that which distinguishes the floral clusters of
maize from all the others. As will be seen from Fig-
ures 12, 20, 23, 25, and 28, wheat, rye, barley, oats, and
rice, have in each case but one sort of inflorescence,
while maize (Fig. 3) has the two sorts ordinarily
known as the "tassel" (T) and the "ear" (E).
Moreover, the ears of maize appear as outgrowths
from the side of the corn stalk, and this may seem to

36 ' CORN PLANTS.

contradict the statement made above that the flower
chisters of cereals always terminate the stalk. In
this respect, however, these ears do not really differ
from the terminal clusters borne by the tiller-stalks
of this and other grains. If we cut down through
an ear, as shown in Figure 8, we find that it is borne
on the end of a stalk which is essentially like that of
a tiller except that the ear-branch arises further up
on the main stem and is shoi'ter. Yet for all that,
the number of internodes is about the same as in the
main stalk.

One marked result of the way in which the stalk
of a maize ear is shortened appears in the crowding
of its leaves. Along with this goes a change in form
which fits them for serving as husks to protect the
tender parts within. It will be remembered that so
long as the whole branch is tender, and thus in need
of protection, it is completely covered by a leaf sheath
belonging to the main stem. As the husks elongate,
their upper parts emerge from the sheath and the out-
ermost husks spread their blades on either side. In
comparison with the leaves of the main stem these
outer husk leaves are seen to have a smaller blade
and rain guard, but as large a sheath. If now we
compare with these outer husks the ones which they
inclose, we find that both blade and rain guard be-
come smaller and smaller as we proceed inward until
finally we find nothing but pale, papery sheaths with
no trace of blade or rain guard whatever. This grad-
ual series of forms helps us to see that even the inner-
most husks, although so unleaflike in appearance, are
really leaves. Moreover it is plain that since they are
destined to remain entirely covered by the outer
husks, these inner wrappers could make no use of

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING

37

either blade, rain guard, or the green coloring-ma cter
of foliage. Hence there is no occasion for their being
more leaflike than they are.

Leaving the other parts of the maize ear to be con-
sidered presently, let us
now see what may be
found in the flower clus-
ters of the other cereals.
We will begin with the
floral parts of the oat
(Figs. 16 and 17) as af-
fording a good standard
with which to compare
the others. As already
observed, the upper part
of the main stalk is con-
tinued into the inflores-
cence, where it gives off
several branches which
bear the little clusters or
spikelets. (B, Fig. 16.)
The spikelets consist of
a few parchment - like,
sheathing organs (sug-
gesting miniature husks)
inclosing tender parts
within. In fact it is
chiefly in size that these
little husks differ from
the large ones of maize.

The husks of both must be looked upon as leaves of
the flower cluster which differ from foliage leaves
mainly in such particulars as fit them for the special
service they have to perform. Leaves which are thus

Fig. 11. Coyote com, from Moro Leon,
Mexico. An ear (natural size) with husks
partly removed. The rachia or cob,
when ripe, breaks readily into separate
sections. (Drawn by the autlior from a
specimen in the Herbarium of Harvard
University.)

88 CORN PLANTS.

peculiarly developed in connection with a flower clus-
ter are called bracts. The outermost bracts of the
oat (C, Figs. 16 and 17), like the inner husks of
maize, consist wholly of what corresponds to a leaf
sheath. Commonly one or more of the inner bracts
of the oat (D) resemble the outer ones of maize in
having also a part corresponding to a leaf-blade which
here takes the form of a slender projection (B, Fig.
17). This delicate outgrowth is called an awn. It
is the development of such awns that gives us the
** bearded " varieties of grain. In the oat, as will be
seen, the awn stands out from the sheath at an angle
much as a blade does. The sheath, moreover, is pro-
longed beyond the base of the awn, thus taking the
place of a rain guard. We can hardly suppose, how-
ever, that this part of the oat bract is of much use in
keeping out the rain.

AVhen the plant is in bloom the bracts spread suffi-
ciently to aUow certain parts of the flowers they in-
close to push out into view. (2?, Fig. 16.) From each
flower appear three little double sacks, the atithers,
each borne on a slender thread, the filament; and
two small feathery affairs called the stigmas. If we
cut such a spikelet in half from the stalk up, as sliown
in Fig. 17, the innermost floral parts may be seen
also. In the centre of the flower we find a rounded
body, the ovary (Ov), which is a thin-walled case con-
taining a tiny egglike structure, the oinde (Ol),
that ripens into a seed. Each sti(jma (Sg) is con-
nected with the ovary by a short stalk known as the
style (Sy). Of these there are two to an ovary, as
shown in e/. Fig. 16 : styles, stigmas, and ovary taken
together form the 2)istil of the flower. Outside of
this come the filaments (F, F', Fig. 17) each bearing

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 39

an anther (R A, E, A'), from which when mature
there may be shaken out through special openings in-
numerable yellow, dustlike particles called ^o/^e/i (P).
A filament with its anther make up a stamen. At
the base of the flower is a pair of minute scales, the
lodicules (G, Figs. 16 and 17), which are of use in
pushing apart the bracts so as to expose the anthers
and stigmas when the proper time arrives. All these
floral parts are shown at an earlier stage of their
development in the younger unopened flower Y F,
Fig. 17.

There remains to be mentioned only one more por-
tion of the oat spikelet. This is a pair of very small
bracts (R F, Fig. 17) borne at the tip of the little
rachis (R'). If we separate these tiny bracts there is
found to be no flower within. We may regard them
as indicating the place where a flower might have
been expected but where none is developed.

A comparison of the inflorescences of the other
cereals (Figs. 4, 8, 21, 23, 27, and 30) with the flow-
ering portion of the oat will show that in spite of
more or less striking differences of detail the general
make-up is very much the same in all. That is to
say, all have the same floral parts inclosed in bracts
which may be readily recognized as such, although dif-
fering often considerably in size and form.

The reader may find it of interest to notice the fol-
lowing peculiarities which serve to distinguish the
different kinds of corn plants when in blossom. At-
tention has already been called to the fact that maize
has two sorts of inflorescence, the tassel and the ear,
while in each of the other cereals there is only one
sort of inflorescence. Of these latter, oats (Figs. 12,
13 and 16) and rice (Figs. 20 and 21) have their

40 CORN PLANTS.

spikelets borne on rather long slender stalks, forming
thus a loose open cluster ; while rye (Figs. 23 and 24,
B), wheat (Figs. 25-27), and barley (Figs. 28-30),
have their spikelets very short-stalked and crowded,
thus forming a compact spilje or " head." Rice dif-
fers from oats in having, instead of several flowers
within each spikelet, only a single flower which is like
those of the oat except that it has six stamens, and
has the awns when present borne on the very tip of
the bract. (See Fig. 22.)

In rye, wheat, and barley, the awns when present
grow like those of rice, from the tip of the bract, and
being close together give the beautiful " bearded "
appearance to the spikes of these grains. There re-
sults also from this crowding of the spikelets the curi-
ous flattened and zigzag form of the rachis or " back-
bone " of the spike shown at R, Fig. 27. Rye and
wheat agree in having a single spikelet produced at
each node of the rachis (Figs. 24, B, and 27, A), and
in that particular they differ from barley, which has
three spikelets at a node. (Fig. 30, B^.) Rye has
two flowers in each spikelet. Wheat has several flow-
ers in each spikelet except a few of the lower ones,
which are very small and flowerless. (See Figs. 25
and 26.) Barley has a single flower in each well-de-
veloped spikelet (see Fig. 30, B, B^), but of such
spikelets there may be only one or two in each group
of three ; in that case the other spikelets are flower-
less and appear in rows from top to bottom of the
spike. (Fig. 29.) Some kinds of barle}' have part of
their flowers containing stamens but no pistil.

All the flowers of the maize tassel are like those of
the barley just mentioned, in having stamens alone.
(Fig. 4.) The ear of Indian corn is an enormously

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 41

developed spike bearing a large number of spikelets,
in each of which a single pistil is produced, but no
stamens. (Fig. 8, I. II.) The pistil differs from
those of the other cereals chiefly in having an exceed-
ingly elongated style and stigma (Sg) which form
the " silk " of the ear. The bracts belonging to these
hidden flowers of the maize ear are very delicate (II.
C, C, D, E, D', E',), and form the thin papery chaff
which remains attached to the cob when the kernels
are removed.

From what has been said of the flower clusters of
the various cereals, it will be seen that however much
the parts differ in minor details of structure and
arrangement, they are all built upon essentially the
same plan, although there is more or less modification
according to need. This fundamental plan may be
expressed in a general way as follows : the flowers
consist typically of three stamens and a single pistil,
although sometimes the number of stamens is doubled,
and in other cases, either stamens or pistil, or both,
may be wanting. Around these floral organs are pro-
tective bracts or inflorescence leaves, which may be
more or less unleaflike in form, but which are like
the other leaves of the plant in being arranged in two
ranks on opposite sides of the stem which bears them.
In having their flower clusters constructed in this way
corn plants resemble the familiar wild grasses of pas-
ture and meadow. Indeed, most of the features of
structure we have described as belonging to cereals,
and much of what we have still to consider, are found
also in these other plants. Botanists recognize the
closeness of this resemblance by including cereals
among the members of the "grass family." This is
as much as to say that the cereals are grasses which

42 CORN PLANTS.

have come to be cultivated especially for their edible
grains, much as " herd's grass " has come to be raised
for its herbage.

The Beginning of the Seed.

Our study of the floral organs of corn plants has
now prepared us for considering the question as to
how these parts act together for the perfecting of
seeds. If we ask why it is that so many parts are
developed for this purpose, and why they are so
strangely complicated in structure, the answer is that
all this elaborate preparation contributes to the wel-
fare of the plant's offspring. It is now known to be
a great benefit for offspring to have when possible
two parents, so that advantageous characteristics
inherited from each may be combined. This key
enables the botanist of to-day to unlock some of
Nature's secrets which have baffled mankind for ages.

We have seen that an ovary contains an ovule
ready to grow into a seed. It does grow provided
some pollen from a plant of the same sort falls upon
the stigma ; otherwise no seed is developed. Hence,
if a farmer should go through his maize field and cut
off all the tassels as soon as they appeared, he would
find the ears at harvest time sadly lacking in kernels.
How it is that pollen resting upon the stigma is
enabled to cooperate with the ovule in such a wonder-
ful way would require many' pages to explain. For
our present purpose it is sufficient to know that a
single pollen grain so placed does bring about in
some way the development of the ovule into seed, and
that the seed so ]>roduced is capable of becoming a
plant which will inherit peculiarities not only from
the ovule-bearing parent, but from the pollen-bearing

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 43

one as well. It may happen that the pollen affecting
the ovule was produced by the same individual plant
that bears the ovule. In that case we have what is
known as close-pollination. When the pollen of one
individual is carried to the stigma of another we have
cross-poll mation.

Careful experiments have shown that, at least in
the long run, the offspring resulting from cross-pollin-
ation are in many ways better plants than those pro-
duced through close-pollination. It is mainly for the
purpose of securing to the offspring the important
benefits of cross-pollination, or, as we said before, the
advantage of having two parents, that corn plants
develop such elaborate floral arrangements. For the
accomplishment of this purpose, as we shall now pro-
ceed to show, they take advantage of the carrying
power of the wind, thus making a servant of what
was before an enemy.

Indian corn affords a particularly fine example of
cross-pollination through the agency of the wind. The
stamens held high in the air extend their anthers on
slender threads well beyond the bracts. When fairly
out, each pollen-sack, as shown in Figure 4, opens by
a little hole at one side of the lower end. The arrange-
ment is such that the closely packed dustlike pollen
is held in readiness to be shaken out in small quanti-
ties by every passing breeze. At the same time, the
particles are not so likely to fall in still air as if the
opening were at the very bottom. If the pollen did
fall directly down, it would either be wasted or else
reach the stigmas of the same plant, and so effect
close-pollination. Once confided to a current of air
the pollen will be wafted sideways for a greater or
less distance according to the strength of the current,

44 CORN PLANTS.

until finally, having meanwhile sunk a few feet below
the former level, some of the pollen gi-aius may be
blown against the long silky stigmas protruding above
the husks of a young maize ear perhaps rods away.
The pollen-grains would then become entangled among
the slender hairs which cover these stigmas (see III.
Fig. 8), and cross-pollination would be accomplished.

It has been admitted that the pollen of a maize
plant may sometimes fall in still air upon its own
stigmas. But there are two reasons for believing that
this scarcely ever happens. In the first place, as we
have seen, the anthers are so constructed that a breeze
is generally required to shake out the pollen, and a
breeze will carry the pollen away. In the second
place, we find that, as a rule, the stigmas of the plant
are not in readiness to receive pollen until after its
own anthers have been emptied. Close-pollination is
thus as unlikely to occur, as it is likely that cross-
pollination will be secured.

Of course not all the pollen from a maize plant can
be expected to find its way to maize stigmas in Just
the right condition to receive it. On the contrary
a very large share must inevitably be lost. To make
up for this a correspondingly large amount of pollen
is produced. According to a careful estimate an aver-
age maize })lant has seventy-two hundred stamens,
containing about eighteen millions of pollen-grains.
Since about two thousand ovules are reckoned to a
plant, this would give nine thousand pollen-grains to
an ovule. When it is remembered that a single grain
falling upon a stigma is sufficient to insure the ripen-
ing of the o^nlle, we see that a very generous margin
for mishaps has been allowed.

The provisions made for pollination in wild oat-

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING.

45

grass (Fig. 31) are very like what are found in most
grasses, and are of interest
for comparison with those
of cereals. The stigmas
of a given flower cluster
may or may not be pro-
truded while anthers of
the same cluster are shed-
ding their pollen. In
either case, however, there
is a good chance that cross-
pollination will be accom-
plished throughout most
of the cluster, and that in
one way or another all
the stigmas will receive
pollen even though it will
be partly from the same
plant. Such plants go on
the principle that while
cross-pollination is worth
making a good deal of
effort to obtain, it may
sometimes prove impossi-
ble (as in the absence of
neighboring plants of the
same kind), and then close-
pollination is much better
than no pollination at all.
Among such grasses as
the cereals, where innu-
merable individuals com-
monly grow close together
in the same field, we can-
not of course suppose that any plant would be likely

Fio. 12. Oat plant, showinp general
appearance after several tillers have
formed. (Baillon.)

46 CORN PLANTS.

to suffer from the lack of neighbors. It is not impos-
sible, however, that rain coming at the wrong time, or
some other unfavorable circumstance, might largely
defeat " the best laid schemes " for cross-pollination.
Indian corn, as we have seen, protrudes its ample stig-
mas all at once and far beyond the husks. So long
do they remain thus exposed and in good condition
for receiving pollen, that even if bad weather lasted
some days, there would be plenty of time left for
thorough pollination. Other cereals, on the contrary,
open their spikelets only a few at a time and close
them again after a brief exposure of the stigmas and
anthers. This is doubtless necessary because of the
greater delicacy of the parts. It makes the flowers,
however, much more dependent upon favorable weather
to accomplish their cross-pollination. Indeed, it must
often prove to be impossible with many of the flowers.
Hence, if the ripening of seed in these plants were
made to depend entirely upon the chances of securing
a cross (as is the case with certain kinds of grasses),
then the farmer's crop would be very likely to suffer.
Cultivators of grain naturally prefer those sorts which
give the best yield. This means that the varieties
which best provide for the certain pollination of every
ovule are the ones most generally selected. The result
is that we find in many of the cereals in cultivation as
good or even better provision for close-pollination than
for securing a transfer of pollen from plant to plant.

In rye the stigmas and anthers mature at the same
time, and as the bracts then open widely, a good op-
portunity is given for either cross- or close-pollination.
The amount of pollen is certainly sufficient, for it has
been estimated that a single anther contains twenty
thousand of these golden dustlike grains. This makes

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 47

something like two hundred pounds of this powder to
an acre of rye.

The arrangements for jiollination in wheat, barley,
oats, and rice are much the same as in rye, except
that their bracts as a rule open less widely and in
some cases not at all. When a flower remains closed
its pollen can reach no stigma but its own, and
cross-pollination is prevented. Yet it is a curious
fact that in such cases there is still an enormous
amount of pollen. Since we know that a single par-
ticle of pollen to each ovule is sufficient to insure its
proper development, all this unnecessary production
of precious material seems strangely wasteful. We
can account for it only on the supposition that these
flowers were originally fitted for cross-pollination and
have lost the power through many ages of cultivation.

The loss of this important power may have come
about partly through the continued selection of the
sorts which yielded best, as already suggested. Per-
haps it may have resulted in part also from the special
care which these plants have received for centuries.
At least it seems not improbable that plants which
are made to grow in soil carefully prepared and en-
riched would have less need of the advantages of
cross-pollination than wild plants which have to shift
for themselves. However this may be, we must not
argue from the facts given that cross-pollination is of
small value to the offspring even of cultivated plants.
Indeed we have abundant proof to the contrary in the
fact that varieties most highly prized by modern cul-
tivators— as, for example, the famous "pedigree
wheats " — have been obtained through repeated cross-
pollination by artificial means. The truth would
seem to be that farmers are in some cases willing to

48 CORN PLANTS.

forego certain advantages for the sake of securing
others which they deem more important.

liipening and Protection of the Fruit.

After pollination has been effected in one way or
another, the stigmas and anthers, having now fulfilled
their purpose, fall off or wither. At the same time
the ovary and the ovule inclosed within it begin to
undergo the remarkable chang-es which constitute the
ripening of the grain. Nearly all the food which the
plant now manufactures or has previously stored in
its pithy parts is henceforth delivered to this region
of rapid growth to serve as material for the transfor-
mations in progress.

What goes to the ovary wall enables it to enlarge
so as to keep pace with the young seed within. The
main bulk of all the food, however, is needed in the
ripening ovule, or seed that is to be. As the material
arrives part of it is used up at once in the formation
of a little plant with tiny stem, leaves, and roots.
These are all packed into the smallest space, and the
whole comes to occupy a position at one side near the
lower end of the seed. (Fig. 9.) The larger share of
the material received is stowed away in the remaining
portion of the seed, as food for the young plantlet to
use at the time of sprouting.

Since in the plant body materials may be carried
from place to place most readily when dissolved in the
sap, the food substances which come to the young
seed arrive in liquid form. Here we find them accu-
mulating for a while, as constituents of a sweet milk-
like fluid. While in this stage, the kernels are said
to be " in the milk." Gradually the nutritive part of
this " milk " separates from the watery portion, some-

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 49

what as curd separates from whey. At the same time
fresh nutritive material is arriving to be solidified in
the same manner. Finally the " milk " is entirely re-
placed by solid food-material which becomes in the
ripened grain as hard as the hardest cheese. Thus in
each seed there is packed the largest amount of food
possible in the available space.

During the milky period in the ripening of the
grain, the sweet and exceedingly tender kernels offer
a great temptation to certain birds. Rice planters
are especially troubled by hosts of bobolinks which
arrive from the north just in time to do most damage
in the fields. No longer the conspicuously colored
songsters we know in summer, these birds have now
become sparrowlike in appearance, and, as a result
of their gluttony, almost too fat to fly. AYhile in this
condition, they are known as " rice-birds," and appear
under that name as a delicacy in the markets. Pic-
tures from Japan indicate that a similar bird infests
the rice-fields of that region. "Wheat and other grains
are also known to suffer somewhat in the same way
in various localities.

It has been observed that the bearded varieties of
grain plants suffer less from the attacks of birds than
do the awnless sorts. Hence, it would seem that awns
may be the means naturally provided as a protection
against these enemies. An examination of a well-de-
veloped awn of rice, rye, wheat, or barley will show it
to be especially well constructed to serve as a defen-
sive weapon. (See Figs. 22 and 24 Z>.) Not only is
it sharp at the tip, but along the sides it is armed with
numerous upward pointing teeth. The whole recalls
the long saw-edged spears used by certain savage war-
riors. A little bird with short bill in trying to steal

Fio. 13. Oat plant which had been blown over and then recovered the upright
position of its upper part by bends at the nodes. Brace roots are developing
from the lower nodes, and two tillers have started near the base. The young inflo-
rescence is just pushing its way out from the uppermost leaf sheath. (Original.)

j-SH-

.TV- I

Fio. 14. 1. Part of an oat stem showing swollen ring (R) at base of sheath (Sh).
P, place of the node. (Enlarged.)

II. The aame, cut lengthwise.

III. The same, after the upper internode has been bent into an erect position
from an oblique one by growth of the ebeatb-ring on its lower side R'- (Original.)

52 CORN PLANTS.

the kernels from a bearded spike of wheat, rye, or
barley, could hardly avoid rubbing tender parts of its
head against the sawlike edges of many awns. The
entire absence of such defensive weapons from maize
may doubtless be accounted for by the fact that its
thick husks generally afford ample protection.

It must be remembered that whatever food-material
goes to the building of awns is just so much taken
from the store which otherwise might be laid by in
the seeds. This may in part account for the fact that
some of the best-yielding varieties of wheat, and the
like, are entirely without awns. (Fig. 26.) In re-
gions where birds would do little damage, or where
they may be readily scared away, it is natural that
farmers should encourage those varieties of grain
which make less awn and more seed.

The ripened grain or kernel of any corn plant, as
we have seen, consists of the enlarged ovary com-
pletely filled by a single seed. It is thus not merely
a seed, but a seed and its case. The seed case, more-
over, fits so tightly around the seed, that the " seed
coat," or outer layer of the seed, unites with the ovary
wall to form a hard, protecting layer or "hull." In
the process of milling this indigestible part is sep-
arated and forms the main bulk of "bran," while the
seed food is ground into meal or flour.

Sometimes as in oats (Fig. 18) and common bar-
ley, the precious contents of the grain are still further
])rotected by having one of the innermost bracts of
the spikelet wrapped so tightly about the seed case as
to seem almost a part of the kernel. In rice two hard
bracts inclose the ripened grain and fall off with it.
These coverings are of special use after the grain has
left the parent plant, and must shift for itself.

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 53

Scattering and Planting of Seeds.

With grasses that grow wild, the future welfare of
the offspring depends largely upon the seeds being
carried to some new locality. For, plainly, if the
seeds should sprout in the immediate vicinity of the
parent, the young plants would have to live upon soil
from which the substances most needed for their
growth had already been largely exhausted. Let
them be carried to a distance, however, and there
would be a chance of their securing a more favorable
place of growth.

In order to obtain this benefit for their offspring,
wild grasses provide various means for securing the
transportation of their ripened seeds. Some of them
develop tufts of hair, long streamers, and balloonlike
coverings, or other special arrangements for catching
the wind. Aquatic grasses provide a boatlike affair
in which the seed may float away. Certain land forms
have hooked or barbed projections on bracts sur-
rounding the seed, which make thus a sort of burr.
This, catching into the fur or fleece of a passing ani-
mal, may be carried a long way before it is rubbed
off. Still other methods might be mentioned by
which different wild grasses send their seeds on a
journey, but enough has been said to show that this
important provision for their welfare has by no means
been neglected.

When we turn to our cultivated cereals and ask
what arrangements they have for dispersing their
seeds, we find that in this matter they present a
marked contrast to the other grasses. Instead of
taking advantage of the carrying power of wind,
water, or passing animals, they generally seem to be

54

CORN PLANTS.

doing their best to prevent sucli natural agencies
from removing the seeds at all. The kernels of
maize, for example, are attached so firmly to the cob
and inclosed so tightly by the husks that considerable
manual labor is required to separate them from the
plant. With the other grains, as
we know, severe threshing is neces-
sary to dislodge the kernels from
their coverings. Sometimes this
habit of holding their ripened seeds
leads to a curious result. If, because
of continued wet weather, a farmer
is unable to harvest his wheat or bar-
ley, he may find the kernels sprout-
ing in the heads, and pushing forth
clusters of little green leaves from
every spikelet. A wild grass could
scarcely be found in such a predica-
ment.

The reason for this remarkable
conti'ast between wild grasses and
those cultivated for their grains is
probably not far to seek. We know that a farmer
can derive most profit from the sorts which hold their
seeds until he is i-eady to harvest them. Naturally,
also, he prefers to manage the sowing himself. From
the earliest times, therefore, intelligent growers of
grain would have been likely to plant only those sorts
which hold their seeds long enough for the farmer to
gather them, and only these woidd stand any chance
of benefiting from human care. Consequently the
cultivation of grains must have continually discour-
aged whatever methods of dispersal these plants may
have had in the wild state. It is true that as soon as

Fio. 15. Oat. Part of
leaf and stem showing
the rain guard (R) where
the blade (B) and the
eheath (S) join. (Origi-
nal.)

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 55

any kind of grain lost the power of scattering its
seeds, it became entirely dependent upon man's ,care
for the continuance of the race. Yet through such
dependence it must receive great benefit. Hence-
forth, upon its welfare would depend in large measure
the welfare of man, and consequently it would have be-
stowed upon it man's intelligent care through which
the highest possibilities of its kind would be developed.

Certain sorts of corn plants have come to dej^end
more than others upon human agency for the sowing
of their seeds, just as in the matter of pollination the
influence of culture has been more marked in some
cases than in others. Thus our maize plants if left
to themselves in the field would not produce another
crop. The same is true of most sorts of wheat and
barley. These plants are known only in the culti-
vated state, and botanists believe that the original wild
forms may have died out entirely. Rice, rye, and
oats, on the contrary, often sow their seeds about the
fields in which they are cultivated, and in favorable
localities they thus establish themselves as wild plants.
Our cultivated varieties of oat are believed to be
merely improved forms of " wild oat," which grows as
a weed in the same fields. This close association of
the wild with the cultivated form is accounted for on
the supposition that of all the cereals the oat has most
fully retained its original power of seed dispersal, and
hence is most apt to relapse into the wild condition
whenever opportunity offers. Such wild-growing forms
of corn plants are of interest as showing us how the
ancestors of our cultivated grains used to provide for
the planting of their seeds before farmers came to
help them.

The fruit of the wild oat mentioned above differs

56 CORN PLANTS.

from that of tlie cultivated sort in three particulars,
whereby it takes advantage of the carrying power of
wund. Thus, as will be seen by comparing Figs. 18
and 19, the wild oat has a smaller and consequently
lighter grain, which can therefore be more easily
blown away. Moreover the surface exposed is made
larger by the longer and rougher awns and the numer-
ous long, bristly hairs developed on the inner bracts.
These peculiarities of the wild i:)lant are j^lainly the
ones which serve for the dispersion of its seeds, and
are furthermore just the ones that cultivation would
discourage.

Another peculiarity of the wild oat is the marked
twisting of the awn below the sudden bend. When
moistened, the twisted part uncoils ; upon drying, it
coils again ; and this uncoiling and coiling may be
repeated many times. At each coiling, the free part
of the awn is made to sweep around like the hand of
a watch, or, if the tip of the awn is held fast, then the
main part of the fruit is forced to revolve several times
on its axis. When one of the separated fruits carried
away by the wind falls at last to the ground among
grass or stubble, the peculiar movements of the awn
help to bury the seed in the soil. At the first increase
of moisture the awn revolves till its tip is stopped by
some stalk or clod ; then the twisting motion is trans-
mitted to the lower part of the fruit, which, being
sharp and beset with upward-pointing bristles, slips
forward with ease but not backward even when the
motion of the awn is reversed. The result is that
with every twist the seed ]xirt is forced further and
further into the earth. Country boys have noticed
that a ripe spikelet of the wild oat, from the peculiar
features described, bears a curious resemblance to an

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 67

insect, not only in general form but also as imitating
the struggles of an insect when thrown into the water.
This resemblance they take advantage of by using the
fruit instead of a fly in fishing for trout.

Rice, as we know, is a plant that grows in the
water. We should expect, therefore, that like many
other aquatic grasses, it would make use of the floating
power of water to carry its seeds to new and favorable
localities. If, however, we place some ripe spikelets
of cultivated rice in water, we find that all of them
sink immediately, except a few which have only im-
perfect grains within the husks. These exceptions
show that if the grains of the other spikelets were not
so large and heavy the spikelets would not sink. In
wild rice the grains are considerably smaller and
lighter, and the husks hold so much air that the ripe
spikelets are doubtless able to float. The increased
size and weight of the cultivated rice grains are
plainly results of cultivation.

Rye, wheat, and barley, which resemble one another
so closely in the general form of their spikes, give
evidence of having closely similar methods of seed
dispersal in the original wild state. In the wild form
of rye, the rachis of the spike becomes very brittle at
the nodes as soon as the fruit is ripe. The same is
true to a slight extent of certain sorts of wheat and
barley. As a result of this brittleness, when the
spikes are threshed around by the autumn winds, the
rachis breaks into a number of short sections each
with a single spikelet attached in rye or wheat, or
with a spikelet cluster in barley. A wind which is
strong enough to break the spike into sections will
have carrying power enough to transport the section,
with its seed or seeds, no little distance from the

58

CORN PLANTS.

parent plant. With cultivation, the rachis would
gradually lose its brittleness, and now we find this
peculiarity almost entirely absent from the vai'ieties
which farmers prefer.

So long as botanists knew of no wild plant closely

Fig. 16. Oat. A, upper part of inflorescence. i>, a single spikelet in flower,
with the bracts spread somewhat apart. C, one of the outer bracts. D, an inner
bract bearing an awn. J, pistil. G, lodicules. C, 2>, and J, enlarged. (Nees.)

resembling maize, it was scarcely possible for tlieni to
arrive at any satisfactory idea of the original pecul-
iarities of the fruit, however sure they might be that
much change had been effected by cidtivation. For-
tunately there was discovered a few years ago, in the

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING.

59

mountains of Mexico, a wild plant closely resembling
our maize. The Indians call it "coyote corn," be-
cause the coyotes or prairie wolves are especially fond
of it. It is so much like cidtivated maize that botan-
ists believe it to be the same
or very nearly the same as
the wild ancestor of our
familiar corn. The most
marked difference between
the coyote corn and the
cultivated maize is in the
fruit. As shown in Figure
11, the ear of this wild corn
is inclosed in husks like
those of cultivated maize,
and has its small pointed
kernels borne on a thick-
ened rachis or cob. But
this cob is divided into a
series of segments by deep
cuts extending inwards and
upwards from just below
the bases of the kernels.
When the fruit is ripe the
ear breaks easily into sec-
tions in much the same way
as the spike of rye or wheat.
These sections, however, are
inclosed by the husks, and so would seem to be pre-
vented from being blown away like the spike sections
of the plants mentioned. How shall we account for
this hindrance to scattering the seeds ? Most proba-
bly the explanation is this : The husks form a sort of
pod, vase-like in form and open above, which holds

Fio. 17. A,spikelet (similar to B,
I'lo. 16) cut lengthwise to show the in-
ner parts. Somewhat dia^ammatic.
Sk, stalklet ; R, R', its continua-
tion as a little rachis within the
spikelet; 0, C, outer hracts ; M F,
mature flower ; Y F, young flower
not yet opened ; R F, rudimentary
flower or pair of bracts with no floral
organs within; D, bract with awn
(B); E, inner bract; G, lodicule;
F, F', filaments bearing anthers
(R A, R A'), from one of which pol-
len is falling (P); Sg, stigma; St,
style ; Ov, ovary, containing an ovule
(Ol); T a, a young antlier; Y A', a
similar one cut lengthwise to show
the poUen forming within. (Origi-
nal.)

60 CORN PLANTS.

and conceals the loosened sections of the ear. A wind
just strong enough to bi*eak apart the sections of a
rye spike and carry them away would only rattle the
maize sections around in their pouch. Such a wind,
however, could be of scarcely any service to the maize
in carrying to a distance its much heavier kernels.
Hence the husks keep the kernels from being scat-
tered by any wind but one of considerable power. A
very strong wind must shake the whole plant vigor-
ously back and forth, and thus will hurl the fruit
sections well out of the husks through the opening
above and often high up in the air. The mere force
of this throw must carry the kernels a considerable
distance, while the strong wind will help them still
further on their journey.

The fondness of the coyotes for the fruit of this
plant suggests that the kernels are doubtless scattered
also to some extent by these animals when they tear
off the husks. In this case, of course, the kernels
drop rather near the parent plant. There are certain
birds, however, which may sometimes unwittingly do
the plant a good turn by carrying the kernels un-
harmed for a considerable distance and leaving them
in a place favorable for growth. These birds are
thieves who have discovered the secret of the corn's
rich treasure, and not content with eating all they
can hold carry away many kernels, much as squirrels
do with nuts to hide them for future use. As Avith
the squirrel so with the bird, the thief may be killed
before he has a chance to enjoy his j^lunder. Tlien
such of the seeds as he had placed in favorable situa-
tions would have a chance to grow into new plants.
Wolf and bird may be regarded as playing very im-
perfectly and quite unintentionally the part of farmer.

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 61

It has been observed that half-starved Indians
sometimes rob the stores of nuts and corn which
birds or other creatures have collected. This has
led to the suggestion that the aborigines may have
learned the use of maize from the example of these
wild animals.

Much the same sort of service that birds and beasts
render to maize is performed for wheat and barley by
grain-loving ants which live in certain warm parts of
the Old World. It is to the remarkable habit which
these insects have of storing grain that reference is
made in the famous passage from Proverbs (vi. 6-8} :

' ' Go to the ant, thou sluggard ;
Consider her ways, and be wise :
Which having no chief,
Overseer, or ruler,
Provideth lier meat in the summer
And gathereth her food in the harvest."

Throughout Palestine so much importance has been
attached to the finding of these hoards of grain that
rules as to ownership have been laid down in the
great Hebrew law-book known as the Mishnah. Sir
John Lubbock further tells us that " various com-
mentators, including the celebrated Maimonides, have
discussed at length the question whether such grain
belonged to the owner of the land or might be taken
by gleaners, giving the latter the benefit of the doubt.
Thoy do not appear to consider the riglits of the ants."

Harvesting ants are common in other warm parts
of the Old World and in tlie warmer regions of
America. They do not confine their attention to cul-
tivated cereals, but collect largely from wiUl grasses.
la Texas what are known as "agricultural ants"
m&ke special provision for the growth of a wild grass

62 CORN PLANTS.

called " ant rice," and regularly harvest and store the
grains for winter use. These facts indicate that before
wheat and barley came to be cultivated they may have
been helped not a little In the favorable planting of
their seeds by the industrious efforts of harvesting
ants.

The Infant Plant and its Food.

We have seen how every part of a full grown corn
plant contributes in some way to the production of
offspring well fitted like the parent to lead a prosper-
ous life in the field. We have learned, moreover,
that wild corn plants In order to prosper need to
adopt precautions and build structures which become
largely unnecessary as soon as the plant comes to pro-
fit by human care. At the same time such care, we
know, favors in other important ways the production
of as fine and as many offspring as possible. Cen-
turies of husbandry have enormously increased the
quantity of seed food provided for each little plant,
and also the total yield from a single seed.

Surely the vegetable kingdom has no greater mar-
vel to show than a kernel of corn. It represents the
joint achievement of man and nature working together
for untold generations upon this kind of plant to pro-
mote the most perfect provision for its offspring.

In order to better appreciate how fully the needs
of the infant corn plant are provided for by tlie
parent, we must examine somewhat more thoroughly
than before the contents of the seed. AVe have seen
that the germ Is formed near the base of the seed at
one side, while in the remaining space food materials
are accumulating. This food, arriving in fluid form,
becomes finally changed Into a hard, solid mass as the

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 63

nutritive substances take more and more the place of
the conveying water. There is, moreover, a loss of
the sweetness at first observed, — a loss which be-
comes perceptible when we compare the taste of a
kernel " in the milk " with one fully ripe.

The obvious conclusion from such an experiment
is that what arrives as dissolved sugar is somehow
changed within the seed into another substance.
Chemists using more accurate tests find that in the
forming seed, as the sugar disappears, its place is
taken by starch. This, as is well known, differs
from sugar in having no sweet taste, and in not
being soluble in water. A similar change of sub-
stance is found to occur in other important constitu-
ents of the seed food, making them as insoluble as
starch.

An example of the most valuable of these food sub-
stances is afforded by what farmer boys call " wheat
gum." It is a favorite practice of theirs after harvest
to obtain this substance by chewing a small handful
of the ripe wheat kernels. In so doing they perform
a sort of rough chemical analysis of the seed food,
which is not a little instructive. The "gum," which
is their reward for patient chewing of the kernels,
is well named, since it lacks none of the qualities
essential to a perfect " chewing gum." That is to say,
not only does it retain for some time a pleasant sweet
taste, but it is soft and yielding, holds well together,
and no amount of chewing will make it dissolve.
When taken from the mouth it is found to be
remarkably elastic, stretching and springing back
like rubber. It also shows itself as adhesive as glue.
In consequence of its glue-like properties it is named
" gluten." As we shall see later, it is because wheat

64 CORN PLANTS.

contains a considerable amount of this tenacious glu-
ten that we are able to make raised bread from wheat
flour. Gluten, moreover, is of the highest nutritive
value. In this I'egard it is equal to the curd of milk,
white of Ggg, or lean meat. Like them it belongs to
the class of substances known as protcids, which form
the chief part of our flesh and blood. In the seed
food of the other corn plants proteids also occur ; but
these for the most part lack the tenacity and elasticity
that make wheat gluten so valuable in bread.

Besides the starch and proteids contained in corn
seeds, there is present a small amount of fatty oil ;
these are the principal food materials upon which the
infant plant must depend for its nutriment. Yet we
know that these can form no part of a watery saj)
such as a plant needs to nourisli it. How, then, can
the infant wheat plant profit in any way from these
insoluble substances packed in the seed ?

Before attempting to answer these questions let us
inquire how a similar difficulty is overcome in our
own bodies. We know that food cannot nourish ns
unless it gets into the blood ; and only watery fluids
can pass through the walls of the stomach. When-
ever we take into the stomach food containing gluten,
it comes at once under the influence of a peculiar sub-
stance called pepsiw. This causes insoluble proteids
to undergo a curious transformation. However solid
or tenacious tliey may be, mere contact with the pep-
sin dissolved in the juice of the stomach gradually
changes them into readily soluble substances known
a.s peptones. Passing now easily into the blood the
peptones may be carried to any part of the bod}', there
to be built into solid flesh. Substances like pepsin,
which are believed to have the power to transform

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING.

65

other substances without being themselves trans-
formed, are called ferments.

In the mouth is formed another ferment, called
ptyalhi^ which has the power of changing starch into
sugar. In the farmer boy's separation of wheat
"gum," ptyalin plays a most important part. AVe
may thus explain why the kernels become sweet with

Fig. 18. A spikelet of cultivated
oat in fruit. F, the awned inner bract
swollen with the ripe grain within ;
A, awn ; F', another ripe " oat " sep-
arated from the little rachis (R) and
turned to show its inner face where
the edges of the bract inclosing the
grain are seen not quite meeting
at the centre. About natural size.
(Original.)

Fig. 19. A spikelet of wild oat in
fruit. F, F', two fruits separated
from the other (F") ; B, B', B",
bristles ; A, A', A", awns. About
natural size. (Original.)

chewing, and why the sweetness finally disappears :
As the starch, which forms the main bulk of the wheat
grain, becomes gradually changed by the ptyalin into
sugar, it dissolves in the saliva, is then swallowed,
and finally passes into the blood through the wall of
the stomach. The sweet taste continues until all the
starch mixed with the gluten has been changed into
sugar and carried away.

66 CORN PLANTS.

Ferments having much the same power of changing
proteids into peptones and starch into sugar are found
in the ripened grains along with the seed food. These
ferments are ready to act as soon as the grain is in
condition to sprout. Let us now see how this process
of sprouting or germination takes place.

A ripe kernel of any grain, as we know, is dry and
hard, and the germ within is apparently lifeless when
it leaves the parent plant. Nor can it be made to
show any signs of life except it have sufficient moist-
ure, air, and warmth. The temperature need not be
much above the freezing point of water, or far below
what to us feels hot. There should be enough moist-
ure to enable the seed to become well saturated and
softened, but not so much water as to prevent free
access of air. When placed under these favorable
conditions the first change to be noticed is a forcible
absorption of moisture indicated by a prompt swelling
of the whole kernel. So forcibly is the water taken
in that the swelling is able to overcome a pressure of
more than two hundred pounds to the square inch.
Soon after the seed has absorbed all the water it can
hold, the infant plant begins to show signs of life.
It is as if the disturbance of its cradle had at last
awakened it from a long sleep, and fancy suggests
that the little thing must be hungry. If so, the food
is at hand, and now all is in readiness for changing
the solid materials into liquid nutriment as fast as
the plantlet's needs require. This is accomplished
by means of several ferments very much like the two
already described. Their liquefying action begins on
that part of the seed food lying nearest to the germ.

If we look now at the germ of maize as shown in
Figure 9, we find that the part lying in contact with

PROVISION FOR OFFSPRING. 67

the seed food is in form so different from all the other
parts as to suggest its having a special use. This
curious shield-shaped part is called the scutellum
(^sc). On the side in contact with the seed food the
scutellum is expanded so as to present as much sur-
face as possible, while its connection with the rest of
the germ is at the junction of the young shoot (5^)
and the young root (w below). As the plantlet en-
larges in germination we find the seed food gradually
exhausted, until finally only the empty " hull " is left.
Plainly, therefore, the purpose of the scutellum is to
absorb the liquefied food coming in contact with its
broad sui'face, and then to conduct it toward that part
of the germ whence the nutriment may be most readily
distributed to the growing organs above and below.
In all the other grains the scutellum is much the
same as in maize, only smaller.

The first part of the germ to break through the
protective covering is the main root (?t", Fig. 10 I.).
This is soon followed by an upward pointing cylinder
(II. 5) made up of tiny leaves in tubular form, one
within another. At about the same time appear from
the side of the little stem the secondary roots (III.
10,' w", wj'"). Such roots rapidly increase in number
and importance.

Soon after a root emerges it is found to be nearly
covered with delicate hairs, which adliere firmly to
any particles of soil with which they may come in
contact. Such root-hairs henceforth perform the
work of absorbing water into the plant. The tip of
the leafy shoot, at first pale, begins to turn green as
soon as it reaches the sunlight. This is a sign that the
young plant is making food on its own account ; but
it is not yet required to depend entirely upon itself.

68 CORN PLANTS.

There is considerable seed food remaining when this
stage is reached. This generous supply enables the
plantlet to extend its roots and leaves much farther
in a short time than would otherwise be possible.
When at last the reserve supply is exhausted the in-
fant plant is well able to take care of itself. It can
thus enter vigorously upon a sunny life in the fields,
— a life leading finally to the production of well-de-
veloped offspring.

V. The Advantages of Cereals as Food-
Plants.

From what we have learned of the life of cereal
grains it will now be easier for us to understand why
they are the most useful of food-plants. A few well
known facts will help us to appreciate more fully
their imjiortance to civilization. The food of savages
is obtained principally by hunting and fishing, and by
gathering roots, fruits, and seeds of wild plants. The
supply of food which may be thus found is so limited
in any region that only small and wandering tribes
can live in this way. Large and strong nations are
possible only where food is made abundant by domes-
tication of plants and animals. Moreover, since the
domestic animals most useful to man live almost ex-
clusively on vegetable food, we see that it is the plants
which primarily count. Wild plants, it is true, may
largely serve as forage for cattle, sheep, and the like ;
but forage can seldom be had throughout the year,
and the best results in raising animals are never at-
tained except where fodder is grown for them. Hence
increased dependence upon animal food < means gener-
ally not less but greater dependence upon cultivated
food-plants.

ADVANTAGES AS FOOD-PLANTS. 69

Of these, as we know, corn plants have always
been preferred by the greatest peoples throughout the
world. The main reasons for this preference are not
far to seek ; they relate chiefly to the yield, separa-
tion, bulk and keeping of the grain. That is to say,
the superiority of cereals depends upon their having
important advantages over all other food-plants, —
not that in any one particular corn plants may not
be equaled by others, but that every other food-plant
lacks one or more of the great advantages which corn
plants combine. These fortunate peculiarities we
may now consider.

rielcl

The foremost advantage of corn plants is the
prompt and generous return they make to man for
the care he bestows upon them. Even when growing
wild or with little care, plants of this sort yield, as
we have seen, a considerable amount of food, while
intelligent cultivation increases the yield enormously.
This is well illustrated by the following case, which
the ancient writer Pliny tells of as coming up before
the magistrates in Rome.

A farmer named Cresinus had astonished his neigh-
bors by reaping much larger crops of grain from a
very small farm than tliey had been able to raise in
extensive fields. Moved by envy, they brought him
to trial on a charge of sorcery. '' In answer to this
charge Cresinus produced his efiicient implements of
husbandry, his well-fed oxen, and a hale young woman,
his daughter, and pointing to them exclaimed, —
' These, Romans, are my instruments of witchcraft,
but I cannot here sliow yon my labors, sweats, and
anxious cares.' " Could the enterprising Cresinus

70 CORN PLANTS.

have looked into the future and seen the stupendous
grain crops produced on our best farms to-day, he
would doubtless have found the advance quite as mys-
terious as his neighboi's found his improvement on
what they had done. Nor have we any reason to sup-
pose that our farmers have reached the limit of pro-
gress in this direction. On the contrary, it seems to
expert students of the question that the farmers of
the future are sure to attain an increase in the yield
of corn plants many times greater than the best re-
sults thus far achieved.

The extraordinary yield of cereals is plainly a re-
sult of their remarkable fitness for life in the field.
This fitness, as we have seen, is shown especially well
in their ability to take fullest advantage of ever}^ op-
portunity offered to increase their facilities for food-
making. The oj^en field affords just the conditions
most needed for this work ; that is to say, abundant
sunshine, sufficient moisture, and least interference
from overshadowing plants. The slender, upright
form of their green parts permits grain plants to grow
well even when crowded rather close together. Not
only can many stalks then grow up to good advantage
from a small area of soil, but the spreading of weeds
among them is thereby discouraged. All this favors
rapidity of growth and helps to make the cultivation
of corn plants easy. Rapid development is especially
important in northern regions where the growing sea-
son is very short. In Lapland barley is harvested
about six weeks after planting, while in such warm
countries as Spain the farmers reap two crops of bar-
ley within the year.

L S

Fig. 20. Rice. P, upper part of a rice plant, reduced in size.
, spikelet. L, ligule. L aud S, natural size. (Martius.)

72 CORN PLANTS.

Separation.

Besides being at once exceptionally productive and
easy to cultivate tliroughout a wide range of climates,
corn plants store their nutriment in a form especially
easy for man to obtain. Most other food-plants are
found to give more trouble than do the cereal grains
in one or more of the processes by which the nutri-
tious parts are separated for man's use. Thus, their
manner of growth makes the reaping of the grain
much less laborious than the harvesting of " root-
crops," which require digging, or of pod plants, such
as peas or beans, where hand-picking is generally
required. The arrangement of parts in the ripened
ear makes the separation of the kernels a much
simpler matter tlian the removal of nut meats from
their husks and shells. Moreover, on account of the
delicacy of the hulls of grains it is particularly easy
to remove the edible portion of the kernels by milling
{i. e. grinding and sifting), and so to render the final
preparation of the seed food as simple as possible.
In this way, so fully is the most nutritious part of
the kernel freed from all indigestible matters that
cereal foods when eaten are found to be among the
very easiest for the digestive organs to manage.

To the question, Why do corn plants yield their
kernels so readily to man ? the answer plainly is :
Because at first they confided their offspring to the
wind for transportation. If we ask, Wh}^ is the seed
food so easy to separate and digest? the answer is
equally plain : The seed food is stored by the side of
the germ. Therefore, simply crushing the grain will
free the nutritive part both from the germ and from
the hull. Moreover, since, in sprouting, the infant

ADVANTAGES AS FOOD-PLANTS. 73

plant needs to have its food supplied promptly in
liquid form," it is necessary that the nutritious mate-
rials should be easy of digestion ; and as the digestion
of these substances depends on the action of much the
same ferments both in the grain and in the human
body, we see that what is easy for the one is easy for
the other.

BulTc.

Another important advantage which the grains
have for us is that they contain much nutriment in
little space. In this respect they surpass nearly all
the other vegetables used as food. If we compare,
for example, the food value of equal weights of wheat
grains and potatoes, we find a remarkable difference
between them. Wheat contains over three times as
much energy food (starch, etc.), and more than five
times as much muscle-forming matei'ial (gluten and
the like), as we find in potato ; while in the potato
there is over five times as much water as in the wheat.
Thus, to supply our need for muscle-forming mate-
rials, one pound of wheat is better than five pounds
of potato. Consequently, when food has to be carried
from one region to another, grain plainly possesses
immense advantages, both in the matter of weight
and of bulk. By the use of grains as food, travelers
are able to make journeys which otherwise would be
scarcely possible. So also has it been with the great
armies of the world in extending their conquests.

We may account for the suj^eriority of grains in
this respect, likewise, by referring again to the needs
of the plant. Infant corn plants in the wild state are,
as we have seen, extensive travelers, while such buried
off-shoots as potatoes we know to be stay-at-homes,

74 CORN PLANTS.

sprouting where they were formed. We should ex-
pect, therefore, that potatoes woukl be large and full
of water, since weight and bulk have no disadvantages
for them. For kernels of grain, on the contrary,
lightness is plainly essential so long as they depend
on the wind to carry them. Hence we find the infant
corn plant provided for its journey with a ration com-
posed of the most nutritious food-stuffs, in a form as
compact as possible.

Keeping.

Finally, it should be noticed that the extreme dry-
ness of the kernels, taken in connection with the fact
that only a very small amount of oil is present in the
seed food, gives another advantage to the offspring of
corn plants and increases their value to mankind.
Seed food which is moist or is rich in oil must be
used within a comparatively short time, or it will be
found to have turned rancid or to have become other-
wise spoiled. The oily kernels of various nuts, for
example, have this drawback. Grains, on the contrary,
if properly stored, may be kept unchanged for very
many years. Thus, by wise foresight, man is en-
abled to make sure of his daily bread even through
years of famine. That this advantage was very early
appreciated among ancient peoples is well shown by
the story of Joseph in Egypt (Genesis xli.).

In our own day the storage of grain in prosperous
regions during seasons of plenty has proved vastly
important as a safeguard of ci"\alization. Famine-
stricken peoples in various parts of the Old World
have often owed their lives to the breadstuffs sent
from American granaries. AVith regard to the corn
plants themselves, even when wild, it is easy to see

ADVANTAGES AS FOOD-PLANTS. 75

how the good keeping qualities of their seed food
would sometimes be of benefit. After the kernels
have been carried away by the wind it cannot always
happen that they will come at once under the neces-
sary conditions for germination. If such kernels can
safely wait a long while before sprouting, their chance
of final success is plainly increased. In this respect,
therefore, the seeds of corn plants have an advantage
over many others which must die within a few months
if they fail to germinate.

Summary.

The chief advantages of cereals as food-plants have
now been mentioned. Without exception we have
found that the features which make corn plants espe-
cially useful to man are of benefit to the plants them-
selves as dwellers in the field. AVe may conclude,
therefore, that their great usefulness to us is mainly
due to their wonderful fitness for field life and their
unstinted provision for the welfare of their offspring.
It is chiefly because they provide so well for their
young that man has come to care for them and multi-
ply their kind. Man takes for his share of their
produce the surjilus of seeds which the wind once
wasted, but by the rest he makes their life more and
more abundant. Each kind, at first growing only
within comparatively narrow bounds, now under
man's care flourishes far and wide. To corn plants
have been given the greater part of the richest fields
of the earth.

VI. Wpieat, the King of Cereals.

Throughout the civilized world, wherever wheat will
grow or where the people are not too poor to buy it,

76 CORN PLANTS.

this grain holds the foremost place. It has always
yielded " the staff of life " to the greatest and most
powerful nations since the beginning of history.

Wheat has been so long and so widely cultivated
that the question of where it first grew wild is one
very difficult to answer with entire certainty. It
seems highly j^robable, however, that the native home
of wheat was in the region of Mesopotamia. (See
map, p. 103.) Botanists believe also that wheat was
first cultivated in the fertile valley of the Tigris and
Euphrates. As a centre from which to spread most
widely and rapidly, this region would surely have
been the most fortunate possible, since it lies in that
part of Asia which is within easiest reach of both
Africa and Europe. Hence from no other locality
could this invaluable food-plant have been carried so
readily into the other parts of the Old World where
civilization might best advance. There seems good
reason to believe that civilization first arose in the
home of wheat, and that the highest civilizations have
always depended in their conquests upon the king of
cereals.

We know that in Palestine and in Egypt wheat
was cultivated long before the dawn of history, and
that in very early times its cidture had extended east-
ward to Persia, India, and China, westward to Greece
and Pome, and northward or northwestward into cen-
tral Europe. Wheat was first brought to the New
World soon after the discovery of America by
Columbus. To-day the United States produces more
wheat than any other nation.

This grain holds the highest place among corn
plants because only from wheat flour can raised white
bread be made. The whiteness of wheat products

WHEAT, THE KING OF CEREALS.

77

has lono^ been recoo^nized as their most characteristic
attraction. Indeed " wheat " and " white " come from

H

Fio. 21. Rice. A, part of inflorescence.
B, a spikelet in flower. F, a flower show-
ing six stamens, a pistil with ovary, two
styles and stigmas, and a pair of lodicules
at the base. K, a kernel. (Xees.)

Fio. 22. Rice. I, a spikelet of a
bearded variety, showing the long
awn developed from the tip of an
inner bract. Natural size.

II, a part of the awn, enlarged,
to show the upward pointing
barbs. (Original.)

the same word in the ancient Anglo-Saxon language.
It still remains true with us that white bread is
always wheat bread.

The raising of bread, as already stated, depends

78 CORN PLANTS.

upon the presence of gluten. As raised bread is most
commonly made tlie flour is mixed with a little water
and yeast to form a stiff dough, which then is vigor-
ously kneaded so that the yeast may be well distrib-
uted throughout the mass. This accomplished, the
dough is put in a warm place to " rise." The condi-
tions are now favorable for the yeast to begin its
work. What this work is may be understood from
the fact that yeast contains a ferment, which, like
some of those already mentioned, acts on starch. Yet
while these, as will be remembered, simply turn starch
into sugar, the yeast ferment has the power to make,
from starch, alcohol and an odorless gas known as car-
bon dioxide. Each particle of yeast, made warm and
moist and surrounded by starch, becomes thus a tiny
gas factory. If there were nothing to prevent, the
gas would, of course, escape. But in the wheat dough
the gas is held in little cavities by the gluten. As
the gluten is elastic these cavities become larger and
larger with the pressure of the gas within. It is this
enlargement of innumerable small cavities throughout
the dough which makes it " rise " into a light spongy
mass ready for baking.

The heat of the oven stops further action of the
yeast, enlarges somewhat the cavities in the dough by
expanding the gas, hardens the gluten so that the cav-
ities cannot shrink, and then drives off the greater
part of the moisture, alcohol and carbon dioxide. At
last the crust comes to a perfect broNvn, indicating
that the best flavor of the wheat has been developed.
The final result is a loaf of wheat bread, the highest
type of human food.

The peculiarities of wheat gluten also make possi-
ble such valuable foods as macaroni, which consists

WHEAT, THE KING OF CEREALS. 79

very largely of this substance. The same is true in
general also of crackers or biscuits, especially the
tough, long-keeping sort known as ship-biscuit or
hard-tack, which forms the chief vegetable food of
crews at sea. In general it may be said that the in-
numerable articles of human food which consist wholly
or in part of wheat owe their special excellence to the
peculiar properties of the gluten present.

The starch which forms, as we know, the main part
of the wheat kernel is likewise of great value, not
only in the foods above mentioned, but also by itself
when separated as a pure product. Wheat starch is
extensively used as a material for paste or sizing in
various manufactures.

Just as the inner part of the kernel is invaluable
for human food, so the outer part or " bran," which
includes bits of hull and adhering particles of seed
food, is one of the very best feeding stuffs for domes-
tic animals. The straw, both green and ripe, is also
widely used for the same purpose.

On the immense wheat farms of the far West, the
straw is used in curious ways. At harvest it supplies
the fuel for great steam threshing-machines as they
work in the fields. One part of the wheat plant is
thus made to help prepare another part for market.
In some regions the straw is used for building barns
in which to store the grain. This is accomplished by
makinof solid bales or blocks of the material under
great pressure and piling them like stones to form a
thick, substantial wall. A roof, perhaps thatched with
straw, completes the structure.

Not the least important use of wheat straw is as
material for the finest kinds of straw hats and bon-
nets. In Italy an especially slender variety of wheat

80 CORN PLANTS.

is grown for the purpose by sowing very thickly in
poor soil. From straw thus raised the famous Flor-
entine or Leghorn hats are manufactured. Stouter
kinds of wheat afford material for hats made of
coarser braids.

Thus we see that every part of a wheat plant is put
to important and remarkably varied uses. But few
plants besides wheat can be said to furnish food, fuel,
shelter, and clothing.

VII. Oats, the Grain of Hardiness.

It is told of an Englishman, who was fond of poking
fun at the Scotch, that one day he saw a Highlander
with a bag of oats, and remarked, " There 's what
feeds horses in England and in Scotland feeds men."
" True enough," replied the other, " and that 's why
ye Ve such fine horses and we 've such fine men ! "
The Scotchman's retort showed no less wisdom than
wit, for oats have long been the favorite food of the
hardiest peoples of northern Europe, and this grain is
generally recognized as the most strengthening fodder
for hard-working animals.

Oatmeal is found to contain more proteid or muscle-
forming siibstance than the average wheat flour. The
proteid of oats is inferior to wheat gluten only in
being somewhat less digestible. In fatty material
oats are the richest of all the grains.

For northern peoples this grain has the advantage
over wheat that it will grow at its best in cold climates.
But it does not ripen its kernels well in regions as far
south as the Mediterranean sea, where wheat seems
thoroughly at home.

From these and other facts botanists conclude that
the original home of oats was most probably in cen-

Fio. 23. Rye, inflorescence. (Mull-Guyot.)

Fio. 24. Rye. B, a single
epikelet showing its two flowers.
Ci, C\ outer bracts. D, inner
bract witli ami at tip. E, inner
bract without awn. K', ker-
nel viewed from the germ side.
K-, the same viewed from tlie
grooved side. K^, the same en-
larged and cut across. (Nees.)

82 CORN PLANTS.

tral and eastern Europe, extending perhaps into west-
ern Asia. (See map, p. 103.) So far as may be judged
from ancient remains the cultivation of this grain first
began in middle and northern Europe, long after the
introduction of wheat but before civilization was estab-
lished. It is not mentioned in the Bible, and seems
to have been entirely unknown in ancient Assyria
and Egypt. To-day the cultivation of oats has ex-
tended eastward to China and westward to the United
States and Canada, where large crops are now raised.
In Scotland and Iceland oats yield the chief vegetable
food.

Since good raised bread cannot be made from this
gi'ain, it is mainly used in the form of meal cooked
either as a porridge or baked into flat cakes. Much
use is also made of the kernels, whole or crushed,
freed from the hulls and cooked like rice. Such
hulled kernels are known as " groats " amono- the
Scotch, who depend on them very largely for food.
It is in reference to this article of diet, as characteris-
tic of these hardy people, that the quaint name, " John
o' Groat's House," has been given to the extreme
northeastern point of Scotland. The " oatmeal " so
widely used as a breakfast food in America is more
truly " groats," or " grits," than meal.

The straw of oats has important uses. As a fodder
and bedding for horses and cattle it is generally pre-
ferred by farmers to the straw of either wheat, barley,
or rye. Manufacturers of coarse paper and paste-
board use considerable quantities of oat straw. It is
also one of the most useful sorts for packing and for
filling mattresses.

In many localities oats are grown to be cut green
as hay. In warm regions, such as our Southern States,

RYE, THE GRAIN OF POVERTY. 83

wbere the ordinary hay grasses do not flourish, oats
are successfully cultivated for this purpose, because
the stalks and leaves grow luxuriantly, although the
kernels are poor.

The worst enemies of the oat are heat and drought.
Its hanging spikelets shed the rain, and wind and cold
can scarcely harm it. It is the grain of hardiness ; for
not only is it the hardiest of corn plants, but it is the
one which forms the main support of hardy northern
peoples.

VIII. Rye, the Grain of Poverty.

Rye will grow and produce a fairly good crop where
the soil is too poor or the climate too hot or too dry
for any other cereal to thrive. Such conditions are
found over the greater part of northern Europe and
Asia. In these vast regions, therefore, rye is the
staple bread-stuff, and forms the chief food of the
peasant classes. Indeed, it would seem that a large
part of northern Europe and Asia could scarcely have
become populated as it is to-day except for the possi-
bility of growing rye on poor soil.

The original wild form of this grain is believed by
botanists to have been native to mountainous or
mostly dry localities, in the south of Europe and ex-
tending perhaps to central Asia. The native home of
rye would therefore seem to be in a region between
the home of oats on the north and that of wheat on
the south. (See map, p. 103.)

There is no reason to suppose that the great peoples
of antiquity were acquainted with rye. The name
occurs, it is true, in our Authorized Version of the
Old Testament (Exodus ix. 32, and Isaiah xxviii. 25),
but, as shown bv the Revised Version, the Hebrew

84 CORN PLANTS.

word at first translated " rie " is now known to mean
" spelt," which is a peculiar kind of wheat.

The cultivation of rye probably first began in
southern Russia and Siberia, whence it extended to
other parts of Europe during the Christian era. From
Europe it was brought to America by the early colo-
nists. Among the peasantry of Germany and of Rus-
sia, a dai'k-colored bread, tough and coarse, is made
of rye meal or bran. This forms their most impor-
tant food. In Sweden rye grows especially well, and
bread made from the flour is the favorite food of all
classes. Rye is less nutritious than wheat or oats,
but generally contains more proteid than either barley,
rice, or maize.

During the early history of our country rye was
much used because of its ready growth on soil not
well fitted for other grains. The meal, mixed with
that of Indian corn, made a " brown bread " similar
to that still widely enjoyed in New England. An-
other use for which rye largely served was the making
of whiskey.

While rye has continued to be raised in consider-
able quantities for the making of wliiskey, its nse for
food in this country has come to be very small in
compai'ison with that of wheat, oats, or maize. On
worn-out or thin soils it is grown somewhat extensively
as a green-forage crop. When ripe the straw becomes
the poorest for fodder of any cereal straw, because it is
then the most harsh and tough. These very qualities,
however, combined with unusual length in the stalks,
make rye straw the best for such purposes as packing,
and bedding for horses and cattle, and as material for
cheap straw hats, straw paper, and straw pasteboard.
Such large quantities are used in these ways, and rye

BARLEY, THE BREWER'S GRAIN. 85

straw is so much preferred to any other, that many of
our farmers, especially in the East, raise rye more for
the straw than for the grain.

IX. Barley, the Brewer's Grain.

Our study of wheat, oats, and rye has shown them
to be examples of the general rule, that the charac-
teristic food of a people is largely determined by the
climate and soil of the region in which they live. The
same rule applies to alcoholic beverages. Thus in
southern Europe and other regions where the wine-
grape grows well, wine is the common drink ; and
brandy, which is distilled from wane, is the form of
spirit most in use. In such regions as northern
Europe, however, which are too cool or too dry for
wine-growing, the popular alcoholic drinks are ob-
tained from grains. That is to say, whiskey and gin,
which are distilled mostly from rye or maize, largely
take the place of brandy; while beer, ale, and the
like, which are made principally from barley, serve
much the same purpose as wines. These facts add
interest to the following statement of the ancient
Grecian historian Herodotus regarding the Egyptians
of his day: "They use," he says, " wine made of bar-
ley, for they have no [grape] vines in that country."^
What Herodotus meant by " wine made of barley "
was doubtless a sort of beer similar to what is brewed
from barley to-day. At the present time, not only is
beer made principally from barley, but the principal
purpose for which barley is raised is the brewing of
beer.

The process of brewing is essentially as follows:
First, kernels of barley are soaked in water for a
^ Herodotus, Book II., chapter 77.

86 CORN PLANTS.

while and then spread out to sprout. In the process
of germination, as we have seen, the starch of the
seed food is turned into sugar, which is then absorbed
by the germ. Hence, up to a cei'tain point in the
process, the sugar increases in amount, and after that,
becomes less and less as the plantlet grows. Just as
soon as the brewer finds that the largest possible
amount of sugar is present, the sprouting is stopped
by heating the grains sufficiently to kill them. Grains
thus sprouted and killed at the proper time are knowoi
as malt. Such was " the malt that lay in the house
that Jack built." Malting is the first step in the
making of beer. The second step is grinding the
malt and soaking it in water to dissolve out the sugar.
To the sweet liquid thus obtained yeast is added to
bring about fermentation. As in the " raising " of
bread, the sugar is transformed into alcohol and car-
bon dioxide gas. When the fermentation goes on in
a closed vessel, as a cask or a bottle, the gas is re-
tained in the liquid and when the beer is drawn forms
bubbles of foam.

Just as sugar is turned to alcohol by yeast, so,
through the action of another ferment, alcohol is
turned to the acid of vinegar unless means are taken
to prevent it. Beer is now generally kept from sour-
ing by the addition of hops, the flowers of which
contain a bitter substance that does not interfere with
the working of the yeast, but retards the action of the
acid ferment.

Other malt liquors, such as ale and porter, are
made from barley in much the same way as above
described. When other grains are malted the process
is the same as with barley. Spirituous liquors, such
as whiskey and gin, are made by distilling a sort of

Fio. 25. Common bearded wheat, in-
florescence. (Hackel.)

Fio. 26. Club wheat, inflo-
rescence. (Hackel.)

88 CORN PLANTS.

beer. That is to say, from a weak alcoholic liquid —
the fermented extract of some malted grain — a
strong liquor is produced by a peculiar process of
concentration.

Brewers prefer barley to any of the other grains
for malting, because of its exceptionally ready ger-
mination. Its very general use for beer-making is
favored also by the fact that it thrives over a wider
range of climate than any other corn plant. It grows
well even farther north than oats, and at the same
time will flourish in sub-tropical soil.

The native home of barley is believed to be in
southwestern Asia. (See map, p. 103.) From the
very earliest times it has been extensively gi'own by
the great peoples of antiquity who dwelt about the
Mediterranean sea. Records of its use in ancient
Egypt, Assyria, Palestine, and Greece, indicate that
barley was cultivated as early as if not earlier than
wheat.

Until modern times its principal use has been for
food, although, as we have seen, it has long been used
also for beer. As a bread-stuff barley has always
ranked lower than wheat. It has served chiefly as a
food for the poorer classes who could not afford much
wheat. The ancients used to feed their athletes on
barley bread, in the belief that it was an especially
strengthening food. From their use of this food the
Roman gladiators were called hordcarii, or " barley-
boys," as we may freely translate it, much as the name
" beef-eaters " is now applied in England to the yeo-
men of the royal guard. In the great armies of anti-
quity barley was largely used as food for both man
and beast. Nebuchadnezzar's liorses and Solomon's
dromedaries were doubtless fed on barley.

RICE, THE CORN OF THE EAST. 89

At the present day, in warm regions where oats do
not thrive, barley is used considerably as a fodder.
As a human food, however, it is now used only to
a comparatively small extent throughout the world.
With us it is eaten almost entirely as " pearl-barley."
This consists of the kernels deprived of their outer
coverings and rounded. It appears in modern cook-
ery chiefly as an addition to broths or soups. The
nutritive value of barley is usually less than that of
either wheat, oats, or rye. From being the grain most
used as food by the ancients, barley has now come to
be eaten less than any other grain. Were it not for
the extensive use made of this grain by brewers, only
a comparatively insignificant amount would now be
raised.

X. Rice, the Corn of the East.

Rice gives food to more people than any other
corn plant. It is, however, the least nutritious of
cereals, and as commonly cultivated would seem to
require more labor and care than most of the other
grains. Nevertheless, rice forms the chief food, and
of the poorer classes almost the only food, throughout
large parts of India,i China, Japan, and the East
Indies. It is used also extensively in other regions of
moist climate within or near the tropics. The main
reason for its being the food of so large a part of
the human race is doubtless to be sought in the fact
that about half the population of the world live
crowded together in the Eastern countries above
named. There, owing to the heat and abundant moist-

' Indian millet takes the place of rice in the dry portions of
India, and the total amount raised throughout the country is
greater.

90 CORN PLANTS.

ure in the lowlands, rice yields more than any othei '
cereal would do under the circumstances. Its native
home (see map, p. 103) is in southeastern Asia. As
we have already seen, rice has been cultivated by the
people of the East for over forty centuries.

Growing rice affords some of the most attractive
features of Eastern landscapes. The Rev. Francis
Tiffany, writing of Japan, records as follows his im-
pression of rice-fields :

" Not personally addicted to rice as an article of
diet, — unless, perhaps, as a mere vehicle for the
piquant stimulus of curry, — I was soon forced to
admit that the cultivation of this cereal for purely
aesthetic ends would prove an enhancement of the
charms of the Garden of Eden. At this latb Septem-
ber season of the year, the rice-lands stretch out in the
sunshine a sea of gold. Since rice declines to grow
except in water, and water declines to stand still ex-
cept on a perfect level, the immense area of alluvial
deposit in which the plant roots wears the look of
a lake of luxuriant, sunlit vegetation. Encircling in
graceful curves this vast burnished expanse — now
jutting out into it in promontories and now retreating
to leave space for lovely bays — are hills densely
wooded, completing the picture with ravishing con-
trasts of form and color.

" Curiously enough, each charming little valley, with
its brook winding down between the densely wooded
hills to the shining level of the plain, now delights
the eye with the exact transcript of a series of beauti-
ful cascades of golden rice. As, in the gardens of
Versailles, streams of water are made to run down
great flights of broad stone steps, breaking into a
gentle fall at each successive step, so here the same

MAIZE, THE CORN OF THE WEST. 91

effect is wrought by utilizing the water of the de-
sceuding brooks for successive terraces of rice. So
vivid the impression of life and motion, that literally
it seems as though the beautiful plant itself had taken
to the mobile ways of the element in which it grows.
When one pictures the scene of an infinite variety of
these lovely little valleys pouring their brooks of gold
through luxuriantly wooded defiles into a sea of gold
below, he will have presented to the mind the sight
that makes one of Japan's most characteristic beau-
ties." 1

In our country the cultivation of rice is restricted
mostly to the low-lying parts of the South Atlantic
and Gulf States. The total yield for the United
States is less than that of any of the other cereals we
have been considering.

XI. Maize, the Corn or the West.

Indian coi^n forms by far the largest cereal crop of
the Western Hemisphere. In the United States the
amount raised is greater than the sum of all our other
grain crops, and doubtless considerably exceeds the
total maize product of the rest of the world.

The place of maize in the Western Hemisphere is
similar to that of rice in the far East. As the native
home of rice was in tropical Asia so that of maize was
in tropical America. (See map, p. 103.) Although
in their original wild state both were thus tropical
grasses, there was this important difference, that,
whereas rice grew mainly in the wet lowlands,^ maize

* This Goodly Frame the Earth, p. 27.

^ Upland rice, a variety requiring about the same amount of
moisture as maize, is cultivated to a limited extent on rather
dry soils at considerable altitudes. It is much less productive

92 CORN PLANTS.

was a highland plant, and this fact has made possible
a much greater range of cultivation for the corn of
the West. That this would naturally be the case is
plain when we remember that at high elevations in the
tropics the climate is like that of lower altitudes in
temperate lands, while the climate of tropical lowlands
can be matched only within or near the tropical zone.
*' Maize or ' Indian corn,' " says John Fiske,^ " has
played a most important part in the history of the
New World, as regards both the red men and the
white men. It could be planted without clearing or
ploughing the soil. It was only necessary to girdle
the trees with a stone hatchet, so as to destroy their
leaves and let in the sunshine. A few scratches and
digs were made in the ground with a stone digger,
and the seed once dropped in took care of itself. The
ears could hang for weeks after ripening, and could be
«y picked off without meddling with the stalk ; there was

no need of threshing and winnowing. None of the
O Old World cereals can be cultivated without much

fO more industry and intelligence. At the same time,

(^ when Indian corn is sown in tilled land it yields with

little labor more than twice as much food per acre as
any other kind of grain. This was of incalculable ad-
vantage to the English settlers in New England, who
would have foimd it much harder to gain a secure
foothold upon the soil if they had had to begin by
preparing it for wheat and rye without the aid of the
beautiful and beneficent American plant. The Indians
of the Atlantic coast of North America for the most

than lowland rice, however, and the amount raised throughout
the world is comparatively insiguficant. The statements above
apply only to lowland rice.

^ The Discovery of America, vol. i. p. 27.

MAIZE, THE CORN OF THE WEST.

93

part lived in stockaded villages, and ciUtivated their
corn along with beans, pumpkins, squashes, and to-
bacco ; but their cidtiva-
tion was of the rudest
sort, and population was
too sparse for much pro-
gress toward civilization.
But Indian corn, when
sown in carefully tilled
and irrigated land, had
much to do with the
denser population, the in-
creasing organization of
labor, and the higher de-
velopment in the arts,
which characterized the
confederacies of Mexico
and Central America and
all the pueblo Indians of
Othe southwest."

The religious ceremo-
nies already referred to,
in which the ancient
Americans showed their
appreciation of the value
of maize, indicate plainly
that these people must
have been acquainted
with the plant for many

centuries before the coming of Columbus. Other facts
go to show that long before his arrival the culture of
maize had sjjread from ^Mexico as a centre into the
temperate regions of North and South America.^

' The proofs of this view are given at leugth iu Dr. John

Fio. 27. Wheat. A, spikelet. C, C«,
outer bract, back and side views. /), E,
inner bracts. G, pistil with pair of lodi-
cules at base ; J, ovary. K^, K-, kernel,
front and back views. R, rachis.
(Hackel.)

94 CORN PLANTS.

When Columbus landed in the West Indies the na-
tives gave him a sort of bread made from a grain
which they called maliiz. In his letters to Spain he
spoke of the Indian corn under this name, and from
it has come our English word " maize."

Although Columbus and his followers on their re-
turn home took seeds of the Indian corn with them,
its value seems to have been appreciated very slowly
by Europeans outside of Spain and Portugal. Until
the present century it was regarded by them rather as
a curiosity than as a valuable food-plant. At the
same time its use spread remarkably in Africa and
Asia, extending even to China. " It is found at the
present time in the East Indies among savage people,
who have no history or tradition of how or when it
was brought there. It appears to have been adopted
by the barbarous nations of the Old World more
rapidly than by the more enlightened countries of
Europe. Probably this is due to the fact that it was
peculiarly well adapted to the agriculture of a semi-
barbarous people." ^ It is now cultivated very exten-
sively in the warmer parts of the Old World, espe-
cially in Asia.

The early settlers in America learned from the
natives, not only their simple method of raising the
corn, but also some of the best ways of using it. In
Mexico the Spaniards found the natives making a
sort of bread after the following primitive fashion :
They first soaked the whole kernels in hot water, with

W. Harshberger's Maize : A Botanicnl and Economic Study, 1803,
which contains also mnch other valuable information regarding
this plant.

' Wm. H. Brewer, Cereal Production, Tenth Census of the
United States, iii. 476.

MAIZE, THE CORN OF THE WEST. 95

a little lime to soften the hulls, until the whole was
tender ; then the grains were cleaned and crushed, and
finally made into a paste. This was baked by spread-
ing a thin layer over heated stones. Such thin cakes,
to which the Spaniards gave the name " tortillas,"
soon came to form the chief bread of the invaders,
and to this day throughout Mexico it is a favorite
food of all classes.

A somewhat similar food is prepared by the Indians
of our southeastern States. It is thus described by
one who has lived among them : " The blue variety
[of corn] is preferred for bread, and is sorted from
the rest with much care. . . . The corn, after being
reduced to meal in a stone mortar, has a peculiar
bluish-white appearance. In converting it into bread,
it is mixed into a thin batter, and a brisk fire is made
to heat a slab of iron or stone, or a flat earthenware
plate ; . . . when [the slab is] sufficiently heated the
women press the fingers of the right hand together,
dip them in the batter, draw them out thickly covered
with the mixture, . . . [and pass] the hand equally
over the heated baker, leaving a thin coating, which
quickly curls up, a sign that it is cooked on that side ;
it is then taken off, another dip made with the fingers,
and the baker is besmeared again ; then the upper
side of the first cake is laid on top of the new dip ;
when the second one is ready to turn, the first one is
already cooked, and the second is put through the
same process as the first ; and so on until a number of
these large thin sheets of wafer-like bread is accumu-
lated. They are rolled up together and form what
is called by the Moqui Indians ' guagava.' It looks
like blue wrapping paper, but somewhat coarser and
has a polished surface. ... At first it seems dry

96 CORN PLANTS.

in the mouth, but it soon softens, is quite sweet, and
is easily masticated." ^ Other Indians make the meal
into a flat cake which they cook in hot ashes. From
such primitive examples of cookery were doubtless
derived the " ash-cake," " hoe-cake," and " corn-pone,"
so widely relished throughout our Southern States.

The early settlers in New England adopted several
of the Indian methods of preparing maize, and in
some cases kept the native name for the dishes with
but little change. Thus the mixture of green corn
with beans, which is now known as " succotash," was
called by the Indians msickquatash. Similarly our
" hominy," w hich is a sort of maize " groats," was
known to the Indians as auhuminea. Furthermore,
we learn from Roger Williams,^ the founder of Rhode
Island, that the native nasaump., " a kind of meal
pottage, unpartch'd," became the " samp " of the Eng-
lish colonists. " Samp," he says, " is the Indian corne,
beaten and boiled, and eaten hot or cold with milke or
butter, which are mercies beyond the native's plaine
water, and is a dish exceeding wholesome for English
bodies."

Parching or toasting the corn he further tells us
was a method of preparation much practiced by the
Indians. Regarding the parched meal, he writes :
" [It] is a readie very wholesome food which they eat
with a little water, hot or cold ; I have travelled with
neere 200. of them at once, neere 100. miles through
the woods, every man carrying a little Basket of this
at his back, and sometimes in a hollow girdle about
his middle, sufficient for a man three or four dales ;

1 Food Products of the North American Indians, Report U.S.
Department of Agriculture, 1870, p. 420.

2 A Key to the Languaye of America, 1643, p. 12.

Fio. 28. Common barley. A, inflo-
rescence. B, base of a single spikelet.
(Hackel.)

A B

Fio. 29. Two-rowed barley. A,
inflorescence. B, base of a single
spikelet. (Hackel.)

98 CORN PLANTS.

with this ready provision, and their Bow and Arrowes,
are they ready for War, and travel! at an houres
warning. With a spoonfull of this meale and a
spoonful! of water from the Brool^e, have I made
many a good dinner and supper." ^

Dr. Benjamin Franklin tells us of the following
curious method of parching corn practiced in his day
by the farmers, and evidently borrowed from the In-
dians. " An iron pot is filled with sand, and set on
the fire till the sand is very hot. Two or three pounds
of the grain are then thrown in and well mixed with
sand by stirring. Each grain bursts and throws out
a white substance of twice its bigness. The sand is
separated by a wii'e sieve, and returned into the pot
to be again heated, and repeat the operation with
fresli grain. That which is parched is pounded to a
powder in mortars. This being sifted will Iceep long
for use. A Indian will travel far and subsist long on
a small bag of it, taking only six or eight ounces of
it per day mixed with water." ^

In this singular preparation, the reader will doubt-
less recognize the original of our modern " pop-corn,"
— a food as digestible as it is delicious, and one well
worthy of wider use to-day.

Of the many other uses which maize has come to
have in modern times, only brief reference may here
be made to a few of the most important. Its value to
man as furnishing a rich variety of food-products for
himself is scarcely greater than its service in provid-
ing fodder for his domestic animals. The ripened
grain affords a food which is exceptionally fattening,
while d;he " stover," or those parts of the plant left

* The same, p. 10.

2 Franklin's Works, 1818, vol. ii. p. 277.

MAIZE, THE CORN OF THE WEST.

99

after removal of the ears, is found to be as nutritious
as the best hay. Farmers plant maize also very
largely for green fodder. Either this is fed fresh or
it is kept moist by
packing closely in
air - tight structures
called " silos," where
it ferments some-
what and becomes
what is known as
" ensilage."

The pith of the
mature stalks yields
a material which
from its property of
swelling rapidly when
wet has an important
use in the construc-
tion of war vessels.
A thick layer of this
material firmly
packed behind the
armor of the hull at
and near the water
line prevents leakage
in case a shot pene-
trates the steel cov-
ering. Several of the
battleships of the
United States Navy are thus protected.

The stalks, leaves, and husks have been found to
yield excellent material for paper, and also fibres
which can be woven into fabrics. The husks have,
moreover, considerable value as packing material, as

Fio. 30. Six-rowed barley. 5», a group of
three spikelets from one node of the rachis. B,
B', single spikelets. F, a flower (one stigma
partly removed). JO, lO, back and front views
of kernel. (Nees.)

100 CORN PLANTS.

stuffing for mattresses, as material for coarse matting,
and other minor uses.

In the Western States, where coal and wood are
especially high, ears of corn, or the cobs after shell-
ins:, form an economical fuel. One hundred bushels
of corn in the ear are about equal in fuel value to a
cord of hard wood ; three tons of corn-cobs equal about
one ton of hard coal. In mills where corn-cobs are
used to run the engines, the ashes furnish a consider-
able amount of potash.

The kernel of maize is so rich in starch that this
grain forms our cheapest source of that important
substance. Nearly all the starch used in this country,
including " corn-starch " and laundry starch, is made
from Indian corn. There are many large factories
where the starch is turned into a kind of sugar much
used by confectioners. In the process of separating
the starch there is also obtained a certain amount of
oil. This has been used for illuminating purposes,
for dressing wool, as a machine oil, and in the manu-
facture of soap. Maize oil is extracted also to some
extent from the malted grain in distilleries which
use Indian corn as a source of whiskey and alcohol.
Nearly all the spirit now manufactured in the United
States is made from maize.

Finally, it must be said that maize has been used
also in various ornamental ways. Its attractive foli-
age and graceful appearance have led horticulturists
to plant it in gai'dens along with other ornamental
grasses. They have, moreover, developed a special
variety with striped leaves. Kepi-esentations of the
maize plant, as also of wheat, cotton, tobacco, and oak
appear upon United States dimes, while ears of In-
dian corn, together with spra}'^ of the cotton plant

Fio. 31. Wild oat-grass. 1, a young anther. 2, a mature anther holding its
pollen exposed. 3, two spikelets in still air ; the left hand one with onlj- stamens
exposed, the other with only stigmas. 4, similar spikelets in a breeze, the left
hand one having its pollen sacks empty before its stigmas are out, the other tvith
only stamens exposed and these shedding their pollen freely iu the wind. All en-
larged. (Kerner.)

102 CORN PLANTS.

and heads of wheat, are inchided in tlie design of our
five-cent pieces of recent issue. Maize and wheat
appear also in the designs of the " Omaha " or Trans-
Mississippi postage stamps issued by the United States
in 1898.

In further token of the importance of maize to
our country it has been proposed to have this plant
adopted for our national flower, so that it might
stand as the symbol of our country as does the rose
for England and the chrysanthemum for Japan. Un-
fortunately for this idea, it is now well known that
maize is not native within the territory of the United
States. Moreover, we cannot class it as a floicer in
any popular sense of the word. For us to call what
is neither a flower nor native our national flower,
would plainly be ridiculous. ^ If, however, it should
some day come to pass that the various counti'ies of
North and South and Central America shall join in
one grand confederation, then surely no fitter emblem
could be chosen to symbolize such a union of the
nations of America than Indian corn, whose golden
grain has proved to be the richest treasure of the
West.

XII. A General View of Corn Plants.

Let us now tie up our sheaf, and, taking a broad
survey of the field through which we have passed,
let us try to gain a just idea of the place of corn
plants in the world. Our study of the cereal grains
has led us in imagination back to a time long before

1 For a fuller discussion of the merits of this and other candi-
dates for Columbia's floral emblem see The National Floioer
Movement, by the i)resent writer, in the Transactions of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 18U8.

104 CORN PLANTS.

the dawn of civilization, when our forefathers first
gathered the grains of wild plants for their food.
Since from seed-gathering, planting would easily fol-
low, and from planting, agriculture ; and since agri-
culture would favor the founding of mighty nations
and so make possible the highest achievements of
mankind, we may see that no act of these early
ancestors of ours was more full of promise for the
human race than their choice of grains as a food.

This choice was first made, it would seem, by men
who came to the rich valley of two rivers which lay at
the centre of the ancient world. Also in moist, hot
lowlands of the far East, and on a fertile highland
between the two great Western continents, a similar
choice was made by other races of men perhaps ages
after; while later still, it may be, ruder northern
tribes in cooler and drier regions came to use the
wild grains which grew near their hunting grounds.

However this choice came about, we may say that
in favored spots of North and AVest and East and
Midland, man found awaiting him, among the many
plants that sprang luxuriantly from the soil, certain
grasses which outdid all the rest in the abundance
and quality of the food they offered him. These
grasses were born to a life in the open fields where
they could best obtain plenty of food-making sun-
shine ; there they grew as if they had learned to out-
wit the wind and undo the harm of the pelting rain
to which they were exposed ; and when drought came
it lound them well prepared. Moreover, they made
the utmost use of every inch of ground, and formed
vast brotherhoods which crowded out less sturdy or
less enterprising plants. But best of all were the
advantages these plants secured for their offspring.

A GENERAL VIEW OF CORN PLANTS. 105

The seeds were so formed that the infant plant inher-
ited the utmost vigor from its parents. Protection
against various enemies was provided from the first.
As soon as it was ripe, special arrangements were
ready for its safe carriage by the wind to some favor-
able place of growth. Finally, against the time when
the little traveler should begin life in a new home, an
abundant supply of most nutritious food was packed
within easy reach. This food was of sorts best fitted
for transportation and keeping, and means were pro-
vided for readily converting it from the solid to the
liquid form whenever needed. Everything was done
to give the plantlet a good start in life.

It was but natural that plants which accomplished
so much for themselves and provided so well for their
oifspring should be chosen by man to supply his
needs. Nor should we be surprised that they have
proved to be the best of his providers.

He has repaid their bounty by his care. As they
have fed him, he has enriched the soil in which they
grew ; as they have helped him to travel, he has car-
ried them to fresh fields in distant lands ; as they
have served him in war, he has fought against their
enemies ; as thi-ough their wealth man has multiplied,
and great nations have peopled the earth, he has estab-
lished these plants in ever increasing numbers through-
out the world. Wild grasses and savages have thug
through nuitual help developed into cultivated cereals
and civilized men.

During the long companionship of these two classes
of beings, so different in their ways of life, and yet
with needs so nuich alike, man has felt that he and
they were somehow made to be of service one to the
other. He has seen this doubly helpful dependence

106 CORN PLANTS.

to be part of the wise plan of tlie Maker of all for the
best good of each. As richer and richer harvests have
yielded their reward for man's toil, he has felt an ever
deepening thankfulness to the Giver of Life. Now,
with new hope of the highest gifts, he asks his Father,
" Give us this day our daily bread."

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