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SOILS AND PLANT LIFE AS RELATED 
 TO AGRICULTURE 
 
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 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
 ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
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SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 AS 
 
 RELATED TO AGRICULTURE 
 
 BY 
 J. C. CUNNINGHAM 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE AND BOTANY IN TWO-YEAE COURSE IN AGRICULTUBE 
 
 AND TEACHER OF AGRICULTURE TO RURAL AND GRADE TEACHERS 
 
 IOWA STATE COLLEGE, AMES, IOWA 
 
 AND 
 
 AV. H. LANCELOT 
 
 INSTRUCTOR IN CHEMISTRY, TWO-YEAR COURSE IN AGEICULTUEB 
 IOWA STATE COLLEGE 
 
 1 » 
 
 Neto gork 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1915 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
Copyright, 1915, 
 By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1915. 
 
 
 NorfajooU i^ress 
 
 J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
 
 Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
 CI.A410231 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This publication represents a desire on the part of the 
 senior author to present a first study in agriculture for rural, 
 grade, and high schools, based upon sound educational 
 principles. 
 
 An enumeration of a few of these principles will serve as 
 a key to the plan of the book : 
 
 1. Pupils must be led by easy steps from the known to 
 the unknown. 
 
 2. One thing at a time must be taught and this one thing 
 must be thoroughly understood. 
 
 3. Real progress in education depends upon a pupil's 
 ability to discern agreements and differences. 
 
 4. A teacher should stimulate and direct, but all educa- 
 tion comes from the pupil's voluntary effort. 
 
 Our purpose in the pages that follow is to stimulate and 
 direct the pupils in such a manner that they will proceed by 
 " easy steps from the known to the unknown " and that 
 their mental powers will be developed by their own volun- 
 tary efforts. 
 
 If this book is to be merely one from which a certain 
 number of pages are assigned to-day to be recited in a 
 parrot-like manner to-morrow, it must prove a complete 
 failure. 
 
 If the exercises are performed as the authors have in- 
 tended, a few — and only a few — set rules will be observed : 
 
 First. — The pupil must understand clearly before begin- 
 ning just what he is setting out to do. 
 
 Second. — He should folloio the directions carefully. 
 
 Third. — In his conclusion, he should be expected not 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 only to show a clear discernment of " agreements and dif- 
 ferences " but to state them clearly in his notebook. 
 
 The exercises which are here presented can not be per- 
 formed in all schools by each pupil. The work can easily 
 be completed, however, by assigning one exercise to a cer- 
 tain pupil or group of pupils, the next to another individual 
 or group, and so on. The exercises may be worked out 
 either in the schoolroom or at home, according to the judg- 
 ment of the teacher. There is no better training for a pupil 
 than that of presenting before a class the facts he has found 
 out for himself. 
 
 In the back of the book will be found a list of materials 
 which should be gathered together and stored in some sort 
 of box before school opens. Better still, a cabinet may be 
 made, or secured, in which the materials can be compactly 
 stored. This will save space, which is always at a premium 
 in the schoolroom. All pieces of apparatus should be 
 washed clean, wiped dry, and put back in their places as 
 soon as the work is completed. This will save the teacher 
 much trouble, while it will at the same time tend to teach 
 the pupils neatness and order. 
 
 Each pupil should have a durably bound notebook of 
 specified size, a drawing pencil, and a small hand lens. 
 
 In addition to a box for the storage of equipment, another 
 should be provided in which a few plants or other perish- 
 able articles may be protected from freezing. Ordinarily, 
 it simplifies the work to have some person in the commu- 
 nity grow the potted plants which require care and attention 
 in order that they may develop properly. 
 
 The material in this book is presented as a first study in 
 agriculture. It deals alone with soils and plants, for we 
 think that agricultural subjects can best be divided mto plant 
 studies and animal studies. The latter should be presented 
 as a second, or advanced year's work. 
 
 It must not be understood that the chapters in this book 
 
PREFACE Vll 
 
 are necessarily to be followed in the order given. On the 
 other hand, any combination of chapters which is best titted 
 to the season may be adopted. For instance, when school 
 opens in the fall, flowers and seeds can be easily obtained. 
 Chapter XII will make an excellent starting point at this 
 time. Then may follow Chapters XIII and VII, after 
 which one may turn back to the beginning of the book and 
 proceed in regular order, reviewing or omitting the chapters 
 already studied. Exercise 36, however, should be started 
 in the late fall, regardless of the order that is followed in 
 the book. 
 
 Teaching agriculture is a delightful task, provided we do 
 not attempt to tell " how to farm." All we should attempt 
 to do is to stimulate and direct the pupil in his desire to 
 find out the fundamental principles of good farming. 
 
 It is our privilege to unify or to " make one " the school 
 work and the common experiences and practices of the farm 
 to the end that life in the open country may be richer and 
 fuller for all of us who dwell there. 
 
 In the preparation of this work, the senior author has 
 been ably assisted by W. H. Lancelot, a man of wide expe- 
 rience both in educational and in editorial work. 
 
 Recognition is also due to Mr. Willard Zeller, a highly 
 successful corn grower and breeder of Cooper, Iowa, who 
 reviewed the chapter on corn. 
 
 H. L. Eichling, Associate Professor of Agronomy, and 
 teacher of agriculture for rural and grade teachers in the 
 summer school of Iowa State College, has carefully reviewed 
 the chapters on soils and farm crops and has offered very 
 many helpful suggestions. 
 
 I desire to express my appreciation of this valuable 
 assistance. 
 
 J. C. CUNNINGHAM. 
 Ames, Iowa, 
 
 June 1, 1915. 
 
A LETTER TO THE STUDENT 
 
 Nearly sixty years ago a lad ten or twelve years of age 
 gathered together in his father's cellar a collection of bot- 
 tles, jars, chemicals, and other equipment. He had gone to 
 school but three months in his life. Yet with the help of 
 his mother, he read the best books she could secure. He 
 obtained a copy of Parker's School Philosophy and worked 
 out in his " den " in the cellar almost every experiment in 
 the book. Moreover, he tested to his satisfaction many of 
 the statements he encountered in his reading. 
 
 People would have smiled if, fifty years ago, any one had 
 said of this lad of Port Huron, Michigan : " He will make the 
 streets of your cities at night as light as day. He will 
 reproduce music and the human voice on cylinders of wax. 
 He will make it possible for every village to have a moving 
 picture show. He will use electricity instead of horses to 
 propel your street cars." Yet Thomas Alva Edison has 
 brought these very things and more to pass. He laid the 
 foundation for these great inventions by working out for 
 himself the statements he found in his books. 
 
 The boy on the following page holds in his hands a rock 
 and a bit of soil. He has been told that soil comes from 
 rocks ; that plants draw their nourishment from the soil and 
 the air ; that when they die, they also become a part of the 
 soil. On the pages that follow are found brief directions 
 for learning some of the truths about the soil and plants. 
 Let us together perform the experiments. Very few, or 
 
 ix 
 
X 
 
 A LETTER TO THE STUDENT 
 
 perhaps none of us, will become great inventors like 
 Mr. Edison ; yet we can open a storehouse, tilled with 
 
 Boy with a rock and a bit of soil. 
 
 wonderful treasures of knowledge about the plants, the 
 animals, and the soil that we see every day. 
 
 Great buildings are constructed by laying stone upon 
 stone. Real knowledge is gained by proving one truth after 
 another. 
 
 The first question to ask is, " What is my object, or what 
 do I wish to find out ? " 
 
A LETTER TO THE STUDENT XI 
 
 The second step is ijrocedure : " How shall I go about it 
 to find out ? " 
 
 The third is the conclusion : " What liave I found out, or 
 proved ? " 
 
 We should keep a notebook, in which to make a neat, 
 careful record of the experiments we perform. Here is an 
 illustration from a student's notebook, which shows about 
 how the exercises which follow should be recorded : 
 
 EXERCISE 9 
 
 Object. — To learn what effect plowing under a heavy 
 crop of straw has upon the rise of water in the soil. 
 
 Procedure. — I stretched a piece of cheesecloth across the 
 bottom of a lamp chimney and tied it firmly in place. 
 Then I filled the chimney two thirds full of fine soil, added 
 one half inch of finely chopped straw, and added fine soil 
 again until the chimney was full. I put the lower end of 
 the chimney into a pan of water, and watched the moisture 
 rise through the soil. 
 
 I filled another chimney exactly as I had filled the first, 
 except that I left out the layer of straw. I put the lower 
 end of this chimney into the water and watched the mois- 
 ture rise through the soil. 
 
 Conclusion. — The water was drawn up through the soil 
 just as a lamp wick draws up the oil. In the first chimney, 
 the water rose as far as the straw, and there it stopped. 
 In the second chimney, it rose to the surface of the soil. 
 This must mean, then, that when any thing like a layer of 
 straw or weeds or perhaps even clods is plowed under, the 
 " wicks " or tubes in the soil are broken. In this case, the 
 moisture could not rise to the roots of the young plants, 
 and they would be injured and perhaps die unless there was 
 plenty of rain. 
 
 Exercises, such as this, will very often lead to a desire on 
 your part to perform the same work on a larger scale in the 
 
Xll 
 
 A LETTER TO THE STUDENT 
 
 field. The general procedure, however, should be the same. 
 Know your object, or what you wish to find out ; proceed 
 by securmg a plot of ground and following carefully the plan, 
 which is to test your theories ; and finally, think over your 
 results very carefully, turning them over and over in your 
 mind, as we say, so that you may not finally reach a conclu- 
 sion that is untrue, or one that is only partly true. 
 
 Winners of a corn growing contest. 
 
 A great many people will be interested in your conclu- 
 sions, especially if they prove to be accurate and true, for 
 the principal way of securing the much needed increase in 
 our crop yields is yiot to farm more land, since the best of it 
 is now under the plow, but to increase the yield per acre of 
 
 that which we are now farming. 
 
 J. C. CUNNINGHAM. 
 W. H. LANCELOT. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGK8 
 
 Preface v-vii 
 
 A Letter to the Student ...... 
 
 ix-xu 
 
 SOILS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 How Soils are Made and Mixed . ... 1-12 
 
 What the Soil is, 1 — Grinding up the Rocks, 1 — Soil 
 Names, or Types, 4 — Two Sources of Soil Material, 5 — 
 The Part Plant Life plays in making Soils, 7 — The Part 
 Animal Life plays in making and mixing Soils, 8 — Ele- 
 ments in the Soil and Air which Plants must have in 
 Order to make a Healthy Growth, 10. 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 The Water in the Soil ....... 13-24 
 
 How the Soil loses Water, 13 — The Water which 
 runs off the Surface, 13— The Water which filters down 
 through the Soil and drains away, 16 — How Water en- 
 ters Drain Tile, 18 — Three Kinds of Water in the Soil, 
 19 — How Film Moisture works its Way upward in the 
 Soil, 21 — How the Farmer prevents the Escape of Film 
 Moisture, 23. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Air in the Soil 25-29 
 
 Why Air is necessary in the Soil, 25 — Why we seek 
 to control the Air Space in the Soil, 26 — How we may 
 get More Air into the Soil, 28. 
 
 xiii 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Temperature of the Soil ...... 30-35 
 
 Proper Temperature Necessary for Germination, 30 — 
 How Temperature of the Soil is governed, 30 — How the 
 Air Space in a Soil affects its Temperature, 31 — How 
 the Moisture in a Soil affects its Temperature, 33 — How 
 the Color of a Soil affects its Temperature, 34 — The 
 Advantages of a Warm Soil, 34. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The Tillage of Soils 36-43 
 
 Why we till the Soil, 36 — Improving the Texture and 
 Structure of the Soil, 36 — One Cause of Cloddy Fields, 
 39 — Covering, or Working into the Soil, Organic Mat- 
 ter, 40 — Putting Seed into the Seed Bed, 40 — Destroy- 
 ing Weeds, 41 — Forming a Dust Mulch, 42 — Making 
 it Possible for Air and Water to enter the Soil, 42. 
 
 PLANT LIFE 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Round of Plant Life 44-45 
 
 The Life Cycle of Plants, 44 — How the Parts of a 
 Plant work together, 44. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Seed : Its Selection and Distribution . . . 46-61 
 The Functions of the Seed, 46 — How the Embryo is 
 protected, 46 — How Seeds are scattered by Nature, 46 
 — How Seeds are scattered by Man, 49 — Making a 
 Seed Collection, 50 — How Nature selects Seeds, 52 — 
 How Man selects Seeds, 52 — Selecting Specimens for 
 . Corn Judging, 56 — Nature stores No Seeds but provides 
 for Loss, 57 — Man's Storage of Seeds, 58. 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTER VTII 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Seed Germination . . . ' . . . . . 62-76 
 
 What a Seed is, 62 — Two Great Classes of Plants, 62 
 — The Conditions required for Seed Germination, 64 — 
 Moisture and Germination, 65 — Temperature and Ger- 
 mination, 67 — Changes which take place within the 
 Germinating Seed, 68 — Heat generated during Germi- 
 nation, 71 — How Size of Seed affects Growth of Young 
 Plant, 73 — Direction of Growth, 74 — The Embryo be- 
 comes a Seedling, 75. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Work of Roots 77-88 
 
 What Roots do, 77 — Gathering Food and Moisture, 
 77 — Roots are able to select the Minerals which they 
 need, 79 — The Origin of Roots, 80 — How Roots work 
 their Way through the Soil, 81 — The Extent and Depth 
 of Roots, 82 — How Roots help dissolve Mineral Matter, 
 84 — How Roots hold Plants Erect, 85 — The Root a 
 Storehouse of Food, 87 — Benefits of Roots, 88. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Work of Leaves ....... 89-97 
 
 Functions and Uses of t-eaves, 89 — The Manufacture 
 of Starch, 89 — The Green Leaf likened to a Mill, 90 — 
 How Other Foods are made, 91 — Amount of Water, 
 Food Material, and Ash in Plants, 92 — The Water 
 given off by Leaves, 93 — Storage of Food in the 
 Leaves, 96. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Work of Stems ........ 98-106 
 
 The Functions of Stems, 98 — The Forms of Stems, 
 98 — Prostrate Stems, 98 — Climbing Stems, 99 — Erect 
 Stems, 99 — Study of the Forms of Stems, 100 — How 
 Water travels from Roots to Leaves, 101 — How to tell 
 the Age of a Tree, 102 — How Food travels from Leaves 
 
xvi CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 to Roots, 103 — The Flow of Sap, 104— The Cambium 
 Layer, 104 — Rope, Twine and Linen Material, 105. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Thb Work of Flowers . . . = . . • 107-116 
 The Work in which All Parts join, 107 — What the 
 Flower does, 107 — Parts of the Flower on Separate 
 Plants or on Different Parts of the Same Plant, 110 — 
 How the Pollen gets from one Plant to another, 110 — 
 The Flowers which depend upon Insects to carry Pollen, 
 111 — The Flowers which depend upon Wind to carry 
 Pollen, 111 — What happens after the Pollen reaches 
 the Stigma, 112 — Cross-fertilization the Rule, 113 — 
 Cross-fertilization by Hand, 113. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 The Formation and Development of Seed . . . 117-121 
 How the Food is stored in the Seed, 117 — How Man 
 may thwart Nature's Plan, 118 — The Forms and Uses 
 of the Various Food Materials in the Seed, 120. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Propagation of Plants 122-144 
 
 How Plants are Propagated, 122 — Propagation by 
 Spores, 124 — How Spores are Spread, 127 — How to 
 prevent the Spread and Growth of the Spores of Disease, 
 128 — Conditions which favor the Entrance and Growth 
 of Spores, 133 — Propagation by Seed, 133 — Propaga- 
 tion by some Part of the Plant other than Seed or 
 Spore, 134 — Plants formed while still attached to the 
 Parent Plant, 134 — Plants formed by Portions which 
 become detached from Parent Plant, 136— Plants formed 
 by the Union of Two Plants, 138. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 Why Man Cultivates Plants 146-148 
 
 Classes of Plants according to the Parts for which 
 they are cultivated, 145. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XVll 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Corn 
 
 Uses of Corn, 149 — Distribution of Corn, 150 — How 
 the Corn Plant has changed as it has moved Northward, 
 151 — Climatic Keqiiirements of the Corn Plant, 152 — 
 Soil Requirements of the Corn Plant, 154 — The Pro- 
 duction of Corn, 154 — Selection of the Seed, 154 — The 
 Selection of the Seed Supply, 169 — How Selection of 
 Seed may influence the Yield, 172 — Drying out the 
 Seed, 172 — Storing the Seed, 173 — Testing the Seed, 
 174 — Grading the Seed, 179 — The Ideal Seed Bed for 
 Corn, 181 — Preparing a Seed Bed in Sod Ground, 182 
 — Preparing a Seed Bed in Cornstalk Ground, 184 — 
 Preparing a Seed Bed in Stubble Ground, 185 — Plant- 
 ing the Seed, 185 — The Time of Planting, 187 — The 
 Depth of Planting, 188 — Distance between the Rows, 
 189 — The Number of Kernels in Each Hill, 189 — The 
 Replanting of the Missing Hills, 190 — Cultivation be- 
 gins with the Harrow, 191 — Later Cultivation of the 
 Crop, 191 — Depth of Cultivation, 193 — Frequency of 
 Cultivation, 194 — Cultivation of Listed Corn, 195 — 
 Harvesting the Crop, 196 — Crops used as Substitutes 
 for Corn, 198 — Planting and cultivating Kafir Corn 
 and Similar Drouth-resistant Crops, 200. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 149-202 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 The Small Grains 
 
 Why Wheat is so extensively grown, 203 — Climatic 
 Conditions Favorable for the Growth of Wheat, 205 — 
 Winter and Spring Wheat, 205 — Systems of Rotation, 
 205 — The Seed Bed and how to prepare it, 206 — Selec- 
 tion of the Seed, 207 — Planting the Seed, 210 — Har- 
 vesting the Wheat, 211 — The Uses of Wheat, 212 — 
 Oats a Cool Climate Crop, 213 — Varieties of Oats, 214 
 — Preparation of the Seed Bed, 215 — The Selection of 
 Oats for Seed, 216— Harvesting the Crop, 218 — Shock- 
 ing and Stacking Oats, 218 — The Uses of Oats, 219 — 
 Oatmeal, 219 —Methods of Cultivation and Uses of Bar- 
 ley, 221 — Soil Requirements and Uses of Rye, 221 — 
 
 203-224 
 
xviii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Soil Requirements of Rice, 222 — Preparation of tlie 
 Seed Bed, 222 — Planting the Seed, 223 — Caring for the 
 Growing Crop, 223 — How the Grain is prepared for Use, 
 223 — Uses of Rice, 224. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Grasses for Pastures, Meadows and Lawns . . . 225-237 
 
 Characteristics of all the Grasses, 225 — A Peculiar 
 Habit of Growth, 226 — Wild Grasses, 227 — Cultivated 
 Grasses, 227 — Where and how Timothy is grown, 227 — 
 Advantages and Disadvantages of Timothy, 228 — When 
 to cut Timothy, 229 — The Character and Value of Blue 
 Grass, 230 — The Seeding of Blue Grass, 231 — Advan- 
 tages and Disadvantages of Blue Grass, 232 — The Range 
 and Character of Redtop, 232 — Its Advantages and Dis- 
 advantages, 233 — The Range and Character of Bermuda 
 Grass, 234 — Advantages and Disadvantages of Bermuda 
 Grass, 234 — Where each Grass thrives, 236 — Why 
 Clovers should be grown with Grasses, 236. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Clovers and Other Legumes ...... 238-273 
 
 Characteristics of the Legumes, 238 — How Legumes 
 benefit the Farmer, 239 — How Legumes add Nitrogen 
 to the Soil, 240 — How Roots of Legumes open the Soil, 
 241 — How Legumes add Humus to the Soil, 241 — How 
 Legumes make other Plant Food Available, 241 — How 
 Legumes balance the Food Ration, 242 — How Legumes 
 assist in the Control of Insects and Fungous Pests, 242 — 
 Where the Different Legumes grow, 242 — Why Clovers 
 frequently fail, 250 — How Acid Soil affects Clovers, 252 
 — How a Lack of Phosphorus affects Clovers, 254 — 
 How a Lack of Humus affects Clovers, 255 — How Ab- 
 sence of Friendly Bacteria affects the Clovers, 255 — 
 How the Nurse Crop may affect Clovers, 256 — How the 
 Method of Seeding may affect Clovers, 256 —How Drouth 
 may affect Young Clovers, 257 — How to succeed with 
 Clovers, 258 — How to correct an Acid Soil, 258 — How 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 PAGES 
 
 to add Humus and Phosphorus to the Soil, 259 — How 
 Bacteria are added to the Soil, 259 — The most Suitable 
 Nurse Crops for Clovers, 260 — How the Seed should be 
 planted, 261 — Seed Selection and Analysis, 261 — Table 
 of Weed Seed Weights, 265 — Methods of Culture of the 
 Legumes, 266 — Securing the Maximum Benefits from 
 Legumes, 272. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 The Fiber Crops 274-286 
 
 Three Crops yielding Valuable Fibers, 274 — Valuable 
 Products Other than Fiber, 274 — The Importance of 
 Cotton, 275 — Where Cotton is grown in the United 
 States, 275 — The Cotton Plant, 276 — Growing the Cot- 
 ton Crop, 277 — Harvesting the Crop, 280 — Ginning the 
 Cotton, 280 — Proportion and Value of Seed and Lint, 
 281 — How and where Flax is Grown, 282 — Methods of 
 Handling and Value of the Fiber and Seed, 283. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Fruit Growing 287-310 
 
 Horticulture and Agriculture, 287 — Where Our Fruits 
 originated, 287 — Developing the Young Tree, 288 — The 
 Location of the Orchard, 289 — The Distances between 
 the Trees, 289 — Cutting back and Planting the Young 
 Trees or Vines, 290 — Cultivation of the Young Plants, 
 291— The Training of the Young Plants, 292 — When 
 and how Fruit Buds form, 292 — Conditions which favor 
 the Formation of Fruit Buds, 293 — Age of Wood upon 
 which Fruit Buds appear, 294 — The Reasons for Prun- 
 ing, 298 — Methods of Pruning, 299 — Precautions to be 
 taken in Pruning, 304 — Protecting Fruit-bearing Plants 
 from their Enemies, 305 — Gathering and Storing the 
 Fruit, 309. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Vegetable Growing 311-329 
 
 Cool Season Crops, 311 — Warm Season Crops, 312 — 
 Getting ahead of the Season, 312 — In the Garden 
 
XX CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Proper, 315 — The First Planting, 317 — When the Dan- 
 ger of Frost is Past, 323. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Permanent Agriculture ....... 330-337 
 
 The Result of selling Crops from the Land, 331 — How 
 the Three Important Elements of Fertility may be re- 
 stored to the Soil, 332 — The Care and Importance of 
 Barnyard Manure, 336. 
 
 Equipment • 338-339 
 
 Publications 340-341 
 
 Index • 343-348 
 
SOILS AND PLANT LIFE AS RELATED 
 TO AGRICULTURE 
 
SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 HOW SOILS ARE MADE AND MIXED 
 
 1. What the Soil Is. — The soil, as we now see it, is 
 composed of broken-down rock, mixed with decaying 
 plant and animal matter. For milHons upon millions of 
 years, no doubt, the work of soil making has been going on. 
 
 2. Grinding up the Rocks. — The earth was once made 
 up of rock. Men who have studied the subject long and 
 carefully tell us that the heat and the cold, the wind and 
 the water, the gases of the air, the plants, and the animals 
 have all had a part in breaking down the rocks into rock 
 powder and mixing it through and through that more 
 
 .plants and animals might exist. We are told that vast 
 fields of ice, called glaciers, moved slowly over many parts 
 of the country ages ago, carrying with them rock masses 
 and grinding to powder whatever came beneath their 
 mountain-hke weight. We read about these great gla- 
 ciers and see pictures of them as well in our geographies. 
 We are told also that rocks expand with heat and con- 
 tract with cold, becoming broken up in this way. We 
 know that hot water will break a cold tumbler. W^e have 
 seen stones cracked or broken about the fire where we 
 cooked our picnic or camp supper. We have seen where 
 the water has washed out great hollow places in the rock. 
 Moreover, we must know that when the cracks and crev- 
 B 1 
 
2 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 ices in rocks become filled with water and freeze, the rocks 
 
 are broken apart, just as a jug is broken if the water in it 
 
 is allowed to freeze. The particles of rock are not only 
 
 ■broken and washed into finer and finer pieces but are 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 .■t«Lr*f i^.'**».. 
 
 
 
 ,i 
 
 Fig. 1. — Rock split by freezing. 
 
 mixed thoroughly with other kinds of rocks and with de- 
 caying plants and animals to make the rich, fertile soil 
 as we know it. 
 
 Let us study first, then, how the water mixes and lays 
 down the soil. 
 
HOW SOILS ARE MADE AND MIXED 
 
 EXERCISE 1 
 
 Object. — To see how layers of soil are made by the 
 action of water. 
 
 Procedure. — Bring half a cupful of soil from any field 
 at home or from any place near the school. Put half of 
 it in a pint jar or in a wide-mouthed bottle and the re- 
 mainder in another. Then fill each a little over half full 
 of water. Shake well and allow them to stand until the 
 close of school to-day. Then shake again and set them 
 aside until class period to-morrow. This is done in order 
 to break apart all the small lumps. Number the jars 
 
 one and two. 
 
 Does the soil seem to have settled in distinct layers? 
 Which sized particles settled first? Have you not seen 
 the soil along the bank of a stream in layers like this? 
 
 Now shake jar number two vigorously again and allow 
 the contents to settle one minute. Pour off the water 
 into a third empty jar, leaving in the bottom of the second 
 the soil that has settled. Allow the third jar to stand one 
 hour, and pour off the water into a fourth jar, leaving the 
 soil that settled in the third jar. Allow the fourth jar to 
 stand until class time to-morrow. 
 
 The soil that settled in one minute is the sand ; that, in 
 one hour is called silt; that, in twenty-four hours, the 
 
 clay. 
 
 Do vou find that the lavers of soil in jar number one 
 look like the soils in jars two, three and four? 
 
 Dip a little of the soil out of jars two, three and four 
 with a small wooden paddle and examine each carefully 
 with a hand lens and by rubbing between the thumb and 
 fingers. Which one is pasty? Which is made up of 
 coarse particles? Would you fike to have a field of pure 
 clay? Why not? Would you fike to have one of pure 
 
4 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 sand? Is it not best to have the sand, silt and clay all 
 mixed ? 
 
 Conclusion. — You have seen the largest stones, or 
 pebbles, in the swiftest part of the creek or river, and the 
 soil in layers near the stream ; and you have seen the finest 
 mud on the top of the soil where the water had dried up 
 along the roadside. Explain why these things are so. 
 
 3. Soil Names, or Types. — We have seen how a soil 
 may be made up of sand, silt and clay. If it contains a 
 large amount of sand, we call it a sandy soil ; if of clay, a 
 clay soil. ' A soil made up of about one half sand, and the 
 other half silt and clay is called a loam soil. If the per- 
 centage of silt is large, it is called a silt loam ; of clay, a 
 clay loam ; of gravel, a gravelly loam ; of stone, a stony 
 loam. 
 
 EXERCISE 2 
 
 Object. — To find the percentage of sand, clay and silt 
 in the soil of fields at home or near the school building. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure two or more samples of soil, about 
 one half cupful each, from different fields. Place each in a 
 jar, which has first been weighed, and weigh again after 
 the sample has been put into it. From these weights, 
 find the weight of each sample. Now separate the sand, 
 silt and clay just as you did in Exercise 1 . Find the weight 
 of each of these constituents in each sample, taking care 
 that all appear about equally moist when weighed. These 
 weights can be determined more easily if all jars used 
 are first weighed and the weights recorded. After you 
 have found the weight of the sand, the silt and the clay 
 in each sample, find what per cent each of these is of the 
 original sample. 
 
 Conclusion. — Do you find any difference in the per- 
 centage of sand or clay which the different fields contain? 
 
HOW SOILS ARE MADE AND MIXED 5 
 
 Ask the owner or your father which field can be plowed 
 sooner after a rain. Can you tell him why? If a stream 
 flows through a soil containing considerable sand, the 
 soil near the water is sandier than that farther away. 
 Why is this true ? 
 
 4. Two Sources of Soil Material. — The soils which 
 we have been studying are made up of a great deal more 
 than just pulverized rock. Some of the soils, especially 
 if they came from a field which last year was a pasture or 
 meadow, or from a fence row, or from the woods, were dark 
 in color, crumbled easily in our hands, and had that good, 
 rich '' earth " smell. Along the fence row, the weeds and 
 grass have grown up, ripened, died down and decayed 
 year after year. The soil here must contain a great deal 
 of partly decayed plants, which is called humus. This 
 makes soil fertile. 
 
 EXERCISE 3 
 
 Object. — To find out how much of the soil comes from 
 the rocks and how much from the plants. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure a small can full of soil from under an 
 old fence or from a field which was in pasture or meadow 
 last year ; also another can from a hillside field that has 
 been plowed for a number of years, or from the middle 
 of a well traveled road. Examine each carefully, and 
 tell all you can about the color and the way each crumbles 
 in your hand. Make a mud ball the size of a large marble 
 out of each soil and let them dry for ten days. Then try 
 to break each one with your fingers or a stick. 
 
 Now place five ounces of one of the soils as it came 
 from the field or fence row in an iron pan or old shovel, 
 and heat it red hot for at least an hour. Do you see 
 any change in color? As soon as the soil is cool, examine 
 it to see if it crumbles as easily as it did before. Heat 
 
6 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 p 
 o 
 
 ;-! 
 
 CD 
 c3 
 
 
 a; 
 
 
 d 
 
 I— « 
 
HOW SOILS ARE MADE AND MIXED 7 
 
 five ounces of the second soil in the same way for at 
 least an hour. Be sure to tell about any change in color 
 that may take place during heating. Did any smoke 
 come off from either soil? Will rocks burn? Will hay, 
 or grass, or weeds burn? When each soil is cool, carefully 
 weigh again. Which one has lost the greater weight? 
 What reason can you give for this loss? 
 
 Conclusion. — Tell which it is, rocks or plants, that 
 gives a rich soil the dark color and good earth smell. 
 Tell why it is that a new field can be worked sooner after 
 a rain than an old one. By scraping the roads we get 
 all the organic matter, or humus, worked out of them ; 
 and they then bake hard and firm. If a farmer should 
 burn his cornstalks or straw instead of working them into 
 the soil again, how would it affect the supply of humus 
 in his land? Frequent cultivation aerates the soil and 
 hastens decay. Why will several crops of corn in succes- 
 sion exhaust the humus in the soil? Land that has been 
 in pasture is found to be rich in humus. Likewise the 
 addition of manure increases the amount of humus in the 
 soil. State two ways in which humus may be added to a 
 soil which lacks it. 
 
 5. The Part Plant Life plays in making Soils. — An 
 
 armful of fodder, left lying in the field, or at the bottom 
 of a haystack, soon begins to decay. The dead plants 
 become covered with blue-black molds, which are them- 
 selves living plants, and which are visible to the naked 
 eye. These molds, or fungi, as they are called, absorb a 
 part of the fodder. The part which remains is acted upon 
 by tiny plants, called bacteria, which are too small to be 
 seen with the naked eye. These work upon the plant 
 remains until the whole is broken down into simple sub- 
 stances which the roots of living plants may take up again. 
 
8 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 When wheat is received at the mills, it is run between 
 great steel rollers, and it then passes through a long series 
 of processes until it is separated into flour, bran, middlings 
 and various other products. 
 
 We may compare the changes which take place in a 
 decaying plant with those which take place in the wheat 
 as it passes through the mill, but we find a difference. 
 
 Fig. 3. — The cycle from plant to plant again. 
 
 The products of the wheat can not be gathered together 
 again to make the kernels from which they came, whereas 
 in Nature the plants are broken down and separated by 
 the molds and bacteria into simple compounds, which 
 are taken up by roots and finally made again into living 
 plants. The drawing above will fix in our minds better 
 than words how this comes about. 
 
 6. The Part Animal Life plays in making and mixing 
 Soils. — A plant may be eaten by an animal. A part 
 
HOW SOILS ARE MADE AND MIXED 9 
 
 goes to build up the animal's body. The rest is thrown 
 off and becomes a part of the soil. Sooner or later the 
 animal dies, and its body, too, goes back to the earth 
 again. Thus we see that soil becomes the meeting place 
 of the mineral kingdom and the kingdom of life. 
 
 Animals not only help to make soils, but they also play a 
 very important part in mixing them through and through. 
 Gophers spoil our alfalfa, clover and timothy fields, and 
 we try to keep them out. The same is true of ground 
 hogs, squirrels and other digging animals ; and yet these 
 rodents have for ages performed an important part in soil 
 making. Each ant-hill is a real soil-mixing mill. 
 
 Perhaps the most important visible member of animal 
 life in soil making and mixing is the common earthworm, 
 angleworm, or fishworm, as we may choose to call it. 
 " These insignificant creatures burrow in moist, rich soil 
 and derive their nourishment from the organic matter it 
 may contain. In order, however, to obtain this com- 
 paratively small amount of nutritive matter, they devour 
 the earth without any selective power and pass it through 
 their alimentary tracts, rejecting the non-nutritious 
 portions, which nearly equal in bulk that first taken in. 
 The numerous holes made, while in part perhaps to afford 
 passage to the surface, are mainly excavated in this 
 process of soil eating, and actually represent the amount 
 of material which the worms have passed through their 
 digestive systems. 
 
 " Darwin states that in certain parts of England these 
 worms bring to the surface every year, in the form of 
 excreta, more than ten tons per acre of fine, dry mold, ' so 
 that the whole superficial bed of vegetable mold passes 
 through their bodies in the course of every few years.' 
 By collecting and weighing the excretions deposited on a 
 small area during a given time, he found that the rate of 
 
10 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 accumulation was an inch in every five years. The im- 
 portance of the worms, both as mellowers of the soil and 
 as levelers of inequalities is therefore very great." 
 
 7. Elements in the Soil and Air which Plants must 
 have in Order to make a Healthy Growth. — In this 
 brief lesson, we have learned that soil is made up of pow- 
 dered rock and decaying vegetable and animal matter. 
 We have learned how they are mixed by various agents. 
 The soil contains a large number of distinct substances 
 called elements. Only ten of them, however, are essential 
 to plant growth. Their names together with their chemi- 
 cal symbols are given below : 
 
 Carbon (C) Nitrogen (N) Potassium (K) 
 
 Hydrogen (H) Sulfur (S) Calcium (Ca) 
 
 Oxygen (O) Phosphorus (P) Magnesium (Mg) 
 
 Iron (Fe) 
 
 We shall learn in chemistry of the various ways in 
 which these elements combine in the soil to form plant 
 food. It is enough here for us to know that without any 
 one of them a plant can not make healthy growth. 
 
 Carbon, as usually seen, is a black solid. Coal and 
 charcoal owe their black color to the fact that they are 
 nearly pure carbon. This element comprises about a 
 half of the dry matter of all plants, that which is present 
 in coal and charcoal coming from plants that have lived 
 in the past. All of our foods likewise contain carbon, 
 which accounts for their turning black, or charring, when 
 burned. Under certain conditions, carbon will unite 
 with oxygen, forming carbon dioxide, a gas which is 
 found in the atmosphere. The leaves of plants take this 
 gas from the air, and in this way, plants get all their 
 
HOW SOILS ARE MADE AND MIXED 
 
 11 
 
 carbon. It is the only element which they do not take 
 from the soil. 
 
 Hydrogen and oxygen are odorless, invisible gases. 
 They are not at all ahke, but will unite with each other, 
 
 the compound formed being water, 
 H2O. Plants of course draw a great 
 deal of water from the soil, and from 
 this water they take the hydrogen 
 and oxygen which they must have in 
 order to live. 
 
 Nitrogen, too, is an invisible gas, 
 but it differs greatly from both 
 hydrogen and oxygen. It com- 
 prises nearly four fifths of the at- 
 mosphere ; yet plants, whose leaves 
 are held aloft in it, can take none 
 whatever from the air. Instead, 
 
 B C li 
 
 — Plants growing in water cultures. 
 
 A, plant receives all the essential elements; B, plant receives all 
 essential elements except nitrogen ; C, plant receives all essential 
 elements except phosphorus ; D, plant receives all essential elements 
 except potassium. 
 
 it combines with other elements ; and the compounds 
 so formed, which are found in the soil, are dissolved 
 and carried upward into the plant by the soil water. 
 
 Sulfur is commonly seen as a yellow powder, which 
 produces suffocating fumes when burned. Phosphorus is 
 
12 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 less familiar to us. Because it is so easily ignited, it is 
 much used in making matches. Iron, potassium, calcium 
 and magnesium are metals. These six elements combine 
 in many different ways in the soil, forming compounds 
 which, like those of nitrogen, are dissolved by the soil 
 water and carried along by it when it passes upward into 
 the plant. 
 
 There are very few soils which are deficient in any of 
 the essential elements save nitrogen, phosphorus and potas- 
 sium. The great problem of maintaining a sufficient 
 supply of these three elements in the land so that agricul- 
 ture may be carried on perpetually remains one for the 
 consideration of all people who till the soil or expect to 
 continue to get from it an adequate food supply. The 
 strength of nations has always been drawn from the soil. 
 A system of perynanent agriculture is therefore indispensa- 
 ble to the prosperity and happiness of our people. As a 
 fitting close to our first study of agriculture, we shall 
 make our last lesson one on maintaining the fertility of the 
 soil. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 L Define the term soil. 
 
 2. From what three kingdoms do the materials for soils 
 come ? 
 
 3. Name three agents which have helped to break down rock. 
 Tell how each works. 
 
 4. How c£tn you separate soil into clay, sand and silt? 
 
 5. Name three agents which have helped to mix soil. Tell 
 how each works. 
 
 6. Define humus. How does a soil feel, when handled, 
 and how does it smell when it contains plenty of humus? 
 
 7. Compare the weight of a cupful of soil containing plenty 
 of humus with one lacking humus. 
 
 8. Name the ten elements essential to plant growth and tell 
 how the plant gets each one. 
 
 9. What part of the dry matter of plants is carbon? 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE WATER IN THE SOIL 
 
 A SOIL may be ever so rich in both mineral and organic 
 matter and yet lack water. There can be no crops unless 
 water is added to the soil in the form of rain or by means 
 of irrigation. 
 
 8. How the Soil loses Water. — We may liken the 
 soil to a great sponge, standing ready to receive whatever 
 moisture comes to it. Soils, like sponges, vary in their 
 ability to receive and hold water. Rain or irrigation 
 water received by the soil is lost or escapes in Jour ways : 
 
 First : it runs off the surface. 
 
 Second : it filters down through the soil and drains 
 away. 
 
 Third : it evaporates from the surface as standing water, 
 or as water which was first taken in by the soil and later 
 worked its way to the surface. 
 
 Fourth : it is taken in by the roots of plants and escapes 
 as water vapor from their leaves. 
 
 9. The Water which runs off the Surface. — The 
 amount of water which runs off from any soil depends of 
 course upon the amount of rain, the rate at which it falls 
 and the amount of moisture already in the soil. There is 
 another factor, however, greater than any of these; the 
 rate at which the soil can take up water and the capacity 
 of the soil to hold water. Let us prove that this is true. 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 EXERCISE 4 
 
 Object. — To see how soil types vary in the rate at 
 which they take up water. 
 
 Procedure. — Tie pieces of cheesecloth firmly over the 
 small ends of three lamp chimneys or glass cylinders. 
 
 Fig. 5. — Adding water to the soil. 
 
 Fill the first one with clay, the second with silt, the third 
 with sand. These soils should be air dried, and then 
 worked through a piece of fine screen wire. Tap the 
 chimneys or cylinders firmly on the table to settle the soil. 
 Place the tubes in a rack, and proceed as shown in the 
 following illustration. 
 
 Three tumblers or cups of equal capacity should be 
 
THE WATER IN THE SOIL 
 
 15 
 
 used, so that each cylinder may receive the same amount of 
 water. Record the time when you begin, and see how 
 long it takes each soil to take up the water, how long it 
 takes the water to reach the bottom of each chimney, or 
 cylinder, after being added at the top, and how much 
 water passes through each soil in a given time. The 
 amount of water that passes through each soil may be 
 collected in glasses below the chimneys and measured. 
 A table like this will help you to keep an accurate record 
 in vour notebook : 
 
 Soil 
 
 Sand 
 
 Silt 
 
 Clay 
 
 Ti 
 
 ME ] 
 
 First 
 
 Water Added 
 
 9: 
 
 30 
 
 A.M. 
 
 9: 
 
 30 
 
 A.M. 
 
 9: 
 
 30 
 
 A.M. 
 
 Time Water 
 
 Reached 
 
 Bottom 
 
 9 : 34 A.M. 
 
 Time Re- 
 quired for 
 Soil to take 
 UP Cup of 
 Water 
 
 8 minutes 
 
 Amt. of Water 
 WHICH Passed 
 through Soil 
 IN Ten Min- 
 utes 
 
 f cup 
 
 Conclusion. — There are millions of acres of sandy 
 hills in the United States and there are scarcely any gullies 
 washed in them. Clay hills are always full of washouts. 
 How long did it take the clay to take up the cup of water ? 
 Why do the clay hills wash so much worse than those 
 made up largely of sand ? 
 
 EXERCISE 5 
 
 Object. — To determine the relation of the amount of 
 humus in the soil to the amount of water it will take up and 
 hold. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill a can with soil from the middle of a 
 well traveled road; another with soil from an old fence 
 row near by, so that the two soils will be as nearly alike 
 as possible except for the amount of organic matter which 
 
16 SOILS A'ND PLANT LIFE 
 
 each contains. Dry them in air and sift each one. Secure 
 other samples if possible, being careful to get two of each 
 type of soil, one of which is worn out while the other is 
 rich in humus. 
 
 Cut holes about one inch in diameter in the bottom of 
 tomato cans, if you do not have on hand those prepared 
 for this exercise. Place a piece of screen wire over each 
 hole, then a piece of cheesecloth over the wire. FiU as 
 many of these cans level full as you have samples of soil. 
 Label each one, for instance, " Sandy Loam from the 
 Center of the Road," " Sandy Soil from Old Fence Row," 
 etc. Remember always to work the.m in pairs, the worn 
 out and the rich soil of the same type. Carefully record 
 the weight of each can both before it is filled with soil and 
 afterwards so that you can tell exactly how much soil is 
 in each one. 
 
 Place the cans in a pan or bucket and pour water around 
 but not on them. It should stand within one half inch 
 of the top of the cans. At the class period the following 
 day, remove them and set them in a cool place to drain. 
 After two days weigh each can again. 
 
 Conclusion. — Tell how much water each soil has taken 
 up. Figure the percentage of moisture taken up and 
 held by the soil in each can. A soil containing plenty of 
 humus does not dry out as readily as one poor in humus. 
 Why? Ask your father or any good farmer in the neigh- 
 borhood which field dries out first, one which was in pasture 
 or meadow a year or two ago, or one which has been cul- 
 tivated for a number of years. Ask him if a clay soil, 
 rich in organic matter, dries out as soon as a sandy one. 
 Summarize all this information in your conclusion. 
 
 10. The Water which filters down through the Soil 
 and drains away. — The sky may be clear overhead. 
 
THE WATER IN THE SOIL 
 
 17 
 
 Perhaps we have had no rain for two or three weeks; 
 yet here may be a bubbhng spring, or there ^ clay tile 
 running full of water. 
 
 First, let us consider the source of the water of the 
 spring. Water, as it falls from the clouds, is taken up 
 more or less readily by the soil. It filters down through 
 
 Fig. 6. — Ruuiuug tile. 
 
 silt, sand, gravel or whatever it may be until it reaches 
 some layer which wiU allow it to flow downward no further. 
 It then flows along this layer until on some lower ground 
 it comes to the surface. Wlienever water issues from a 
 natural opening, we call it a spring. 
 
 There are milhons of acres of land throughout the 
 United States from which water can not drain naturaUy. 
 
18 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 As we shall soon learn, this water must be removed before 
 plants can make a healthy growth. 
 
 Some artificial means, then, must be adopted to remove 
 this free moisture. This is accomplished by the use of the 
 tile drain. If all the tile drain which is now laid in the 
 states of Iowa and Illinois alone were placed end to end, 
 it would make a continuous line tens of thousands of miles 
 in length. 
 
 11. How Water enters Drain Tile. — Since the water 
 escapes through these drains, the question at once arises, 
 How does it get into the tile? Does it enter at the joints 
 or through the walls of the tile ? 
 
 Fit a cork firmly into a hole in the bottom of a flower 
 pot. Fill the pot with water. Has any water escaped 
 through the walls of the pot at the end of an hour ? Of a 
 day? If little or no water can escape through the walls 
 of pots, little or none can enter. Flower pots and drain 
 tile are made of the same material. This means, then, 
 does it not, that water enters at the joints of the 
 tile. 
 
 Lines of tile are laid not closer than a rod apart as a rule, 
 and often they are two rods apart. How is all the water 
 from this area of soil to escape through one small tile? 
 Does it enter at the top, the sides, or the bottom when it 
 finds its way through the joints into the drain? 
 
 EXERCISE 6 
 
 Object. — To see how and where water enters the tile 
 drain. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill a quart can with fine sand or sandy 
 loam. Punch three holes in the can with a nail : one 
 about three fourths of an inch from the bottom ; the 
 second the same distance above the first and a little to the 
 
THE WATER IN THE SOIL 19 
 
 right of it; the third about three quarters of an inch 
 above the second and a Uttle to the right of it. Make a 
 cup-shaped hole in the top of the soil and add water until 
 it begins to flow from each of the holes in the side of the 
 
 can. 
 
 Conclusion. — From which hole did the water first 
 begin to flow ? Let the lowest hole represent the bottom, 
 the middle one the side, and the highest one the top of the 
 tile. Does this not mean that the water must fill the soil 
 from the bottom upward, then work its way laterally 
 through the soil until it reaches the tile, entering the 
 joints at the bottom? From here it flows out to the 
 drainage ditch or natural outlet. Trace a given amount 
 of water from a rain cloud through a tile-drained soil to 
 the creek or river. 
 
 12. Three Kinds of Water in the SoiL — We have just 
 been studying how a certain amount of water escapes 
 from the soil. This water, which moves through the 
 soil and drains away, is known as free, or gravity, water. 
 It is of no benefit to plants whatever. On the other hand, 
 it is an absolute detriment to them. When this gravity 
 water has drained away, there remains a tiny film about 
 each soil particle, known as film, or capillary, water. This 
 is the moisture, of which the plant makes use. There is, 
 however, stiU another kind of moisture, known as hygro- 
 scopic moisture. It is the water which may be driven off 
 by heating the soil to a high temperature after it is thor- 
 oughly air dried. It plays no part whatever in plant 
 growth. 
 
 EXERCISE 7 
 
 Object. — To determine the percentage of each kind of 
 water in a soil. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure a tomato can or a tin can with a 
 
20 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 cover and remove the bottom with a can opener. Press 
 lid into place and invert the can. Place first a piece of 
 screen wire and then a piece of cheesecloth on the inside 
 of the can next to the lid. Fill the can level full with any 
 soil you may select from your air-dried and screened 
 samples. Carefully weigh the can and soil. Add water 
 until the whole soil mass is saturated and the water stands 
 on the surface. Carefully weigh again. Remove the 
 lid from the bottom of the can and allow the water to 
 drain out for at least two days. Carefully weigh a third 
 time. Spread the soil on a cloth or in a large shallow pan 
 and allow it to dry in the open or near a stove for two or 
 three days. Weigh a fourth time. 
 
 By heating over a slow fire without burning, the 
 amount of hygroscopic moisture present could be de- 
 termined ; but since this is rather difficult, it is not 
 required here. 
 
 The moisture first lost was the gravity, or free water; 
 that in the sunlight or near the stove, the film water ; 
 that, which would be lost in the oven or in a pan over a 
 slow fire, the hygroscopic. 
 
 The following table will assist you in keeping your 
 notes : 
 
 Kind op 
 Soil 
 
 Weight 
 OP Can 
 
 Weight 
 OF Can 
 
 AND Soil 
 
 Weight op 
 
 Can, Soil 
 
 AND Water 
 
 Weight of 
 Can and 
 
 Soil after 
 Draining 
 
 Weight op 
 
 Can and 
 
 Soil after 
 
 Drying 
 
THE WATER IN THE SOIL 21 
 
 Conclusion. — Figure the percentage of gravity and 
 film moisture in the soil. If others have worked with 
 different kinds of soil, compare your results with theirs. 
 
 13. How Film Moisture works its Way upward in the 
 Soil. — The film moisture held in the soil tends to work 
 its way upward toward the surface. This is called capil- 
 lary action. We may know that water will rise a short 
 distance in a very small glass tube when we thrust it into a 
 pail of water. We know a lamp wick pulls up oil by the 
 same process. The soil is full of these tiny tubes, which 
 are not straight, to be sure, since they consist of irregular 
 openings between the soil particles; and through them 
 the moisture rises from the subsoil. Do these tubes 
 vary in size in different soils ? 
 
 EXERCISE 8 
 
 Object. — To record the rate at which film moisture rises 
 in different soils. 
 
 Procedure. — Repeat Exercise 4, but set the lower end 
 of the chimneys in pans of water instead of adding water at 
 the top. Raise the lower end of the chimneys slightly from 
 the bottom of the pan by thrusting a toothpick or splinter 
 under one side. Otherwise the water may not enter freely. 
 
 Conclusion. — Record the length of time it took the 
 moisture to reach the surface of the soil in each cylinder 
 or chimney. Tell why it rose quickly in some and slowly 
 
 in others. - 
 
 Since the moisture in the soil rises through these capil- 
 lary tubes, as we have just shown, is it not important to 
 keep them unbroken? 
 
 EXERCISE 9 
 
 Object. — To study the effect of breaking the capillary 
 tubes in the soil by plowing under clods or heavy straw. 
 
22 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 To study the effect on the rise of water in the soil of 
 discing stubble or trashy ground before plowing. 
 
 Procedure. — Fasten cheesecloth firmly over the lower 
 end of chimneys or glass cylinders as you did in Exercises 
 4 and 8. Fill the first chimney full of fine, sifted soil. 
 Fill the second one two thirds full of the same soil, then 
 add a small handful of fine clods, then soil again until the 
 chimney is full. Fill the third chimney exactly as you 
 
 Fig. 7. — Farmer discing. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 
 filled the second, only substitute a half inch of fine straw 
 for the clods. Fill a fourth chimney as you did the 
 third, but instead of putting the straw in a layer, cut and 
 mix it thoroughly with the soil in the upper part of the 
 chimney. Note that while the straw in the third chimney 
 is in a layer, just as it would be if we plowed stubble 
 without discing, that in the fourth chimney is mixed with 
 the soil just as it is when stubble is disced before plowing. 
 
THE WATER IN THE SOIL 23 
 
 Place the lower ends of the chimneys or cylinders in 
 pans of water, and watch the moisture rise in the soil. 
 
 Conclusion. — Will it pay to disc stubble or trashy 
 fields before plowing? Why? What is an ideal condi- 
 tion of the soil for the freest rise of moisture through it? 
 
 14. How the Farmer prevents the Escape of Film 
 Moisture. — The roots of plants often feed very near the 
 surface of the soil. These roots need the moisture that 
 comes up by capillary action. The farmer wants there- 
 fore to bring this water up to the roots, and yet not to let 
 it escape into the air. He can do this by mulching with 
 straw, but this may keep out the air, which we shall later 
 learn is very important. Moreover, it would be out of 
 the question for him to mulch all his fields in this way. 
 A mulch, then, of soil, or a dust mulch, as it is called, is 
 used. The following simple demonstration will show 
 how a dust, or powder, will prevent the moisture from 
 reaching the air : 
 
 Place two lumps of sugar in a saucer containing a small 
 amount of water colored with red ink. On the top of one 
 of the lumps, place half a spoonful of powdered sugar, 
 soda or starch. Notice how the colored water comes to 
 the surface of the first lump and stops at the powdered 
 material in the second. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Name four ways by which water escapes from the soil. 
 
 2. Which takes up water more rapidly, a sandy soil or a 
 clay soil? 
 
 3. Which takes up water more rapidly, a soil rich in humus or 
 one lacking in humus ? 
 
 4. Define the term spring. 
 
 5. Explain what causes the water to issue from a spring. 
 
 6. Explain fully how water enters a tile drain. 
 
24 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 7. What three kinds of water do we find in the soil ? 
 
 8. How can you determine the amount of each kind of water 
 in a sample of soil ? 
 
 9. What is the effect upon the- rise of water in the soil of 
 plowing under trash or clods? 
 
 10. How may moisture be prevented from escaping from 
 the surface of the soil? 
 
' CHAPTER III 
 
 THE AIR IN THE SOIL 
 
 Tillable land is made up of soil particles, each of which 
 is inclosed in a film of moisture while the spaces between 
 them are filled with air. A square rod of ordinary soil 
 may contain from sixty to seventy-five cubic feet of air 
 in the upper fourteen inches. 
 
 15. Why Air is Necessary in the Soil. — Air, which 
 consists chiefly of oxygen and nitrogen, plays a very 
 important part both in soil-making and in plant growth. 
 We have already learned that plants, decayed through 
 the action of fungi and bacteria, help to form soil. These 
 organisms, you will remember, break down the dead 
 plants into simple compounds which the living roots can 
 absorb again. (See Section 5.) 
 
 The fungi and bacteria which cause decay can not live 
 without oxygen, nor can the roots of plants live without 
 it. Moreover, a germinating seed takes in oxygen and 
 throws off carbon dioxide. In fact, as we shall later 
 learn, it is impossible for any seed to germinate without 
 oxygen. 
 
 In addition to oxygen and nitrogen, air also contains 
 carbon dioxide. This gas, which is given off by germinat- 
 ing seeds and decaying vegetable matter, helps to dissolve 
 the plant food in the soil. 
 
 16. Why we seek to control the Air Space in the Soil. 
 
 — Since the air in the soil is so essential to plant growth 
 
 25 
 
26 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 and soil-making, it follows that any method we may em- 
 ploy to get more air into the soil will ordinarily increase 
 its fertility. In regions, however, where the rainfall is not 
 sufficient to settle the soil well or to allow the decom- 
 position of the organic matter, the amount of air in the 
 soil may be too great. In this case, the upward move- 
 ment of water, such as was shown in Exercise 8, will be 
 interfered with, and not enough moisture will reach the 
 roots or germinating seeds. The aim of the farmer in 
 these dry regions is to increase the moisture-holding ca- 
 pacity of the soils without making them so light that the 
 movement of the air will dry them out. 
 
 The amount of air a soil contains depends (1) upon the 
 character of the soil, (2) upon the amount of organic 
 matter it contains and (3) upon the amount of moisture 
 present. 
 
 EXERCISE 10 
 
 Object. — To determine the amount of air space in the 
 soil. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure as many ordinary tin cans as you 
 have samples of fertile and infertile, air-dried and sifted 
 soils. Fill each can with a soil and tap lightly on the table 
 to settle it. The space between the soil particles is now 
 occupied by air. Add water slowly to each can, keeping 
 a careful record of the amount. 
 
 When the water has displaced all the air and stands at the 
 surface of the soil, you will be able to determine the amount 
 of air in the sample by the amount of water that has been 
 required to displace it. 
 
 Conclusion. — State which soils contain the greatest 
 amount of air space. Does the amount of organic matter, 
 or humus, make any difference in the amount of air the 
 soil contains? Why is it that a soil needs air? 
 
THE AIR IN THE SOIL 
 
 27 
 
 EXERCISE 11 
 
 Object. — To determine the influence of compacting the 
 soil upon the amount of air space in it. 
 
 Procedure. — Follow the instructiQns given in Exer- 
 cise 10, only before adding the water thoroughly pack the 
 
 Fig. 8. — Measuring the water before adding it to the soil. 
 
 soils in the cans with a short piece of broomstick or the 
 head of a small mallet. 
 
 Co7iclusion. — Compare the amount of air space in the 
 soil before packing, as determined in Exercise 10, with 
 that after packing, as found in this exercise. In dry 
 farming regions, where the soil is liable to be too loose and 
 light, would it be advisable to roll or pack it ? 
 
28 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 17. How we may get More Air into the SoiL — From 
 the western hmit of the Corn Belt to the Atlantic Ocean 
 and in all the land subject to irrigation, there is need of 
 plenty of air in the soil. This does not mean that large 
 air spaces, such as are caused by clods or small piles of 
 weeds or straw, are necessary ; it means rather that much 
 
 Fig. 9. — Farmer plowing. 
 
 of the air which finds its way into the small spaces in 
 mellow, well-tilled land is needed. 
 
 The amount of air in the soil is influenced first by cul- 
 tivation or tillage; second, by manuring; third, by 
 drainage; fourth, by rotation of crops. 
 
 The plow turns up particles of soil which may have 
 been shut off from a supply of air. Then, too, the bottom 
 of the furrow is in direct contact with the air until it is 
 covered on the next round. 
 
THE AIR IN THE SOIL 29 
 
 Harrowing, discing and cultivating all help to increase 
 the amount of air in the soil. Rolling and subsurface 
 packing, on the other hand, diminish the amount of air in 
 the soil. These latter operations are performed largely 
 in the dry farming regions. 
 
 How much more water did the soil containing humus 
 take up than the same soil lacking humus in Exercise 10? 
 Remember that it was there shown that the air space in a 
 soil increases with the amount of humus, or organic matter, 
 which it contains. By adding manure to the soil, we 
 increase the amount of air in it. 
 
 In Exercise 10, we expelled the air from the soil by add- 
 ing water. When we remove water from the soil by tile 
 drains, we allow air to take the place of the water. More- 
 over, a generous supply of air enters these tiles and moves 
 upward through the soil. 
 
 Many plants, such as alfalfa and sweet clover, send 
 their roots deep into the soil. When these crops are 
 plowed up, the roots decay, allowing the air to fill the 
 space which they had occupied. This is one of the bene- 
 fits of crop rotation. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. What are the uses of air in the soil? 
 
 2. How many cubic feet of air may the upper fourteen inches 
 of a square rod of soil contain ? 
 
 3. What influence has plowing and discing upon the volume 
 of air in the soil ? 
 
 4. Why is it that farmers in the dry farming regions work 
 to reduce the volume of air in their soils? 
 
 5. What influence do clods have upon the soil air? 
 
 6. Name two ways in which tile drains help to get air into 
 the soil. 
 
 7. What influence has manuring upon the amount of air 
 in the soil? 
 
 8. How does the rotation of crops influence soil air? 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL 
 
 18. Proper Temperature Necessary for Germination. 
 
 — Throughout the winter months, the seeds and roots of 
 plants in the earth Ue dormant. Plant food, moisture and 
 air are present in the soil ; but the proper temperature is 
 lacking. Seeds can not germinate, nor plants grow unless 
 the soil absorbs enough of the heat of the sun to raise the 
 temperature of the fields somewhat above freezing. Very 
 few of the seeds or plants awaken from their winter's 
 rest at a temperature near thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, 
 the melting point of ice. Wheat will germinate and make 
 some growth at forty-one degrees but it thrives best at 
 eighty-three. Oats may germinate at thirty-eight ; their 
 most vigorous growth, however, is made at seventy-seven 
 degrees. The soil in a cornfield should register a tempera- 
 ture of at least forty-nine degrees, while ninety-two degrees 
 is the best, or optimum temperature for the germination 
 of this seed. Cucumbers, muskmelons and squashes 
 should not be planted until the oaks are fully in leaf, when 
 the soil temperature is around eighty degrees. 
 
 19. How Temperature of the Soil is governed. — 
 
 Since a warm soil is so important a factor in the germina- 
 tion of seeds and the development of roots, let us consider 
 the laws that govern the temperature of the soil. These 
 laws, or principles, may be summarized in three sentences : 
 The temperature of the soil depends first upon the 
 amount of air space in it. 
 
 30 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL 
 
 31 
 
 The temperature of a soil depends secondly upon the 
 amount of moisture in it. 
 
 The temperature of a soil depends thirdly upon its 
 color. 
 
 20. How the Air Space in a Soil affects its Tempera- 
 ture. — The greater the amount of air space, the warmer 
 the soil. Air is warmer than the earth in the spring. 
 Therefore when either air or rain water, which is warmed 
 in passing through the air, enters the soil in the spring, 
 the temperature of the land is raised. 
 
 We have already in Exercises 10 and 11 determined the 
 amount of air space in certain soils. Let us now see what 
 influence this has upon the temperature. We remember 
 from Exercise 1 that while sand is made up of coarse 
 particles, clay consists of particles so small and fine that 
 it becomes pasty when wet. 
 
 EXERCISE 12 
 
 Object. — To determine how the size of particles, and 
 consequently of the air space in a soil, influences its tem- 
 perature. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill two cans, one with clay, the other 
 with sand. Plunge the bulb of a thermometer into each 
 soil, about one inch below the surface. Moisten each 
 soil and place the cans in the sunlight. Copy the follow- 
 ing table into your notebook and complete it by recording 
 the temperatures every hour. 
 
 Soil 
 
 9 A.M. 
 
 10 a.m. 
 
 11 A.M. 
 
 12 A.M. 
 
 1 P.M. 
 
 2 P.M. 
 
 Sand 
 Clay 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 P.M. 
 
32 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Conclusions. — Market gardeners always try to select 
 a dark, sandy soil for their early vegetables. Give one 
 reason why this kind of soil warms up earlier in the spring. 
 Lime, added to a clay soil, tends to gather the fine parti- 
 cles into small grains. Would you expect the tempera- 
 ture of a clay soil to be somewhat higher after a dressing, 
 
 Fig. 10. — Thermometers in the soil. 
 
 or application of lime was added? In Exercise 10, the 
 amount of air space was found to be greater in the soil 
 containing humus from the old fence row than in that 
 from the center of the road. Would you expect the tem- 
 perature of the soil in the sun along the fence row to be 
 higher than that in the center of the road ? Why ? If you 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL 33 
 
 have time, test with the thermometer to see if your answer 
 is correct. Summarize your answers into a short story 
 about the influence of air space upon the temperature of 
 soils. 
 
 21. How the Moisture in a Soil affects its Tempera- 
 ture. — We all know that a wet, soggy soil, which is filled 
 with free or gravity water, is much colder in the spring 
 than is a well-drained soil, which contains only film mois- 
 ture. Let us investigate this with our thermometers. 
 
 EXERCISE 13 
 
 Object. — To show the influence of the amount of mois- 
 ture in a soil upon its temperature. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill two cans from the same sample of 
 soil ; that is, with soil from a fence row, from a cultivated 
 field, or from a garden as you may choose. Add water to 
 the first can until it stands at the surface of the soil. 
 Add none to the second can. Plunge the bulb of a ther- 
 mometer about an inch below the surface of each soil. 
 Prepare a table as you did in the preceding exercise, but 
 substituting the words " saturated soil " and " dry soil " 
 for " sand " and " clay." Place the cans where both the 
 sun and the wind will strike them. 
 
 Conclusions. — Men often wrap a piece of a sack about 
 a jug in the summer time to keep the water cool. The 
 sack is usually kept moist so that water is evaporating 
 from it all the time. Evaporation is a cooling process. 
 In which soil did the thermometer read lower, that which 
 was saturated, or the other one? Why? What is one 
 of the great benefits of tile draining? Which soils will 
 allow ready passage of water through them, those con- 
 taining plenty, or little, of humus? Why? Sandy soils, 
 or clay soils? Why? 
 
 D 
 
34 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 22. How the Color of a Soil affects its Temperature. — 
 
 It is a pieculiar fact that dark colored things absorb more 
 of the sun's heat than do those which are hght colored. 
 That this is true of soils is shown by the following experi- 
 ment : 
 
 EXERCISE 14 
 
 Object. — To determine the influence of the color of a 
 soil upon its temperature. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill two cans to within an inch of the top 
 with any soil you may choose. Fill the remainder of one 
 can with some white powder, as slaked Ume or chalk dust, 
 the other with coal dust or soot. Thrust the bulb of a 
 thermometer into each can to a depth of about an inch. 
 Record the temperatures one hour after the two cans have 
 been placed in the sunlight. 
 
 Conclusions. — White reflects Hght, black absorbs it ; 
 and when Hght is absorbed, it is converted into heat. 
 Is not a dark suit or dress warmer in the summer than a 
 white one? Why? Should a light colored horse stand 
 more heat in the summer time, other things being equal, 
 than a black one ? Why ? If time permits, compare the 
 temperatures of light and dark colored soils in the fields. 
 Are the fields to which green or barnyard manure was 
 added a year or two ago darker in color than those to 
 which none was added? Are the fields which were in 
 clover or pasture last year darker than those which have 
 been continuously cultivated? 
 
 Name four ways by which a farmer may make the soil 
 of his fields warmer. 
 
 23. The Advantages of a Warm Soil. — Seeds awaken, 
 or germinate, much more readily in a warm soil than in a 
 cold one. The growing plant also thrives better where 
 the soil temperature is favorable. The bacteria and 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL 35 
 
 other organisms in the soil, which break down the dead 
 plants, work much more rapidly at the higher tempera- 
 tures. The soil is a storehouse of plant food. A certain 
 amount of this must be unlocked each year to supply the 
 plants. Plant food becomes available in a shorter time 
 if the soil is warm. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Why are plants dormant in the winter? 
 
 2. At what temperature will corn germinate best? 
 
 3. At what temperature will wheat germinate best? 
 
 4. Upon what three things does the temperature of the soil 
 
 depend? -i j 
 
 5. Compare the temperatures of a sandy and a clay soil and 
 
 give reasons for the difference. 
 
 6. Why will adding lime to a clay soil raise the temper- 
 
 7. Compare the temperature of an undrained field which is 
 wet with that of a drained field and give reasons for the differ- 
 
 ence. 
 
 8. Why is a dark colored soil warmer than a light colored 
 
 one ? 
 
 9. How may a person change the color of his soil ? 
 10. What benefits are derived from a warm soil ? 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE TILLAGE OF SOILS 
 
 24. Why we till the Soil. — The question of tillage 
 of soils is so interwoven with that of air in the soil, water 
 in the soil, and the temperature of the soil that it is 
 difficult for us to set it aside as a separate lesson. There 
 are, however, some deep and fundamental objects of 
 tillage which we should fix in mind. We till the soil : 
 
 First : to improve its texture and structure. 
 
 Second : to cover, or to work into the soil trash, straw, 
 manure or plants by plowing or discing. 
 
 Third : to put seed into the prepared seed bed. 
 
 Fourth : to destroy weeds. 
 
 Fifth : to prevent the escape of moisture from the soil by 
 making a dust mulch. 
 
 Sixth : to enable air and water to enter the soil. 
 
 25. Improving the Texture and Structure of the Soil. — 
 If we are to study how tilling the soil will change its texture 
 and structure, we must know the meaning of these terms 
 as applied to farm lands. The size of the individual 
 particles in the soil determines its texture. The manner 
 in which these particles/?^ together determines the structure. 
 
 The question at once arises. How does tillage change 
 the size of particles ? It can not, in itself, change the 
 texture of the soil, for the particles are broken up by might- 
 ier forces than the plow, or harrow, or disc. These opera- 
 tions do, however, expose the soil particles so that the sun 
 and the water, the heat and the cold, can break them into 
 finer particles. 
 
 36 
 
THE TILLAGE OF SOILS 37 
 
 There are two ways in which the particles of soil may 
 fit together, and hence two soil structures are commonly 
 recognized : 
 
 First : that in which the particles are stuck together in 
 tiny masses, forming what is known as the crumb structure. 
 
 Second : that in which the particles are run together 
 in large masses, forming lumps, or clods. This is known 
 as the puddled structure. 
 
 The formation of lumps and clods ; i.e., the puddled 
 structure, may be brought about in four ways : (1) by 
 plowing the ground when it is too wet ; (2) by allowing 
 animals to trample the fields when the soil is full of mois- 
 ture ; (3) by leaving the fields too long in one crop ; and 
 (4) by neglecting to add organic matter. 
 
 EXERCISE 15 
 
 Object. — To show the effect of freezing upon the 
 structure of soils. 
 
 Procedure. — Make four mud pies out of clay such as 
 was obtained in Exercise 1. These pies should be about 
 an inch and a half in diameter, one half inch thick, and 
 contain enough water to prevent cracking when molded. 
 Set one pie on a window sill or on a shelf to dry. It 
 should not be allowed to freeze. Place the other three 
 outside the schoolroom where they will freeze thoroughly. 
 Bring them into the schoolroom after they have been frozen 
 solid for a day or two, and thaw them out carefully. As 
 soon as the frost is out of them, but while they are still 
 wet, place one upon the window sill or shelf inside the 
 schoolroom, and the other two outside to freeze thoroughly 
 again. Bring the two frozen pies in again later; and 
 when they have thawed out a second time, set a third 
 one on the shelf, and put the last one out to freeze once 
 
38 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 more. Remember that this pie should not have been 
 allowed at any time to lose its moisture. Bring it again 
 into the schoolroom, thaw it out gradually, and put it 
 on the shelf with the others. 
 
 Conclusions. — Break and crumble each of the pies in 
 your hand. Remember that one of them has not been 
 frozen at all, another has been frozen once, the third, twice, 
 and the fourth, three times. Record in your notebook 
 which one crumbled most easily, which one next, etc. 
 What did the freezing do to the particles of soil which 
 had been stuck together by pressure of the fingers while 
 wet? Have you not noticed how much more mellow a 
 soil is in the spring than in the fall? What are some of 
 the advantages of fall plowing ? 
 
 EXERCISE 16 
 
 Object. — To determine the effect upon structure of 
 working organic matter into the soil. 
 
 Procedure. — Make a mud pie out of clay as you did 
 in the preceding exercise, only just moisten it instead of 
 making it wet. Make a second one in the same way, but 
 make it of one part sawdust, peat or powdered leaf mold, 
 and two parts clay. Mix the ingredients dry before 
 adding water. Make a third and fourth pie as you did 
 the first two, but using sand instead of clay, then a fifth 
 and sixth one, using silt in the same way. Put the pies 
 in an oven, on the radiator or on the back of the stove to 
 dry them out thoroughly. 
 
 Conclusions. — Crumble each pie carefully in your 
 hands. Which crumbles more readily, the clay alone, or 
 the clay and organic matter? Did the addition of the 
 organic matter have as much effect upon the silt as upon 
 the clay? Did it not have least effect upon the sand? 
 In which soil are the particles smallest? Would you say 
 
THE TILLAGE OF SOILS 
 
 39 
 
 then that clay soils need green and barnyard manures 
 more than sandy ones as far as structure is concerned? 
 Which of all these soils could be plowed first after a rain ? 
 
 Fig. 11. — Adding organic matter to the soil. 
 
 26. One Cause of Cloddy Fields. — The next experi- 
 ment will bring out one of the common causes of the 
 cloddy fields which often prove troublesome to farmers. 
 
 EXERCISE 17 
 
 Object. — To study the effect of stirring or tramping 
 soils when wet. 
 
 Procedure. — Make three groups of mud pies out of 
 clay, silt and sand ; or use types of soils from the fields in 
 which these materials predominate. Each group is to 
 consist of one pie of clay, one of silt and one of sand. If 
 the soil is brought from the field, it will probably be moist 
 enough for the pies of the first group. If the soil is dry, 
 add just enough water to moisten and put it in the con- 
 dition of well tilled land. To each pie of the second 
 
40 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 group, add enough water to make the soil sticky. To the 
 third group, add water until the whole is a saturated mass. 
 In this case, the clay, the silt, and the sand, of which the 
 different pies are 'made should be thoroughly Worked in 
 your hands. Set the pies in the oven or on the back of 
 the stove to bake. 
 
 Conclusion. — After baking, crumble each pie care- 
 fully in your hands, making note of how hard each one 
 is to crush. Would you say that plowing or trampling a 
 sandy soil would puddle it as much as it would a clay 
 soil? Would it puddle a silt soil as readily as a clay 
 soil? What effect would the addition of organic matter 
 have on each of these soils? 
 
 27. Covering, or Working into the Soil, Organic Matter. 
 
 — As already stated, the second object of tillage is to 
 cover or work into the soil any organic matter which may 
 be on the surface. This may be accomplished by using 
 the plow or disc. 
 
 With the plow, a narrow strip of land is turned up, 
 twisted over and laid bottom side up. Where there is 
 any great amount of trash or straw on the ground, a roll- 
 ing cutter, or coulter, as it is called, is used. This rolhng 
 knife cuts through the trash so that it can not gather, and 
 lift or clog the plow. 
 
 If tall weeds, green manuring crops, or any other plants 
 are plowed under, some means must be employed to 
 draw them down to the bottom of the furrow, allowing 
 the dirt to cover them completely. A chain or a bent 
 rod is commonly used to draw the heavy plant growth 
 under the overturning furrow slice. 
 
 28. Putting Seed into the Seed Bed. — The operation 
 of seeding will be studied again in connection with certain 
 
THE TILLAGE OF SOILS 
 
 41 
 
 crops. The work of seeding generally stirs or tills the 
 soil to a considerable extent. A small furrow is usually 
 opened by the drill shoe, or the planter blade ; and the 
 dirt is filled in again over the seed by some shovel or 
 wheel attachment behind. 
 
 Fig. 12. — Farmer harrowino;. 
 
 29. Destroying Weeds. — One of the primary objects 
 of tillage is to destroy weeds. The tool which is used 
 depends upon how deeply or thoroughly we wish to cul- 
 tivate the soil, in addition to killing the weeds ; and it 
 
42 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 depends also upon the size of the weeds and the nature 
 of their root system. Any plant is most easily destroyed 
 when it is just breaking through the ground. The com- 
 mon harrow is one of the best tools we have for destroying 
 young weeds. 
 
 As the weeds become a little older, the disc or cultiva- 
 tor is used to destroy them. The disc is not used, however, 
 on such plants as the quack grass. This weed is spread 
 by long, underground stems, which run about beneath the 
 surface at a depth of two or three inches. A disc only 
 serves to cut these stems into pieces and scatter them 
 through the fields, where each piece becomes a new plant. 
 Such weeds are plowed up, exposing the roots to the sun 
 without breaking them any more than necessary. 
 
 30. Forming a Dust Mulch. — In Section 14, we ob- 
 served how the moisture rises through the soil until it 
 escapes into the air unless prevented by a dust mulch. 
 Such a mulch may be formed and maintained with the 
 harrow, the fine-toothed cultivator, or with the subsurface 
 packer, which is extensively used in the dry farming regions. 
 
 31. Making it Possible for Air and Water to enter the 
 Soil. — Plants can not exist without air and water. The 
 roots and germinating seeds, as well as the leaves and 
 stems, must have air. Plants absorb no moisture through 
 their leaves or stems ; the roots alone gather the water. 
 We have already seen in Section 16 why the soil needs air. 
 It must be put in condition to receive and hold this air 
 and water. 
 
 The plow stirs the soil, making it light and friable; 
 the harrow breaks the lumps, making the earth even more 
 mellow ; and the cultivator loosens the surface so that 
 the rain will not run off and that the air may enter. 
 
THE TILLAGE OF SOILS 43 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Give six reasons for tilling the soil. 
 
 2. Define the terms texture and structure as applied to soils. 
 
 3. What effect does freezing have upon the structure of 
 soils ? 
 
 4. Name two soil structures. 
 
 5. Name two ways of bringing about the crumb structure. 
 
 6. Name four causes of a puddled condition of the soil. 
 
 7. How can you draw tall weeds or other plants under when 
 you plow? 
 
 8. What is the best implement to use to destroy weeds that 
 are just sprouting? To destroy weeds an inch or two high? 
 To destroy tall weeds? 
 
 9. What is the use of a dust mulch, and how is it maintained ? 
 10. How does cultivation help air and water to enter the soil ? 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE ROUND OF PLANT LIFE 
 
 Thus far our lessons have been about soil, for from the 
 soil plants draw their moisture and all of their food except 
 carbon. Plants can not exist without soil ; neither can 
 soil exist without plants. The two are inseparable, and 
 our lessons should lead naturally from one to the other. 
 
 32. The Life Cycle of Plants. — The year is made up 
 of seasons, one following the other. As spring passes 
 imperceptibly into summer with nothing but an arbitrary 
 division between, so one period in the life cycle of a plant 
 passes imperceptibly into another. For convenience in 
 our study, we have divided the life of a plant into seven 
 periods, devoting to each period one chapter, or lesson. 
 These are as follows : 
 
 (1) The Seed : Its Selection and Distribution. 
 
 (2) Seed Germination. 
 
 (3) The Work of Roots. 
 
 (4) The Work of Leaves. 
 
 (5) The Work of Stems. 
 
 (6) The Work of Flowers. 
 
 (7) The Formation and Development of Seed. 
 
 33. How the Parts of a Plant work together. — A seed 
 is selected and stored away by man, or it is carried by the 
 wind or in the fur of some passing animal. Thus it is 
 planted in a well prepared seed bed or becomes covered in 
 
 44 
 
THE ROUND OF PLANT LIFE 
 
 45 
 
 Nature's own way. As the warm days of spring come 
 on : 
 
 The seed absorbs moisture and takes in oxygen. The 
 tiny plant within the seed begins to grow. It breaks the 
 seed coat and puslies its way further downward into the 
 soil and upward into the light. 
 
 ^' The roots search for food and 
 moisture in the soil as though they 
 had eyes." 
 
 The leaves are held up to the sun- 
 light; and by its help they manufac- 
 ture the food that nourishes not only 
 the plant itself, but man 
 and beast as well. 
 
 The stems develop 
 for the sole purpose of 
 
 Fig. 13. — Stages in the life of a bean. 
 
 holding these leaves up to the light and conducting to 
 them minerals and water from the soil. 
 
 Lastly the flowers appear, not for beauty, not for 
 fragrance, although we enjoy both. Flowers form seed. 
 
 Not all the seeds produced by a single flower or by a 
 single plant can develop on the same spot of ground. 
 They must be scattered by Nature or by man, and in 
 their new locations, they must begin just as the seed 
 which produced them began. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE SEED: ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 
 
 34. The Functions of the Seed.^ — ^ Every part of a plant 
 has one or more duties to perform. The seed has three : 
 
 First : to -protect the tiny plants embryo or germ within 
 it. 
 
 Second : to assist in the work of distribution; that is, 
 to help to bring about its own removal from the parent 
 plant that it may find a favorable place in which to 
 germinate. 
 
 Third : to nourish the young plant within it until the 
 latter is able to gather and manufacture its own food. 
 
 35. How the Embryo is protected. — Each seed has 
 its characteristic seedcoat, or covering. Sometimes it is 
 thick, shell-like and woody as in the case of the nuts ; 
 sometimes it is thin, paper-like and almost waterproof 
 as in the bean and corn ; again, the seedcoat may become 
 covered with layers of fiber, or lint as in the cotton. No 
 matter what the form and structure of a seedcoat may 
 be, it protects the embryo plant within against the enemies 
 outside. Among these enemies are moisture, heat, drouth, 
 insects, molds, and animals. The chief of these is mois- 
 ture. 
 
 36. How Seeds are scattered by Nature. — Seedcoats 
 not only protect the embryos within, but often assist the 
 seeds in becoming scattered. It is of the greatest impor- 
 tance to a plant family to have the seeds of each member 
 
 46 
 
THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 47 
 
 scattered away from the parent. Nature has provided 
 for this in many ways. The most important of these 
 ways are : (1) wind ; (2) water ; (3) animals ; (4) explosive 
 or creeping habit of the seed pod. 
 
 Those seeds which are scattered by the wind have either 
 a feathery growth attached, like the dandelion, which 
 enables them to fly through the air, or they have a keel- 
 
 ^HH 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^^^^^ ' ^^fl^^^l 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^Kb 
 
 JH^^^^^^H 
 
 
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 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M 
 
 
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 ^^^H| 
 
 
 
 
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 r 
 
 
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 ■'^^I^^^Bm 
 
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 RBS^^ 
 
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 ^ W» jM 
 
 P*^?^H^5 
 
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 MHHI 
 
 
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 ^^^^^^^Hkb-v , iL^j^Mt- 
 
 
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 i^UIUIRiS^^^ 
 
 
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 ^^^^HHk^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 
 
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 1 
 
 ^^^^^jH| 
 
 
 1 
 
 Fig. 14. — Seeds scattered by the wind. 
 
 shaped attachment, which, acting like a ship's rudder, 
 turns the seed about in the air. The seeds in this last 
 group often whirl through the air as they fall from the 
 parent plant. The soft maple and the basswood are 
 excellent examples. Plants like the tumbling pigweed 
 and the Russian thistle, when mature, break off easily 
 from their roots and go bumping and tumbling along the 
 ground before the wind, scattering their seeds as they go. 
 Those seeds which are scattered by the water are usually 
 
48 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT 'LIFE 
 
 light enough to float. It is not easy for water to enter 
 seeds of this class, but many of them will grow even after 
 being water-soaked. > 
 
 Those seeds that are scattered by animals may be 
 divided into three groups : (1) those which cling by means 
 of hooks or spines to the fur, hair or bodies of animals ; 
 (2) those which have food stored within or around them. 
 
 FiG. 15. — Seeds scattered by animals. Note the Cockleburs in the 
 
 fur of the coUie. 
 
 and which the birds and other animals carry some dis- 
 tance and drop ; and (3) those which the animals eat 
 and which pass uninjured through the digestive tract. 
 
 Some seeds, as those of the squirting cucumber, are 
 thrown some distance from the parent plant by the pod, 
 itself, much as we snap a fresh cherry pit between our 
 thumb and finger. When the pods of some other plants 
 such as the yellow oxalis, become dry, they snap the seed 
 
THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 49 
 
 away, as we would a bean with a bent stick. Still other 
 seeds,' such as those of the wild oat, actually work their 
 way along the ground in a sort of creeping motion. 
 
 37. How Seeds are scattered by Man. — Man has 
 
 played an important part in scattering seeds from state 
 
 to state and from one part of the world to another. Very 
 
 few of our noxious weeds are natives of America, most of 
 
 them having been introduced by 
 
 man from foreign lands. The 
 
 quack grass, the docks, the 
 
 Canada thistle, Russian thistle, 
 
 pigweed, foxtail and many others 
 
 were not found in this country 
 
 when the white man first began 
 
 to settle here. Man scatters seeds 
 
 of weeds (1) in commercial seeds, 
 (2) from railway and trolley 
 cars, (3) in wool and hay, (4) in 
 manure, and (5) in the packing 
 about goods and nursery stock. 
 
 Many of the grains, grasses, 
 trees and shrubs which grow 
 in our fields and about our homes were first brought 
 to us from foreign countries. Of the following plants, 
 — corn, wheat, oats, red clover, alfalfa, timothy, blue grass, 
 cotton, apples, peaches, pears and oranges, — corn alone 
 originated on this continent. New varieties of seeds, 
 as well as those which have long grown here, are being in- 
 troduced each year from foreign countries. The annual 
 shipment of seed from state to state is enormous. The 
 shipper may fail to clean his seed properly. Commercial 
 seeds, therefore, become the carriers of weed seeds. 
 
 Almost every year, some new variety of plant sprmgs 
 
 E 
 
 Fig. 16. — Explosive seeds 
 the squirting cucumber. 
 
50 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 up along our railroads. The seeds have dropped out of 
 leaky grain cars, or have been pushed out with the bedding 
 from stock cars. 
 
 Certain seeds, particularly those with hooks and spines, 
 become imbedded in the wool of sheep. When the wool 
 is shipped, the seeds go along and often germinate in the 
 waste piles at the mills. Hay, also, may act as a carrier 
 of seeds, either good or bad. 
 
 Stock is shipped from all parts of the country to our 
 large markets. More and more, the Utter and manure 
 from the stockyards are being shipped to the country to be 
 scattered on the fields. Weed and other seeds often be- 
 come scattered in this way. 
 
 The roots of trees and shrubs must be packed in some 
 moist substance when they are shipped from place to 
 place. Chaff, straw, hay and moss are used. China, 
 glassware and crockery are usually packed in the same 
 materials to prevent breakage. In this packing are 
 often found small quantities of seed. 
 
 More weed seeds and seeds of foreign plants find their 
 way to our farms in commercial seeds than in any other 
 way. It is therefore of the greatest importance that we 
 examine any seed intended for planting lest such seeds 
 be mixed with seeds of weeds and other plants that we 
 do not want. 
 
 38. Making a Seed Collection. — We are at once 
 confronted with the difficulty of knowing the different 
 weed seeds. 
 
 Prepare a collection of the seeds of our common weeds, 
 which mature in the late summer and fall. 
 
 A small bottle, or vial, may be used to hold each sample, 
 and a case of heavy pasteboard or wood made to hold the 
 entire collection. Each bottle should be number ed; and 
 
THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 51 
 
 on the inside of the cover of the case, a sheet of paper 
 should be pasted on which should be written the number 
 and name of each seed. The nature of the ground where 
 each plant was found should also be written on this 
 paper, the heading being as follows : 
 
 Seed No. 
 
 Name 
 
 Where Found 
 
 1 
 
 Cocklebur 
 
 Cultivated Field 
 
 If neither you nor your teacher knows the name of any 
 given plant, — and none of us knows the names of all of 
 them — send both seed and plant to your agricultural 
 college or university, asking what the plant is. Very 
 shortl}^ you will receive a letter giving its name. 
 
 :^ \ 
 
 JpiB 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 
 
 ■^^^^^^^^^B* ^ Tk-.'^W*- 'wVHMiiHUM 
 
 
 !l^^!f9MHIHHH ^ ^ 'l^H 
 
 
 i 
 
 lis; 
 
 1 
 
 b 
 
 m 
 
 Fig. 17. — A collection of seeds. 
 
 The method by which we determine the purity of a 
 seed sample will be made a part of our study of clovers. 
 
52 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 39. How Nature selects Seeds. — Nature carries on a 
 rigid seed selection. Tlie strong seed produces a strong 
 plant which soon overshadows and crowds out its weaker 
 competitors. The seeds which produce plants that are 
 able to survive the heat and the cold, the drought or the 
 flood, the insect or the disease, are the ones which come to 
 make up the plant life of any locality. 
 
 The farmer destroys the weeds and other enemies 
 which retard the growth of the planted seed. The prob- 
 lem of careful selection and storage of the seed, however, 
 remains. 
 
 40. How Man selects Seeds. — As in the selection 
 of an animal, the selection of any seed should begin with 
 the parent. We want to know that the parent plant is 
 vigorous ; that it is of a desirable type ; that it is more 
 productive than the average of its kind, bearing fruit or 
 seed of high quahty; that it is able to withstand the 
 ravages of insects, the attacks of diseases, and perhaps the 
 extremes of a variable climate ; that its root system is 
 strong enough to hold it erect in times of high winds ; and 
 so we might name many other things that man considers 
 in connection with the parent plant whose seeds he wishes 
 to sow in his fields. 
 
 In connection with any given species or variety of 
 plant, there are usually particular characteristics to con- 
 sider in addition to the general ones named above. More- 
 over, it should be understood that just as any given char- 
 acteristic may be regarded as highly desirable, so its 
 opposite, which may be found growing in the same field 
 or even beside it in the same hill or row, is just as highly 
 undesirable. 
 
 In the following exercise, you will select from the field 
 stalks of corn which show desirable characteristics and at 
 
THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 53 
 
 the same time others which show the opposite, or undesir- 
 able characteristics. 
 
 EXERCISE 18 
 
 Object. — To study types of corn stalks, from which 
 seed ears may be chosen, and also types which are to be 
 avoided. 
 
 Procedure. — Select and bring to the school building 
 from any field you may choose fourteen or more stalks of 
 corn as directed below. Each of these stalks will show 
 either a desirable or an undesirable characteristic. Those 
 which are desirable appear first and in italics. Note 
 carefully the reasons given as to why the one is considered 
 desirable and the other undesirable. 
 
 (1) A strong, sturdy stalk of medium height and tapering 
 gradually to the top. 
 
 (1) A slender, spindhng stalk with or without an ear. 
 It has been found that the best ears are commonly 
 
 borne on stalks of the first description. A really good 
 ear is rarely found on a slender, spindling stalk, no matter 
 how tall it may be. 
 
 (2) A stalk with an ear at medium height from the ground. 
 
 (2) A stalk with an ear borne either very low or very 
 high. 
 
 As a rule, the largest, best formed ears are not found 
 near the ground, nor high up on the stalk. Moreover, 
 both are hard to husk. Hence, seed ears are chosen from 
 those plants whose ears are borne at a medium height. 
 
 {3) A shank long eiiough to allow the ear to hang with 
 the tip downward. 
 
 (3) A shank so short that the ear is held with the tip 
 pointing upward. 
 
 If tip extends upward, rain may enter, water gather 
 at the base of the ear, and molds or decay result. This is 
 
54 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 undesirable in the parent plant, and would likewise be 
 undesirable in the offspring. 
 
 (4) A shank of mediu77i size and strength. 
 
 (4) A shank too large and strong ; or one that is small 
 and weak ; or two stalks, each showing one of these faults. 
 
 If the shank is too large, the cob is also large, and the 
 proportion of corn to cob, i.e., the shelling percentage, is 
 small. Also the ear will be held with tip upward, and it 
 will be hard to break off when husking. On the other 
 hand, if the shank is too small, the ear is liable to be broken 
 off by the fall winds. 
 
 (5) A stalk bearing an ear, whose husks are of medium 
 thickness and do not fit too closely. 
 
 (5) A stalk bearing an ear whose husks are too thick and 
 fit too closely ; or one bearing an ear whose husks are too 
 thin and loose ; or better yet, secure a specimen of each 
 description. 
 
 If the husks are thick and close, the ear will dry out 
 slowly, maturing late ; also it will be hard to husk. If 
 they are too thin and loose, the corn may be damaged 
 by the elements or otherwise. 
 
 (6) A stalk whose ear is well matured at the time when 
 the first killing frosts of autumn are about due. 
 
 (6) A stalk whose ear is wet, heavy and immature at this 
 time. 
 
 In most parts of the Corn Belt, early maturity is con- 
 sidered highly desirable as it lessens the danger of having 
 the crop injured when the fall frosts come. To this end, 
 seed is often selected in the field before the first frosts have 
 come in the fall. If well matured ears are chosen at that 
 time for seed, the crop raised from this seed should like- 
 wise mature early. In this way, the time required to 
 mature the crop has been gradually reduced by northern 
 growers with the result that corn is now raised successfully 
 
THE SEP]D : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 55 
 
 far north of where it could have been grown even twenty- 
 five years ago. 
 
 (7) A stalk, hearing an ear whose tip is unexposed to the 
 weather. 
 
 (7) A stalk, the tip of whose ear is exposed to the 
 weather. 
 
 If the tip protrudes from among the husks, some kernels 
 are invariably damaged by the elements, smut, insects, 
 birds or otherwise. If such ears are used for seed, simi- 
 larly damaged corn may be expected in the resulting crop. 
 
 (8) A barren stalk; i.e., one bearing no ear. 
 
 Barren stalks are found in every field. They occupy 
 space and receive care and attention without yielding 
 any return. Since they bear no ears, many people sup- 
 pose that they can not reproduce themselves. This is only 
 half true. The pollen from their tassels, which are really 
 the male flowers, falls upon the silks of near-by stalks, 
 fertilizing the kernels, which are a part of the female flowers. 
 Thus ears are formed containing the " blood " of the barren 
 plant; and if kernels from these ears are later used for 
 seed, they will have a tendency to produce barren plants. 
 Therefore in selecting seed ears in the field, the careful 
 grower rejects those found near a barren stalk. 
 
 (9) A stalk from whose base a sucker has grown. 
 A sucker is a stem, which branches from the main 
 
 stem of the plant near or below the surface of the ground. 
 It usually draws its nourishment from the plant which 
 bears it. As a rule, it bears no ear, or a mere nubbin, 
 while by draining the plant of nourishment, it weakens 
 the latter, reducing its productive power. Hence stalks 
 bearing suckers are considered undesirable. Many of the 
 best growers will not select a seed ear from such a plant ; 
 nor will they choose an ear from any plant standing near 
 it, upon which its pollen might have fallen. 
 
56 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Conclusion. — It is clearly evident from our study of 
 parent plants that no two plants are exactly alike. The 
 fact that they do vary slightly or radically enables a person 
 to select specimens which approach the ideal. 
 
 By the selection of seed, the sugar content of sugar 
 beets has been raised from twelve to more than eighteen 
 per cent. 
 
 By the selection of seed in America, the length of the 
 lint on Egyptian cotton has been almost doubled within 
 three years. 
 
 By selection of seed, the average number of rows on 
 an ear of corn has been raised from about thirteen to 
 twenty. 
 
 Moreover, by seed selection, the Corn Belt has been 
 pushed northward almost to the Canadian line, notwith- 
 standing the original home of the corn plant was in south- 
 ern Mexico. 
 
 Plants are improved and new varieties originated by 
 crossing one blossom with another. This is a delicate 
 and uncertain piece of work and requires the knowledge of 
 a specialist. Seed selection, on the other hand, is some- 
 thing that each one of us can do. 
 
 In the foregoing exercise have been given twelve 
 characteristics of the corn plant, which are undesirable 
 and which we should seek to avoid. Go over them care- 
 fully and state which ones could be avoided with certainty 
 by the farmer who selected his seed from the wagon or 
 crib in November. 
 
 41. Selecting Specimens for Corn Judging. — The com- 
 parison and judging of ears of corn will be left for our 
 lesson on that crop. Of course it is not enough that an 
 ear be borne on the right kind of stalk. It is necessary 
 that the ear, itself, and the kernels as well, possess certain 
 
THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 57 
 
 characteristics which are held to be desirable. If you 
 think you are able to recognize good corn when you see it, 
 you may select now and store away for your judging later 
 in the year at least twenty good ears. 
 Bear in mind that a good ear of corn, — 
 
 (1) Should be perfectly sound and mature so that seed 
 from it is practically certain to grow. 
 
 (2) Is nearly cylindrical in shape, or very slightly taper- 
 ing, but rather " full " in the middle. 
 
 (3) Has a butt well rounded, with kernels not too 
 square or blocky, and fitting closely around the shank. 
 
 (4) Has a tip well covered with kernels. 
 
 (5) Has straight rows free from depressions. 
 
 (6) Has kernels of uniform size and of keystone shape. 
 
 42. Nature stores no Seeds but provides for Loss. — 
 Nature has no granaries in which to store her supply of 
 seeds for another season's crop. As we have seen, the 
 seeds are scattered far and wide. Those which escape 
 being devoured by the birds and other animals must pass 
 the winter in whatever place they chance to fall. Thus 
 exposed, many of them can not survive the extreme cold 
 of winter or the sudden changes of spring. The loss is 
 enormous, but Nature has provided for it by producing 
 an enormous quantity of seed. A single pigweed may 
 produce as many as fifty thousand seeds, while one Russian 
 thistle has been known to produce two hundred and fifty 
 thousand. One bushel of corn will plant about seven 
 acres, which in a good year should produce four hundred 
 bushels. This four hundred bushels in turn, you see, 
 would plant two thousand eight hundred acres. Thus 
 Nature's habit of producing more seed than would be 
 needed for planting if properly stored, enables man and 
 
58 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 beast to live. The granaries and elevators overflowing 
 with oats and barley, the train loads of corn and wheat, 
 are Nature's surplus. 
 
 43. Man's Storage of Seed. — If the tiller of the soil 
 is to feed his animals, his own family and the great mass 
 of people who do not produce their own food, he 
 must carefully store that seed which he is to use for 
 planting. 
 
 Just how the seed should be made ready and stored 
 that its vitality may be preserved most effectually has 
 doubtless troubled the minds of men since they first be- 
 gan to cultivate the wild plants of the forest and prairie. 
 The principles of seed storage are by no means well un- 
 derstood even yet, though in recent years we have gained 
 much knowledge along this line. 
 
 In February of 1900, Mr. J. W. T. Duvel determined 
 to find out what influence the climate and duration of 
 storage under different conditions had upon the vitality 
 of seed. He selected apparently strong seed of the 1899 
 harvest, tested samples for vitality, placed clean, fresh 
 seed in manila paper seed envelopes, and sent two or more 
 packages of each kind to the following places : 
 
 Mobile, Alabama. Lake City, Florida. 
 
 San Juan, Porto Rico. Durham, New Hampshire. 
 
 Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Auburn,* Alabama. 
 
 Wagoner, Oklahoma. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
 
 The seeds arrived at each place about the middle of 
 February and were stored in an ordinary store room or 
 attic, which had little or no heat. Each sample contained 
 from one hundred to two hundred seeds. The following 
 kinds were sent : sweet corn, onion, cabbage, radish. 
 
THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 59 
 
 carrot, pea, bean, pansy, phlox, tomato, watermelon 
 and lettuce. 
 
 At the end of a little more than one hundred days, one 
 sample of each kind of seed was returned and tested for 
 vitaUty. Out of one hundred strong seeds of sweet corn 
 stored at Ann Arbor, Michigan, all germinated, while 
 only eighty out of one hundred stored at Mobile, Alabama, 
 germinated. A sample of weaker sweet corn showed only 
 48 per cent germination when stored at Mobile, and 92 per 
 cent at Ann Arbor. The average germination of all seeds 
 at the end of this period ranged from 53.59 per cent at 
 Mobile to 86.23 per cent at Ann Arbor. 
 
 At the end of about two hundred and fifty days, a second 
 sample of each kind of seed was returned from each place 
 and tested. The sample of one hundred strong sweet 
 corn seed from Ann Arbor all germinated except two seeds 
 while only twenty seeds of the sample stored at Mobile 
 did so. The weaker sample of sweet corn showed a ger- 
 mination of twelve per cent at Mobile and of 80 per cent 
 at Ann Arbor. By comparing this with the first test, we 
 see that strong seeds are less injured by an unfavorable 
 climate than are weak ones. 
 
 The onion seed had lost all of its vitahty at Mobile at 
 the close of the second test, while at Ann Arbor, ninety- 
 seven out of every hundred seeds were capable of germina- 
 tion. The average germination of all seeds at the second 
 test ranged from 24.31 per cent for those stored at Mobile 
 to 84.58 per cent for those stored at Ann Arbor. The 
 average annual rainfall at Mobile is 91.18 inches, while at 
 Ann Arbor it is 28.58 inches. Do you see the connection 
 between moisture and the vitahty of stored seed? 
 
 The table (p. 60), which is taken from a bulletin of the 
 United States Department of Agriculture, gives other 
 results of this interesting test. 
 
60 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 
 % 
 Alive 
 
 Alive 
 
 Alive 
 when 
 
 % 
 Alive 
 
 Alive 
 
 WHEN 
 
 Alive 
 
 WHEN 
 
 Alive 
 
 .'^^ 
 
 Kind of 
 
 WHEN 
 
 Stored 
 
 WHEN 
 
 Stored 
 
 Stored 
 
 AT 
 
 when 
 Stored 
 
 Stored 
 
 AT 
 
 Stored 
 
 AT 
 
 when 
 Stored 
 
 Alive 
 when 
 
 Seed 
 
 AT 
 
 Mobile 
 
 262 
 
 Days 
 
 AT 
 
 Baton 
 
 Rouge 
 
 La. 247 
 
 Days 
 
 Dur- 
 ham 
 N. H. 
 251 
 Days 
 
 AT Au- 
 burn 
 Ala. 
 275 
 Days 
 
 Lake 
 City 
 Fla. 
 234 
 Days 
 
 Wag- 
 oner 
 I. T. 
 238 
 Days 
 
 AT San 
 
 Juan, 
 
 P. R. 
 
 129 
 
 Days 
 
 Stored 
 
 AT Ann 
 
 Arbor, 
 
 Mich. 
 
 Sweet corn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (strong) 
 
 20.0 
 
 88.0 
 
 96.0 
 
 88.0 
 
 92.0 
 
 90.0 
 
 92.0 
 
 98.0 
 
 Sweet corn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (weak) 
 
 12.0 
 
 54.2 
 
 82.0 
 
 62.0 
 
 77.0 
 
 78.0 
 
 78.0 
 
 80.0 
 
 Onion 
 
 0.0 
 
 0.5 
 
 0.0 
 
 12.0 
 
 16.5 
 
 24.5 
 
 50.0 
 
 97.5 
 
 Cabbage 
 
 17.0 
 
 22.5 
 
 12.0 
 
 61.5 
 
 63.5 
 
 70.5 
 
 76.5 
 
 91.0 
 
 Radish . 
 
 51.0 
 
 55.5 
 
 59.5 
 
 63.0 
 
 58.5 
 
 60.5 
 
 62.0 
 
 77.5 
 
 Carrot . . 
 
 8.5 
 
 25.0 
 
 2.0 
 
 36.0 
 
 43.5 
 
 49.0 
 
 48.5 
 
 86.0 
 
 Pea . . . 
 
 44.0 
 
 80.0 
 
 94.0 
 
 97.5 
 
 86.5 
 
 80.0 
 
 98.0 
 
 98.0 
 
 Bean 
 
 0.0 
 
 60.0 
 
 78.0 
 
 56.0 
 
 84.0 
 
 82.0 
 
 96.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Pansy 
 
 0.0- 
 
 0.0 
 
 0.0 
 
 2.0 
 
 1.5 
 
 7.5 
 
 6.5 
 
 46.5 
 
 Phlox drum- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 mondii 
 
 0.0 
 
 0.0 
 
 0.5 
 
 1.0 
 
 2.5 
 
 5.5 
 
 11.5 
 
 40.0 
 
 Tomato 
 
 79.5 
 
 96.0 
 
 87.0 
 
 94.0 
 
 94.0 
 
 94.0 
 
 96.5 
 
 98.0 
 
 Watermelon 
 
 64.0 
 
 92.0 
 
 82.0 
 
 86.0 
 
 92.0 
 
 94.0 
 
 88.0 
 
 96.0 
 
 Lettuce 
 
 20.0 
 
 84.5 
 
 88.5 
 
 86.0 
 
 85.0 
 
 82.0 
 
 83.5 
 
 92.5 
 
 Averages of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 all seeds 
 
 24.31 
 
 50.86 
 
 52.42 
 
 57.34 
 
 61.27 
 
 62.11 
 
 68.21 
 
 84.58 
 
 Mr. Duvel summarized his careful work in twenty- 
 seven statements. Six of these are as follows, important 
 words being here put in italics : 
 
 '' A seed is a living organism, and must be dealt with as 
 such if good results are expected when put under favorable 
 conditions for germination." 
 
 '' The first factors determining the vitality of a seed are 
 maturity, weather conditions at the time of harvesting, and 
 methods of harvesting and curing.''^ 
 
 '^ Seed harvested in damp, rainy weather is much weaker 
 in vitality than seed harvested under more favorable 
 conditions. Likewise, seed once injured will never regain 
 its full vigor." 
 
THE SEED: ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 61 
 
 " Experiments have shown that moisture is the chief 
 factor in determining the longevity of seeds as they are 
 commercially handled. Seeds stored in dry climates 
 retain their vitality much better than those stored in 
 places having a humid atmosphere." 
 
 " Seeds that are to be sent to countries having moist 
 climates should be put up in air-tight packages. Experi- 
 ments have shown that by the judicious use of bottles 
 and paraffined packages, seeds can be preserved practically 
 as well in one climate as in another." 
 
 ^' The life of a seed is undoubtedly dependent on many 
 factors, but the 07ie important factor governing the longev- 
 ity of good seed is dryness J' 
 
 The application of these principles of seed storage will 
 be considered under our lessons on the different crops. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. What are the functions of seeds? 
 
 2. Name four ways by which Nature scatters seeds. How 
 can you tell by looking at any given seeds how they will be 
 scattered ? 
 
 3. Name four ways by which man thoughtlessly scatters 
 seeds. 
 
 4. Name four common weeds of the cultivated fields ; four 
 of the meadows ; four of the lawns. 
 
 5. How does Nature carry on seed selections? 
 
 6. Why should seeds of cultivated plants be selected as 
 far as possible in the fields? 
 
 7. How does Nature store her seeds ? How does she provide 
 for loss ? 
 
 8. How do seeds stored in a moist place or climate compare 
 in germination with those stored where it is dry ? 
 
 9. What is the greatest enemy of stored seeds? 
 
 10, Name the three factors which at first — that is, at 
 harvest time — determine the vitality of the seed. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 SEED GERMINATION 
 
 44. What a Seed is. — A seed is a very small, or embryo 
 plant, the germ, having food stored in or around it, by 
 which it is nourished until it is able to maintain an inde- 
 pendent growth. Both the germ and the stored food are 
 covered and protected by a seedcoat, into which they are 
 very tightly packed. 
 
 45. Two Great Classes of Plants. — The little plant 
 within the seed, called the embryo, or germ, consists of 
 three parts; viz., the leaf or leaves, which are called the 
 seed leaves, or cotyledons; the hypocotyl, or the part of the 
 tiny plant below the cotyledons, the lower end of which 
 is called the radicle ; and the plumule, or the part above 
 the cotyledons. 
 
 Those plants which bear inclosed seeds, — and this 
 includes practically all common plants except evergreen 
 trees — are divided into two great classes. This classifi- 
 cation is based upon the number of seed leaves, or cotyle- 
 dons, in the embryo. If only one cotyledon is present, 
 the plant is known as a monocotyledon ; if two are present, 
 it is a dicotyledon. These two great classes of plants 
 differ not only in their embryos, but still more widely in 
 their stems and leaves, so that we are easily able to dis- 
 tinguish them at any stage of their existence. These 
 differences will be shown in later chapters. 
 
 The monocotyledons include the plants of the grass 
 
 62 
 
SEED GERMINATION 
 
 63 
 
 family, and hence all of our cereal crops, as corn, wheat, 
 rice, oats, barley and rye, for they are all grasses. 
 
 The dicotyledons include the clovers, beans, peas, 
 cotton, the common vegetables, and broad-leaved plants 
 generally. 
 
 When we ex- 
 amine the seed of 
 either of these two 
 classes of plants, 
 we are usually 
 easily able to 
 distinguish the 
 parts. We find 
 the embryo, or 
 germ, in the mono- 
 cotyledons at the 
 base of the seed, 
 as in the case of 
 corn, and having 
 but one cotyledon, 
 while the stored 
 food occupies a 
 large space outside 
 
 the embryo and pj^ ^g — C^rn and bean showing parts; the 
 
 is called the endo- embryo of each removed. 
 
 SVerm. In the a, cotyledons ; 6, plumules; c, hypocotyl, the 
 
 , ,. ,1 V lower end of which is called the radicle; d, 
 
 seeds of the dl- endosperm. 
 
 cotyledons, there , 
 
 is no endosperm, or food, stored on the outside of the 
 embryo. The food is contained in the cotyledons in- 
 stead, which accounts for their large size. They occupy 
 the entire space within the seedcoat, or hull, except 
 that taken up by the little plumule and hypocotyl. 
 Study carefully Figure 18, noting particularly the plumule 
 
64 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 and hypocotyl in each seed and where the food is stored 
 in each one. 
 
 EXERCISE 19 
 
 Object. — To study the parts of the seeds of the two 
 great classes of plants. 
 
 Procedure. — Soak a few beans and grains of corn for 
 an hour or more. Shave away the entire face of one of 
 the grains of corn on the germ side with a sharp knife. 
 When the plumule and hypocotyl are plainly visible, set 
 the kernel up where you can see it easily and make a careful 
 drawing. 
 
 Open the halves of a bean, being careful not to break the 
 plumule and hypocotyl, which lie near the spot where the 
 bean was attached to the pod. Make a drawing of one 
 half of the bean, showing the parts in place. 
 
 Label all parts in both drawings. 
 
 Conclusions. — State fully in what respects the two 
 embryos are alike and in what respects they differ. Do 
 not fail to explain clearly where the food that is provided 
 for the little plant after germination is stored in each seed. 
 
 46. The Conditions required for Seed Germination. — 
 When the right conditions surround a living, mature seed, 
 the embryo awakens, sprouts or, as we say, it germinates. 
 We are at once interested to know what these right condi- 
 tions are and how far it is within the power of the farmer 
 to provide them. Let us state and then prove that before 
 a living seed will germinate, it must have (1) oxygen, 
 (2) a proper amount of moisture, and (3) a proper tempera- 
 ture. 
 
 EXERCISE 20 
 
 Object. — To prove that a seed must have oxygen in 
 order to germinate. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill a jelly glass or a pint fruit jar half 
 
SEED GERMINATION 
 
 65 
 
 full of fresh water. Fill another with water which has 
 been boiled for several minutes to drive out the oxygen. 
 As soon as the boiled water has reached about the same 
 temperature as the other, drop a few seeds of rough rice 
 — i.e., rice as it comes from the fields, having the hulls 
 still on it — into each jar. Pour a few drops of machine 
 or other oil on the surface of the boiled water, to prevent 
 any oxygen from entering the water in this jar. Set the 
 two jars aside in a 
 warm place for a week ^.> ^ j, ^,m., 
 or more ; then observe 
 which seeds have made 
 the better growth. 
 
 Conclusions.- — 
 Write briefly in your 
 own words what has 
 taken place in each 
 jar. Why do you 
 think the seeds in one 
 jar have made a better 
 growth than those in 
 the other? 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 When we speak of 
 oxygen, we must think 
 
 of the air, for oxygen is a part of the air. (See Section 15.) 
 Review Exercises 10 and 11. Tell four ways by which 
 a farmer may make it possible for a generous supply of 
 oxygen to reach the planted seed. (See Section 17.) 
 
 47. Moisture and Germination. — There are a few 
 kinds of seed, which, like that of the rice, will germinate 
 under water ; a few will germinate in the desert countries 
 with very little water; the majority of seeds, however, 
 germinate and make their best growth with a moderate 
 
 Rice in boiled and unboiled 
 water. 
 
66 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 amount of moisture. All seeds require some moisture 
 before they will germinate. 
 
 EXERCISE 21 
 
 Object. — To show that seeds require moisture for 
 germination. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill a narrow bread pan two thirds 
 full of water. Secure a piece of window glass at least 
 a third longer than the pan, but so narrow that one 
 end of it will drop into the pan while the other extends out 
 beyond. Cut a piece of blotting paper the same size and 
 lay it upon the glass. 
 
 Moisten the following seeds slightly to make them stick 
 to the blotter; then lay them in rows lengthwise upon 
 it: 
 
 A row of rough rice. 
 
 A row of alfalfa seeds. 
 
 A row of Teparie beans. ^ 
 
 A row of wheat. 
 
 ^ These little Teparie beans have a unique and interesting 
 history. They now form an important article of diet for many 
 of the Indians of Arizona and adjacent states where the rainfall 
 is only about nine inches per year. "Throughout a one thousand 
 mile circle of semi-arid and subtropical country are found the 
 scattered relics of prehistoric agricultural tribes. The ruins of 
 their houses and their ditches, their pottery, their implements of 
 stone, and sometimes their bones remain to us. But of greater 
 value and interest than any of these are the descendants of these 
 tribes, and some of the ancient crop plants which yet endure." 
 Teparie beans have come down to us from these ancient tribes. 
 The seed will germinate in a surprisingly short time ; and the 
 plants will endure severe drouth and set seed in the hottest and 
 driest weather. They may lose every leaf ; but with a passing 
 shower, they put forth leaves again and continue growth. They 
 are sure to occupy an important place in the agricultural develop- 
 ment of the semi-arid Southwest. 
 
SEED GERMINATION 
 
 67 
 
 Put one end of the glass with the blotter and rows of 
 seeds in place into one end of the pan and let it sink be- 
 neath the water, while the other end extends out beyond 
 the other end of the pan. If any of the seeds float off 
 when you place the end of the glass in water, put them 
 back into place with your fingers. One end of each row 
 will now be under water while the other end will be out 
 in the air. Keep the water at the same height in the pan 
 each day. A few drops of formalin in the water will help 
 to keep molds from destroying your seeds. 
 
 Conclusions. — Copy the following table into your note- 
 book, and fill it out by taking notes the first, the second, 
 and the third days, and after this every third day for two 
 or more weeks, or until you are able to fill in the second 
 column with certainty for all the seeds : 
 
 Kind of Seed 
 
 Date Embryo 
 Broke the Seed- 
 coat 
 
 Distance from 
 
 Water where 
 
 Plant made 
 
 Strongest 
 
 Growth 
 
 Kind of Climate 
 
 where Plant 
 
 IS Grown 
 
 Rice .... 
 
 Alfalfa . . . 
 Teparie beans 
 Wheat . . . 
 
 
 
 
 Review Exercises 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9, and tell again clearly 
 how drainage, manuring, surface cultivation and rotation 
 of crops will help to get the proper amount of moisture 
 to the planted seed. 
 
 48. Temperature and Germination. — It has been 
 rather easy for us to show that a seed must have oxygen 
 and moisture before it will germinate. It is not so easy 
 to prove at just what temperature a seed germinates best 
 
68 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 and makes its best growth. We can not control the tem- 
 perature during our experiments as we did the other two 
 factors, oxygen and moisture. The figures which were 
 given in Section 18 were secured by using germinating 
 boxes, in which the temperature was controlled as we 
 control it in an incubator. 
 
 We all know in a general way about what time of year 
 it is best to plant the different seeds. Secure the help of 
 any experienced person in your neighborhood and arrange 
 in your notebook a table similar to the following, using 
 as many different kinds of seed as you like : 
 
 Kind op Seed 
 
 Sweet peas . 
 Corn . . . 
 Muskmelon . 
 
 Date of Earliest 
 Planting with 
 Estimate op 
 Average Tempera- 
 ture 
 
 Mar. 10 40 F. 
 Apr. 15 55 F. 
 May 10 65 F. 
 
 Date of Latest 
 Planting with 
 Estimate of 
 Average Tempera- 
 ture 
 
 May 1 63 F. 
 June 1 75 F. 
 June 20 80 F. 
 
 Date of Plant- 
 ing FOR Best 
 Results with 
 Estimate op 
 
 Average 
 Temperature 
 
 April 1 50 F. 
 May 10 65 F. 
 June 1 75 F. 
 
 Review Chapter IV, and state clearly all the plans, or 
 methods, you know, by which a farmer might cause the 
 temperature of his fields to be higher in the spring than 
 that of adjoining farms. 
 
 49. Changes which take place within the Germinat- 
 ing Seed. — We have already learned that " sl seed is a 
 living organism." (Section 43.) This being the case, 
 we should expect it to take in oxygen, burn up, or oxidize, 
 the stored food within it, and throw off carbon dioxide. 
 We know that we take oxygen into our lungs ; that this 
 oxygen is used to burn up, or oxidize, the food after it has 
 reached the blood ; and that carbon dioxide is thrown off. 
 
SEED GERMINATION 69 
 
 We have already proved in Exercise 20 that germinating 
 seeds take in oxygen. Now what do they give off in 
 exchange for this? 
 
 EXERCISE 22 
 
 Object.— To prove that a germinating seed 
 gives off carbon dioxide. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure a piece of fresh unslaked, 
 or unslacked, lime about a third as large as an 
 egg, and slake, or slack it by putting it into a 
 quart jar or can of water. Allow it to stand 
 for two or three hours, and pour the 
 Uquid into a clean bottle through a 
 piece of filter paper; or if the liquid 
 is perfectly clear, it is unnecessary to 
 filter it. You now have 
 clear limewater, which 
 should be tightly 
 corked if not used 
 at once, as it reacts 
 with the carbon di- 
 
 nviHp nf thp air ^^«- 20. — Seeds germinating at differ- 
 
 OXme 01 Xne air. ^^^ temperatures. C has germinated at 
 
 Place a small the optimum temperature, B and A at 
 
 amount of this water '^° ^^^ ^0° C, respectively, below optimum.- 
 
 in a second bottle and blow into it through a small paper 
 or glass tube. As the bubbles pass through it, the lime- 
 water will turn milky, due to the fact that the carbon 
 dioxide from your lungs unites with the lime dissolved 
 in the water, forming innumerable, minute pieces of hme- 
 stone, which will not dissolve in the water but which will 
 finally settle.^ This is the test for carbon dioxide. It 
 will turn limewater milky, and no other gas will do so. 
 
 1 Limewater contains slaked lime. This consists of calcium 
 oxide, CaO, combined chemically with water, H2O. When 
 
70 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIP^E 
 
 Now place a handful of wheat, oats, or other seed in a 
 wide-mouthed fruit jar. Moisten them enough to cause 
 them to germinate.. Carefully set a small open bottle of 
 clear limewater in the jar with the germinating seeds. 
 Fasten the lid of the fruit jar on securely. Keep a close 
 
 FiG. 21. — The clear limewater becomes milky. 
 
 watch from day to day. See the milky film form at the 
 surface of the limewater. Finally, the limestone may form 
 a thin crust like ice over the surface, or it may settle, 
 
 carbon dioxide, CO2, is passed into limewater, it displaces the 
 water which is combined with the calcium oxide and unites with 
 this calcium oxide, itself. We then have CaO and CO2 combined, 
 and these form CaCOs, or limestone. 
 
 CaO + CO2 = CaCOs 
 
SEED GERMINATION 71 
 
 forming a thin, white coating on the sides and bottom of 
 the bottle. 
 
 Conclusions. — Would the limewater turn milky if no 
 carbon dioxide came in contact with it ? Where must the 
 carbon dioxide in the fruit jar come from? Could any 
 carbon dioxide come off from the seeds in the jar in Exer- 
 cise 20, which contained the boiled water covered with oil? 
 Why not? Thinking back over Exercises 10 and 11 and 
 Sections 17 and 49, state (1) what it is that the seed takes 
 from the air ; (2) what becomes of this substance that the 
 seed takes from the air ; (3) what the seed gives up to the 
 air; (4) and four ways of shutting air away from the 
 planted seed. When wood is burning, the carbon which 
 it contains is uniting with oxygen. Why can we not start 
 the fire if the dampers are tightly shut in the stove? 
 
 50. Heat generated during Germination. — Whenever 
 carbon and oxygen unite, forming carbon dioxide, heat 
 is generated. In this manner, heat is produced in our 
 bodies when the material containing carbon in the blood 
 unites with the oxygen from the lungs, forming carbon 
 dioxide. So heat is generated when fuel containing carbon 
 in the stove unites with oxygen, forming carbon dioxide. 
 This being true, should we not expect heat to be produced 
 when the stored food, which contains carbon, in the ger- 
 minating seed unites with oxygen, forming carbon dioxide ? 
 Let us prove that this is the case. 
 
 EXERCISE 23 
 
 Object. — To show that germinating seeds give off 
 heat. 
 
 Procedure. — Boil a large handful of wheat, beans, or 
 other seeds for several minutes to kill the embryos. When 
 the seeds are cool, place them in a medium-sized bottle. 
 
72 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Place an equal amount of fresh seeds in a second bottle 
 and moisten them slightly to encourage germination. 
 Insert a thermometer into each bottle so that the bulb 
 rests among the seeds. The stem should extend out of 
 the neck of the bottle far enough to be read without dis- 
 turbing bottle or seed. Plug the neck of each bottle 
 firmly with cotton to prevent the escape of heat. A woolen 
 
 Fig. 22. — Germinating seeds give off heat. 
 
 cloth, wrapped carefully about each bottle, will serve to 
 keep the heat within the bottle and about the bulb of the 
 thermometer. Record the temperature in each bottle 
 every day during germination. All seeds used in this 
 exercise should h? first immersed for two hours in a solu- 
 tion consisting of one part of 40% formalin in 320 parts of 
 water. This will destroy the spores of molds. 
 
SEED GERMINATION 73 
 
 Conclusion. — Explain briefly why one thermometer 
 should have shown a higher temperature than the other. 
 If more than one kind of seed is used, tell why large seeds, 
 such as peas or beans, should develop higher temperatures 
 than smaller seeds, such as oats or barley. Why is it that 
 if grain becomes wet in the bin while the weather is warm, 
 it will heat? Name, now, two things which a seed takes 
 in and two which it gives off during germination. 
 
 51. How Size of Seed affects Growth of Young Plant. 
 
 — Now that we have found that germinating seeds give 
 off heat, let us take up the question of how the amount 
 of food stored in the seed affects the amount of heat or 
 energy generated. In other words, since the reserve food 
 in the seed is to feed the embryo, how does the amount 
 stored there influence the strength and vigor of the young 
 plant ? 
 
 EXERCISE 24 
 
 Object. — To show the use of the reserve food, and 
 how the amount present influences the growth of the 
 young plant. 
 
 Procedure. — Carefully cut away the endosperm from 
 four grains of corn, taking care not to injure the embryo.^ 
 The cutting is more easily done when the grains have been 
 soaked in water for a couple of hours. Plant these in a 
 row in a cigar box of sand ; and in another row, plant 
 four whole grains of corn. 
 
 Plant two rows of beans without injuring the seeds in 
 any way. When they have pushed their seed leaves, or 
 
 1 It is a singular fact that mutilation of a seed hastens ger- 
 mination. Even if the embryo is not injured in any way, this 
 operation causes it to germinate quickly and grow rapidly. 
 The effect of the loss of the endosperm is seen later as it weakens 
 from lack of food. 
 
74 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 cotyledons, out of the ground, carefully cut them away 
 from all the plants in one of the rows, so that these plants 
 can draw no more food from their cotyledons. 
 
 Keep all the plants properly watered, and measure the 
 
 height every other day. Ar- 
 range your record in the form 
 of a table. 
 
 Conclusions. — How did the 
 loss of the endosperm, or re- 
 serve food, affect the amount 
 of growth that the young 
 corn plants were able to make ? 
 How did the loss of the cotyle- 
 dons, or reserve food, affect 
 the growth of the beans ? Com- 
 pare the little plant, robbed 
 of its supply of food, with a 
 young animal which is poorly 
 fed. A fanning mill removes 
 the light small seeds from the 
 grain which we expect to sow. 
 Why does wheat which has 
 been run through a fanning 
 mill produce a stronger, more 
 vigorous growth of young 
 plants than wheat which has 
 not been so treated? Why do we usually remove the 
 kernels from the tip of a seed ear of corn ? 
 
 Fig. 23. — Effect of robbing 
 the plant of its stored food. 
 The cotyledons have been re- 
 moved from the seed of the 
 smaller plant. 
 
 52. Direction of Growth. — A seed uses its reserve food 
 as the embryo develops into a larger plant. The plumule 
 always grows upward toward the light and the developing 
 root always grows toward the earth. Why this is true 
 remains a mystery. The effort, which either of these 
 
SEED GERMINATION 
 
 75 
 
 parts of a plant will make to grow in the right direction, 
 may be interestingly shown in the following manner : 
 
 Fill a cigar box with moist chaff or moss, and lay two 
 grains of corn, germ side up, upon this material. A piece 
 of window glass should now be fastened over the chaff 
 and seed, and the box set on edge so the tips of the grains 
 point downward. Moisten and allow them to germinate. 
 
 Fig. 24. — Seedling plants trying to grow upward. The box has been 
 turned over and the sprouts have changed their direction of growth. 
 
 When the root and stem sprouts have become ^ about an 
 inch in length, turn the box over so that the tips of the 
 grains point upward. Notice how the sprouts turn about, 
 one to grow toward the earth, the other toward the Ught. 
 
 53. The Embryo becomes a Seedling. — An embryo 
 becomes a seedling when it germinates. It remains a 
 seedling as long as it depends upon the reserve food stored 
 for it in the seed. Under favorable conditions for growth, 
 
76 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 the supply of food in a grain of wheat may all be used in 
 ten days, producing a vigorous young plant, which is then 
 able to gather and manufacture its own food. In cold, wet 
 weather, it may take the young plant a month to get 
 established. 
 
 It may be stated as a rule that 'Hhe shorter the time 
 between planting and germination, the more vigorous the 
 seedling " ; and also that the shorter the time between 
 germination and the stage when the plant is able to main- 
 tain an independent growth, the more vigorous the plant. 
 
 In the early stages of the development of a plant, the 
 root system develops faster than thp leaves. This insures 
 the plant a supply of water and anchors it firmly in the 
 ground. 
 
 Our next lesson is to be about plant roots. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. What is a seed? 
 
 2. Draw from memory an outline of a grain of corn and 
 name its parts. 
 
 3. What is meant by seed germination ? 
 
 4. What are the conditions necessary for the germination 
 of a seed? 
 
 5. How can you prove that a germinating seed needs oxygen ? 
 
 6. Name three ways by which a farmer may assist oxygen to 
 reach the planted seed. 
 
 7. How is heat generated in a germinating seed ? 
 
 8. How can you prove that a germinating seed gives off 
 carbon dioxide? 
 
 9. What is the use of the reserve food stored in a seed? 
 What influence has the amount of reserve food upon the vigor 
 of the seedling? 
 
 10. As a seedling develops into a young plant, in what direc- 
 tion do the plumule and the radicle grow? Can you tell why? 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE WORK OF ROOTS 
 
 54. What Roots do. — The functions of the roots of a 
 plant are four in number : 
 
 First : to gather moisture and plant food and conduct 
 them to the stems and leaves. 
 
 Second : to help dissolve mineral plant food. 
 Third : to hold the plant erect. 
 Fourth : to act as a storehouse for food. 
 
 55. Gathering Food and Moisture. — We have already 
 learned that '' roots search for food and moisture in the 
 soil as though they had eyes." No matter how deep or 
 shallow, how extensive or limited the root system, mois- 
 ture and plant food are taken in. There must be some 
 force, or law, which governs this intake. Let us find 
 out what it is. 
 
 EXERCISE 25 
 
 Object. — To determine why moisture enters the roots of 
 plants. 
 
 Procedure. — Select a fresh carrot, preferably one an 
 inch or more in diameter. Bore or cut a hole a half inch 
 in diameter downward from the top and extending at 
 least two inches into the carrot. Pour into it a spoonful 
 of sugar and fill it nearly full of water. Plug the hole 
 with a rubber or wooden cork, which fits tightly so that 
 water can not escape around it. There should be a small 
 
 77 
 
78 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 hole through this cork, through which a glass tube is thrust 
 so that the lower end reaches into the sirup in the carrot 
 while the other end extends into the air. Set the carrot 
 
 upright in a glass of 
 water, taking care, 
 however, that the 
 upper end of it is 
 not covered with 
 water. Record each 
 day how far the sirup 
 has risen in the tube. 
 Small rubber tubing 
 may be used to con- 
 nect the glass tube 
 to another one when 
 the sirup has reached 
 the top. 
 
 C on clu s ion . — 
 When two liquids are 
 separated by a plant 
 or animal membrane, 
 they tend to mix 
 through it, this phe- 
 nomenon being known 
 as osmose. The 
 denser liquid, which 
 in this case is the 
 sugar sirup in the 
 carrot, draws the less 
 dense, or the water 
 outside, much more 
 rapidly than the water draws the sirup. This is known as 
 the law of osmose. Since the dense substance trades 
 only a little of itself for a great deal of the thinner sub- 
 
 J 
 
 Fig. 25. — A root taking water and forc- 
 ing it upward through the glass tube. 
 
THE WORK OF ROOTS 79 
 
 stance, it must make room for the surplus gained in the 
 transaction. In the experiment just performed, it crawls 
 up the tube. 
 
 The roots of plants, having within them contents which 
 are denser than the soil water, draw this soil water with its 
 dissolved minerals into themselves, forcing it upward 
 through the stems into the leaves. 
 
 It sometimes happens that the soil water contains 
 enough dissolved material to make it denser than the 
 Hquid contents of the roots. In this case, in which direc- 
 tion would the greater flow of liquid be? 
 
 Fields of cotton, corn and other crops wilt during times 
 when the rainfall is Ught if too much of commercial fer- 
 tihzers has been previously added to them. Why is this 
 
 true ? 
 
 Tell in your own words how roots gather moisture and 
 plant food from the soil. Also, tell under what conditions 
 roots may lose their moisture. 
 
 56. Roots are Able to select the Minerals which they 
 need. — The roots of a given plant not only draw from 
 the soil their mineral plant food dissolved in water, but in 
 some way which we do not yet understand, they choose, 
 or select, those elements which they need, leaving others 
 unabsorbed. This is shown by the fact that the clover 
 plant when in flower and the barley plant in flower contain 
 about the same amount of mineral matter, yet the clover 
 contains almost six times as much lime as the barley, 
 while the barley contains about eighteen times as much 
 of the mineral of which white sand is composed as does the 
 clover. 
 
 Grain crops remove large quantities of phosphorus 
 from the soil, while the root crops remove much potassium. 
 Timothy requires plenty of nitrogen. The best system 
 
80 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 of rotation not only takes into account the water-holding 
 capacity and the mellowness of the soil but also the feeding 
 requirements of the preceding crops. 
 
 57. The Origin of Roots. — Since roots not only gather 
 moisture and dissolve mineral matter, but also conduct 
 them upward to the stems or leaves, we might be led to 
 suppose that a plant has two kinds of roots. Such is the 
 case. 
 
 Only the young, tender portions, near the tips of the 
 roots, and the root hairs which grow out from these new 
 portions, can absorb moisture. These are known as 
 absorbing roots. 
 
 As the root becomes older, the root hairs disappear and 
 the surface becomes covered with almost waterproof, 
 woody layers. It serves then only to hold the plant erect 
 and to conduct the moisture from the soil to the leaves. 
 Such roots are known as anchorage roots. Since they are 
 sometimes called upon to hold against the terrific force of 
 the wind, they must have a firm grip upon the roots from 
 which they grow. We shall soon see that they originate, 
 or branch, from the strong central portion of the root, 
 called the central cylinder. These anchorage roots often 
 tend to contract in length, thus fixing, or holding the plant 
 more firmly in position. The crown or rosette of leaves 
 of the dandelion, for example, which seems to be trying to 
 escape being cut off by the lawn mower, is really being drawn 
 into the soil by the contraction of its large anchorage root. 
 
 The absorbing roots, which, as has been said, consist 
 of only the youngest portions of the anchorage roots and 
 the multitudes of root hairs which grow from them, 
 increase the absorbing surface of the young root from 
 five to twenty times. Later, as the absorbing roots become 
 anchorage roots, losing their root hairs and becoming 
 
THE WORK OF ROOTS 81 
 
 covered over with layers of wood, other root hairs form in 
 profusion on the still newer portions which are of course 
 located in other feeding grounds. 
 
 EXERCISE 26 
 
 Object. — To study the origin of root hairs and anchor- 
 age roots. 
 
 Procedure. — With the aid of a blunt knife or paddle, 
 remove with some of the soil surrounding it a young radish 
 seedling which has been growing in the sand for several 
 days. Note how the soil clings to the roots. Carefully 
 wash the clinging particles away. Examine the roots at 
 once with a hand lens, or better still, with a microscope. 
 See if you can find where a single cell in the surface of the 
 root has elongated into a root hair as shown in Figure 26. 
 
 Split a parsnip or carrot lengthwise and see how the 
 anchorage roots originate or grow out from the stringy 
 central portion, the central cylinder, of the parent root. 
 If any other root is split in the same way at the point 
 where the anchorage root joins the parent root, its union 
 with the central cylinder of the larger root may be as 
 easily seen. 
 
 Conclusion. — Which roots will be more easily torn 
 away when a plant is transplanted, — the absorbing or 
 the anchorage roots? Why? Which class absorbs 
 moisture and mineral plant food? Leaves throw off large 
 quantities of water when in direct sunlight. Why do we 
 shade a cabbage, tomato, or other young plant when it is 
 first set out ? How long is the shade necessary? Why do 
 we often remove, or cut away, the twigs or leaves of a 
 tree or shrub when transplanting it? 
 
 58. How Roots work their Way through the Soil. — 
 A young root must work its way through the soil, avoiding 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 obstacles, seeking for food and moisture. It must there- 
 fore follow a somewhat snakelike indirect course. Even 
 so, this wandering sort of growth would be itnpossible 
 were not the root peculiarly adapted for it in two ways : 
 (1) The end of the root is protected by a sort of cap. 
 
 (2) Growth in length 
 takes place only in the 
 region just back of this 
 cap. 
 
 This arrangement en- 
 ables the young root to 
 ^^feel" its way among the 
 soil particles with the deli- 
 cate cells at the end pro- 
 tected ; and it is not shoved 
 or pushed forward as it 
 would be if growth in 
 length took place at any 
 considerable distance back 
 from the tip. 
 
 The root hairs appear 
 only in the region of growth. 
 They grow in the moist air 
 between the particles of soil, 
 with which they come in 
 contact and against which 
 they flatten themselves 
 that they may take up the film of moisture with which 
 these particles are covered. 
 
 Fig. 26. — A root hair in con- 
 tact with soil particles (very much 
 enlarged) . 
 
 59. The Extent and Depth of Roots. — The first thing 
 to know in the cultivation of any crop, after learning the 
 soil and seed bed requirements, is the nature of the root 
 system of the particular plant. Shall we give deep culti- 
 
THE WORK OF ROOTS 83 
 
 vation while the plant is young, and shallow cultivation 
 later, or shall we follow just the opposite plan? " But," 
 you say, '' how can we study the root systems of plants 
 when they are out of sight beneath the ground? " Let 
 us try to do it. 
 
 EXERCISE 27 
 
 Object. — To study the root systems of the corn and 
 
 bean. 
 
 Procedure. — Plant in a wire basket several kernels of 
 corn, and in another basket several beans. These baskets 
 should be at least six inches square, have the same depth, 
 and be made of very fine woven wire. Wrap a piece 
 of cheesecloth very carefully about each one to prevent 
 the dirt from sifting through the sides and bottoms, and 
 fill them with fine garden soil. 
 
 When the seeds have sprouted well, remove all but 
 one of the strongest. When the corn plant is six or eight 
 inches high, remove the cheesecloth from this basket, and 
 also from the one containing the bean and thrust pieces of 
 rather fine wire through the sides of the basket and through 
 the soil. These wires will hold the roots in their natural 
 position when the soil is washed away. Now place each 
 basket in a pan or bucket of water and move it slowly 
 back and forth until all the soil falls away, leaving the 
 
 roots exposed. 
 
 If you have larger baskets, the roots may of course be 
 studied when the plants are older. 
 
 Conclusion. — You will find that the long, or temporary 
 root of the corn plant has withered or is withering away, 
 and in its stead, quite close to the base of the stem, a mass 
 of fine fibrous roots is developing. This mass of fibrous 
 roots is formed in all the cereals just beneath the surface 
 of the ground regardless of the depth at which the seed is 
 planted. 
 
84 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 In the dicotyledon, the bean, you will see that the first 
 root is a permanent one and grows downward rather deep 
 into the soil. Bear in mind these characteristic root habits 
 when you come to study the cereals and legumes. The 
 roots of the clovers and alfalfa penetrate deep into the 
 subsoil, bringing up plant food which is left near the sur- 
 face when these crops are plowed under. The shallow- 
 rooted cereals and grasses which follow them are thus 
 benefited. 
 
 Draw in your notebooks the root systems of the corn 
 and the bean. 
 
 60. How Roots help dissolve Mineral Matter. — In 
 
 Section 7 we learned that certain mineral elements are 
 essential to the growth of any plant. These elements 
 are found in the soil, and it is a part of the work of roots, 
 by the excretion of acids, to help dissolve them. 
 
 EXERCISE 28 
 
 Object. — To show that roots give out, as well as take in. 
 
 Procedure. — Fill a small bottle almost full of water, 
 and add a few drops of ammonia water, or dissolve in it a 
 grain or two of ordinary lye. Drop a slip of pink litmus 
 paper into it, and its color will begin to change. In a 
 short time it will have become blue. This shows that the 
 solution is alkaline, for alkalies turn pink or red litmus 
 paper blue. 
 
 Now add a little acid of any kind, — vinegar will do, — 
 and presently the slip of blue paper will begin to change in 
 color again, turning this time from blue to red. Finally, 
 its color will be about the same as it was at the beginning. 
 This shows that the solution is now acid, for acids turn 
 blue litmus paper red. We are able by this test to tell 
 whether any solution is acid or alkaline. 
 
THE WORK OF ROOTS 85 
 
 Now empty the bottle, rinse thoroughly, and fill again 
 nearly full of water. Put into it a slip of litmus paper 
 which you have made blue as you did the one above. 
 
 Wash the dirt from the roots of a seedhng plant and 
 lower them into the bottle of water. Fasten some paper 
 about the bottle to exclude the light from the roots. 
 About forty-eight hours later, examine the litmus paper 
 to see if its color has changed. 
 
 Conclusion. — Would you say that the roots must have 
 given off some acid into the water ? How does the litmus 
 paper show this? Acids dissolve many minerals. What 
 is the use of this acid given off by the roots ? Since roots 
 of different plants feed at different depths, why is the 
 rotation of crops beneficial ? 
 
 Write out how acids and how alkalies change the color 
 of litmus paper. 
 
 61. How Roots hold Plants Erect. — One of the im- 
 portant functions of the roots of a plant is to anchor it in 
 the place where it is to develop, that its leaves and stems 
 may be held upright in the air. Some plants have a much 
 firmer grip on the soil than do others, and may for this 
 reason be called soil binders. Large areas of sandy soil 
 along Lake Michigan were in former years almost devoid 
 of vegetation. The shifting of the sands by the high 
 winds destroyed nearly all young plants before they could 
 become established." By the use of beach grass and 
 other grasses, the shifting of parts of this soil has been 
 stopped ; and the land that was formerly waste, is now of 
 use. The western wheat grass is much used by railroad 
 companies to bind embankments. Large tracts of land 
 on mountain sides have in the past been stripped of their 
 trees. The roots soon decayed, and great scars, gullies 
 and canons were washed out, making the land worthless 
 
86 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 for a second crop of trees. If a few of the trees only had 
 been removed, this injury to the soil would have been 
 avoided. 
 
 Land that tends to wash may well be sown to some 
 perennial crop which does not require cultivation. 
 
 The grip that roots have on the soil is well shown by 
 the stump puller. The power required to pull even a small 
 plant from the soil is indeed surprising. 
 
 Fig. 27. — Denuded and gullied land. This was once pasture land. 
 
 EXERCISE 29 
 
 Object. — To demonstrate the hold which roots have in 
 the soil. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure a potted plant which has a well- 
 established root system and a tough stem. Fasten a 
 small wheel in the end of an upright stick, and pass a string 
 over it, forming a pulley. Wrap a piece of paper about 
 the stem of the plant and tie one end of the string firmly 
 
THE WORK OF ROOTS 
 
 87 
 
 about it. Pass the string over the pulley, and tie a bottle 
 or other container on the end. Now put shot or sand into 
 the bottle, a little at a time, until weight enough has been 
 secured to pull the plant from the pot. Weigh both shot 
 and bottle. 
 
 Conclusion. — Why is it that such rivers as the Ohio, 
 Mississippi and others 
 in the Central West 
 carry so much greater 
 quantities of mud at 
 present than in an 
 early day when the 
 land which they drain 
 was in native grasses 
 and timber ? Why do 
 railroad companies 
 and land owners plant 
 willows along the 
 banks of encroaching 
 streams ? From this 
 experiment, would 
 you say that the 
 roots of plants bind 
 the soil quite firmly 
 together ? Why does 
 the government often 
 prohibit the cutting 
 
 of timber entirely off from hill and mountain sides on 
 public lands ? 
 
 Fig. 28. — Pulling up a plant by means 
 of a pulley and weight. 
 
 62. The Root a Storehouse of Food. — Every plant 
 stores in its stems and roots certain amounts of reserve 
 food to be drawn upon in time of need. The members of 
 one great class of plants which live two years and are 
 
88 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 therefore called biennials spend one whole season in storing 
 food in their roots to be used the following season in 
 producing seed. The carrot, parsnip, beet, turnip, mangel 
 wurtzel and sugar beet are excellent examples of this class 
 of plants. 
 
 63. Benefits of Roots. — In performing the functions 
 for which Nature intended them, roots assist in a remark- 
 able way in maintaining a permanent agriculture : 
 
 They loosen the soil by their deep and ramifying growth. 
 
 They bind the soil and thus prevent washing and blow- 
 ing. 
 
 They offer a home for friendly bacteria, which are 
 known in certain cases to gather nitrogen from the air, 
 thus adding to the store of plant food in the soil. 
 
 They enrich the soil when they decay. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Name fear functions of roots. 
 
 2. By what law do roots gather moisture from the soil ? 
 
 3. Under what conditions do roots lose moisture? 
 
 4. What two classes of roots do plants have? What is 
 the function of each? 
 
 5. Why does a cabbage wilt when transplanted? Why do 
 we protect newly planted vegetables from direct sunlight ? 
 
 6. Where does growth take place in a young root? 
 
 7. Compare the root systems of the corn and bean. 
 
 8. How do roots help dissolve mineral plant food ? 
 
 9. How can you prove that roots have a firm grip on the 
 soil ? 
 
 10. Name four benefits of roots. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE WORK OF LEAVES 
 
 Certain plants reproduce themselves without seeds. 
 Some get along without stems. None of the important 
 higher plants, however, can exist without roots and leaves. 
 
 64. Functions and Uses of Leaves. — Leaves are of 
 use to man as food, for the shade which they afford, and 
 for beauty. These benefits are incidental, however, to 
 the three functions which Nature has given them to per- 
 form. These functions are : 
 
 First : to manufacture out of the water from the soil, 
 and the carbon dioxide from the air, starch for the plant. 
 This is known as photosijnthesis} 
 
 Second : to give off the surplus water taken in by the 
 roots. This is called transpiration. 
 
 Third : to act as a storehouse for food. 
 
 65. The Manufacture of Starch. — The phenomenon 
 of starchmaking takes place only in the green leaves and 
 green twigs of plants. Just how carbon dioxide, an 
 invisible gas existing in the air, can be made to unite 
 with water to form starch, liberating oxygen at the same 
 time, we can not say. Yet upon the fact that it does so 
 in the green leaves of plants, all life in the earth depends. 
 
 ^ The term photosynthesis is derived from photo, meaning 
 light, and synthesis, the act of putting together. It means, then, 
 the act of putting together, or building up, by light. The 
 reaction is : 
 
 6 CO2 + 5 H2O + Light = CeHioOs + 6 O2 
 
 89 
 
90 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 66. The Green Leaf likened to a MiU. — The process 
 may be likened to the work in a mill where corn and oats, 
 we shall say, are ground together to make the " grist." 
 The water from the root corresponds to the corn ; the car- 
 bon dioxide from the air, to the oats ; the green leaf, to 
 
 the mill ; the sun- 
 light to the en- 
 gine; and the 
 starch formed, to 
 the grist. If any 
 part is lacking, 
 no grist can be 
 produced. 
 
 EXERCISE 30 
 
 Object. — To 
 learn how and 
 when food is man- 
 ufactured in the 
 leaves. 
 
 Procedure. — 
 Place a few grains 
 of starch in a 
 saucer and cover with two or three teaspoonfuls of water. 
 Add a drop of tincture of iodine, and note that a blue-black 
 color appears. This is the test for the presence of starch. 
 Secure a potted plant, or use any growing plant in the 
 schoolyard. Provide several corks and pins, a small pan 
 of wood alcohol and some tincture of iodine. Place 
 slices of cork on opposite sides of a leaf and thrust a pin 
 through both to hold them snugly and firmly against the 
 leaf so that no sunlight can reach it where they are held 
 against its surface. The remainder of the leaf will be 
 exposed to the light. Prepare several leaves in this way. 
 
 Pig. 29. — The green leaf as a mill. 
 
THE WORK OF LEAVES 91 
 
 Set the plant in the sunhght, and after it has been there 
 several hours, remove the leaves to which the corks are 
 attached. Remember that the exclusion of light from the 
 portions of these leaves between the corks has probably 
 put a stop to the work of starchmaking there. 
 
 Place the leaves of the plants in a dish of water and 
 boil them for ab.out one minute to break down the tissues. 
 Transfer them to a bottle of alcohol. Cork tightly and 
 set away for a day or more. If this does not remove 
 the green coloring matter, transfer them to a dish of al- 
 cohol and boil them in it until the coloring matter is dis- 
 solved and the entire leaf is white. In this case, use the 
 utmost care that your alcohol does not boil over, take 
 fire and burn up your leaves. 
 
 Now put the leaves into some tincture of iodine, diluted 
 with water. Allow them to remain in this solution three 
 or four minutes. Remove and wash them with fresh 
 water and spread them out on clean sheets of paper. 
 
 Test fine pieces of potato, crushed corn and powdered 
 rice or wheat flour for starch. Tell how and where this 
 starch was manufactured. 
 
 Conclusion. — Describe fullv the results secured with 
 the leaves and explain. If weeds, or other plants, cut off 
 the sunlight from growing plants, what part of the " mill " 
 indicated in Figure 29 is shut off ? Why are plants which 
 are crowded often spindling in growth ? Why do sprout- 
 ing potatoes in the cellar grow toward the light of the 
 window ? 
 
 67. How Other Foods are made. — The starch, manu- 
 factured in the green leaves, is one of the chief food mate- 
 rials of the plant, but it is of the utmost importance for 
 still another reason. With starch as a basis, the plant 
 makes many other kinds of foods, such as sugars, fats, 
 
92 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 oils and proteins, using, when needed, those essential 
 elements which come to it in the soil water. 
 
 It is from the various food materials, made in this way, 
 that the plant derives the energy that makes its own growth 
 possible. It is from them that all of its tissues are built, 
 whether wood, bark, fiber, blossoms, fruits or grains. 
 Moreover, animals depend upon these food materials 
 made by the plant just as does the plant itself, for it is 
 from them that animals derive all of their heat and energy 
 and tissue-building material. 
 
 Thus we see that out of the raw materials — the ten 
 essential elements which come to them from the soil and 
 air — plants are able to make the food supply not only 
 for themselves, but for all animal life as well. That is 
 to say, while man may eat the flesh of animals, he may be 
 sure that these animals were in turn dependent upon 
 plants for their existence, or upon other animals, perhaps, 
 whose food supply was drawn from plants. 
 
 As the Father of Waters, the great Mississippi, may be 
 traced to its source in the highlands of Minnesota, so the 
 food supply of the world can be traced back to its source 
 in the green leaves of plants where carbon dioxide and 
 water, and minerals from the earth, by the power of the 
 sun, unite to form the food substances that make it possible 
 for plants and animals, including man himself, to live. 
 
 68. Amount of Water, Food Material and Ash in 
 Plants. — The weight lost by plants in drying repre- 
 sents the water held in the tissues. The weight lost in 
 burning represents the food manufactured in the leaves. 
 The ash remaining after burning contains all of the minerals 
 which come from the soil except the nitrogen, which escapes 
 into the air in the process of burning. 
 
THE WORK OF LEAVES 93 
 
 EXERCISE 31 
 
 Object. — To determine how much food is manufactured 
 in the leaves. 
 
 Procedure. — Cut into very fine pieces one hundred 
 grams of potato, grass, apple or any grain. Weigh 
 again after cutting to make sure that your original weights 
 are accurate. Set the pan or dish containing your material 
 on the back of the stove or in an oven. When perfectly 
 dry but not burned, weigh again. 
 
 Put the dried material into a dish which will withstand 
 heat, and carefully burn it over a hot fire. When nothing 
 but white ashes remains, take the final weight. 
 
 Conclusion. — How much water did the material which 
 you used contain? Where did it come from? Will it 
 get back to the soil again? If so, how? How much food 
 material and how much ash did the substance which 
 you used contain ? Where did each come from ? What 
 element came from the soil but escaped into the air? 
 Give two reasons why cornstalks and straw should not 
 be burned. (Sections 4 and 68.) How do your results 
 compare with those of others who used other material? 
 Why do grains produce more flesh and energy in animals 
 than the same weight of green forage, potatoes, beets or 
 other root crops? 
 
 69. The Water given ofE by Leaves. — The minerals 
 which a plant takes in are really received in a very weak 
 solution^ In other words, a great deal of water is ab- 
 sorbed to get a small amount of phosphorus, potassium 
 or any other element required from the soil. The excess 
 of water must escape, and it does so through the leaves. 
 On the under side of leaves, and to a limited extent on 
 the upper side also, are found numerous tiny openings, 
 called stomata. These stomata are guarded on either 
 
94 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 side by cells, known as guard cells. When there is more 
 than enough water to unite with the carbon dioxide to 
 form starch, and when the sun is shining, these cells draw 
 apart and allow the water in the leaf to escape and the 
 carbon dioxide to enter. This escape of water, which is 
 in the form of invisible vapor, through the stomata 
 of the leaves is called transpiration. 
 
 The roots of a plant must absorb from two hundred 
 and twenty-five to nine hundred and fifteen pounds of 
 water for every pound of dry matter, or food material 
 produced. In times of drouth, the stomata are partially 
 or nearly closed, so that transpiration becomes slower. 
 During the night, the stomata are closed, but the roots 
 absorb moisture in the darkness as well as during the day- 
 time. It follows that when moisture reaches the leaves 
 in the night, it can not escape, but accumulates both in 
 the leaves and back in the stem, making them turgid. 
 This explains why plants look fresh in the morning and 
 why corn will break under the cultivator in the early 
 morning but not at noon. 
 
 We are able by a very simple experiment to determine 
 how much water escapes from the leaves. 
 
 EXERCISE 32 
 
 Object. — To determine how much water the leaves of a 
 plant throw off. 
 
 Procedure. — Cover with melted paraffin the outside 
 and bottom of a flower pot containing a healthy plant. 
 Put a cork in one end of a glass tube and thrust the open 
 end into the soil in the pot. Cover the surface of the 
 soil with melted paraffin which has cooled enough to do 
 no injury to the stem of the plant. 
 
 Notice that no water can now escape from the soil in 
 the flower pot except by passing out through the plant; 
 
THE WORK OF LEAVES 
 
 95 
 
 and since little or none escapes from the stems of plants, 
 we may say that that which is lost from the pot is given 
 off by the leaves. 
 
 Carefully weigh the flower pot and plant. Remove 
 the cork from the glass tube each day, pour water through 
 
 Fig. 30. — The water lost by leaves. 
 
 it into the soil, keeping an accurate record of the weight 
 of the water so added, and being careful to replace the 
 cork each time. At the end of a week, weigh the plant 
 and pot again, and from the figures which you will now 
 have, determine the amount of water given off by the 
 leaves during that time. Measure as accurately as 
 possible the number of square inches of leaf surface on the 
 plant. 
 
96 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Conclusion. — Determine how many grams per square 
 inch the plant has given off during the week. Reduce it 
 to ounces, considering that twenty-eight and three tenths 
 grams are equal to one ounce. 
 
 How many tons of water will the velvet weeds in a 
 ten-acre field remove in one hundred days if each weed 
 throws off as much water per square inch of leaf surface 
 per day as the plant with which you have worked ? The 
 average leaf surface on each weed is two hundred square 
 inches and the average number of weeds is two on each 
 square rod. 
 
 70. Storage of Food in the Leaves. — The food which 
 is manufactured in the leaves is used by the plant in three 
 ways : 
 
 First : to supply the plant with energy with which to 
 carry on the processes of growth. 
 
 Second : to build the tissues of which its body is com- 
 posed. 
 
 Third : It may be stored away for time of need, such as 
 drouth, dormant season, or to nourish the seedhng after 
 germination. 
 
 We have already seen how roots may be used as store- 
 houses of food. Leaves, like those of the cabbage, or 
 those which make up such bulbs as the onion, become 
 filled with reserve food, and for this reason are useful to 
 man. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Give three functions of leaves. 
 
 2. Draw from memory a leaf considered as a mill, showing 
 how food is manufactured within it. 
 
 3. Tell briefly and clearly how you proved that a leaf 
 manufactures starch, and that sunUght is necessary. 
 
 4. Why will plants always reach for the hght ? 
 
 5. Name two reasons why starch is important. 
 
THE WORK OF LEAVES 97 
 
 6. Where do the water, the food material, and the ash of a 
 plant come from? 
 
 7. How does water escape from the leaves? 
 
 8. Why will corn break under the cultivator in the early 
 morning but not at noon? 
 
 9. How can you find out how much water a plant gives off? 
 10. State three ways in which the plant may use the food 
 
 which it manufactures. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE WORK OF STEMS 
 
 71. The Functions of Stems. — The three functions 
 which Nature has given stems to perform seem to be : 
 
 First : to hold the leaves up to the light that they may 
 manufacture food. 
 
 Second : to conduct the water and dissolved minerals 
 from the roots to the leaves. 
 
 Third : to conduct the food manufactured in the leaves 
 back again to the roots and other parts of the plant. 
 
 72. The Forms of Stems. — In the effort to hold their 
 leaves up to the light, stems grow in three fairly distinct 
 forms; (1) prostrate, or trailing, (2) climbing, and (3) 
 erect. 
 
 73. Prostrate Stems. — Plants which form this kind of 
 stems are often overshadowed by those with erect stems. 
 Notwithstanding this fact, a large number of plants have 
 prostrate stems. Such plants as the prostrate pigweed, 
 purslane, sweet potato and the dooryard weed, or knot- 
 weed all have this form of stem. Because of their clinging 
 closely to the ground, these plants require less moisture 
 than they would if the stems were higher in the air. The 
 stems themselves act as a mulch to prevent the escape of 
 moisture from the soil while often at the joints roots are 
 formed. 
 
 Even when these plants grow among the erect plants 
 as the purslane or crab grass grows among the corn, the 
 
 98 
 
THE WORK OF STEMS 99 
 
 prostrate stems creep, turn and twist to reach the beams 
 of hght, which filter through between the blades. When 
 we remember the troubles we have had in hoeing these 
 weeds from our gardens or fields, we conclude that pros- 
 trate stems may get along very well in competition with 
 other kinds. 
 
 74. Climbing Stems. — Such plants as the morning 
 glory, the grape, and the five-leaved ivy, or Virginia 
 creeper, twine their stems around any support they can 
 find and thus raise their leaves up to the light. Plants 
 with this class of stems are excellent for covering over 
 trellises, arbors and fences which may screen buildings 
 and unsightly places. When some of these plants, such 
 as the wild morning glory and the black bindweed, grow 
 among our field crops, they become serious pests. Their 
 roots take from the soil, moisture and plant food needed 
 by the growing crop, and they interfere with the harvest- 
 ing of the crop as well. Moreover, their stems twine 
 about the stems of the corn and other plants, which 
 makes them extremely hard to destroy. 
 
 75. Erect Stems. — The great majority of plants have 
 this kind of stem. They may be short or long, depending 
 upon the environment in which they grow. On the plains 
 the grasses and prairie flowers have short stems, but they 
 are mostly erect. In the forest, the trees form stems of 
 remarkable length and strength, and because of this, 
 yield us our supply of lumber. Most of our cultivated 
 crops have erect stems. For this reason, we are able to 
 cultivate the ground close around them ; the binder and 
 header can be used to harvest them ; the mower can be 
 used to cut them down ; and the stems themselves in ad- 
 dition to the leaves often make excellent forage. Those 
 
100 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 which are harvested or gathered by hand, as the cotton 
 and corn, are held up at a convenient height to pick. 
 
 76. Study of the Forms of Stems. — Nothing will 
 fix in our minds the habits and uses of stems so well as a 
 
 field study and a col- 
 lection of them. 
 
 Gather at least three 
 specimens of plants 
 with prostrate stems, 
 three with climbing 
 stems and three with 
 erect stems. Record 
 in your notebook where 
 each was gathered, that 
 is, whether in pasture, 
 cultivated field, or- 
 chard, or elsewhere ; 
 also, tell what chance 
 it had to get plenty of 
 light, and what is the 
 use of the plant to man. 
 
 EXERCISE 33 
 
 Object. — To become 
 familiar with the char- 
 acter of stems. 
 
 Procedure. — Place 
 the stem of a mature corn plant, a mature, dry morning 
 glory vine and some prostrate plant, as the purslane or 
 the prostrate pigweed, on the table before you. Notice 
 the joints, or nodes, on the cornstalk ; also that there are 
 joints on the other stems, though they are different in 
 appearance from those of the corn plant. 
 
 Fig. 31. 
 
 Cornstalks with 
 burden. 
 
 an extra 
 
THE WORK OF STEMS 101 
 
 Conclusion. — Where do the leaves grow out from the 
 stems of each of the plants? Are the leaves of the corn 
 plant arranged on opposite sides of the stem, or are they 
 arranged spirally? How are they arranged on the morn- 
 ing glory? Of the three kinds of stems, which would 
 need to be most rigid? Why? Do you find it so? 
 Which would need the strongest anchorage roots ? Why ? 
 Name three cultivated plants with erect stems, three with 
 climbing stems and two with prostrate stems. In what 
 kind of fields is each grown, and how is it cared for? 
 
 77. How Water travels from Roots to Leaves. — We 
 have seen how the roots draw water, containing dissolved 
 mineral substances, from the soil. We have learned the 
 uses to which this water is put in the leaves. How does 
 it pass upward from the roots to the leaves? 
 
 In every plant, extending continuously from the ends 
 of the roots to the leaves, are tiny tubes, which are more 
 or less connected. These are the water-carrying vessels, 
 and united with them are the food-carrying cells which we 
 shall study shortly. The two are joined in such a way as 
 to form strands, or threads, called fibro-vascular bundles. 
 
 We noted in Section 45 that the common plants are 
 divided into two classes, the monocotyledons and the 
 dicotyledons. The stems of these two classes are very 
 different. In the monocotyledons the bundles described 
 above are scattered irregularly, either through the pith 
 as in the cornstalk, or through the walls of the hollow 
 stems, while in the dicotyledons, they are regularly 
 arranged in a circle or circles about the central pith. 
 
 EXERCISE 34 
 
 Object. — To study how the water travels from the 
 roots to the leaves. 
 
102 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Procedure. — Wash the dirt from the roots of a corn 
 plant and of a bean plant, each about six or eight inches 
 high. Put the two plants in a glass of water containing 
 a few drops of red ink. After an hour remove them, and 
 with a razor blade cut each plant off at the lower end of 
 the stem. Make a thin section of the stem at this point, 
 and examine it with a hand lens to see where the water 
 has moved upward. Keep cutting thin cross sections 
 up the stem until you reach the point where only the 
 water-carrying tubes are stained. 
 
 A common house plant, the Sultana, has a very clear 
 stem, and the colored water may be watched as it moves 
 upward through it. Either the narcissus, or the Chinese 
 sacred lily, which you have probably grown in water in 
 
 the schoolroom, may have 
 its blossoms colored by add- 
 ing dye or ink to the water 
 in which it stands. 
 
 Conclusion. — Describe 
 briefly how the water-carry- 
 ing tubes differ in arrange- 
 ment in the corn and bean 
 plants. 
 
 78. How to tell the Age 
 of a Tree. — In the spring, 
 when there is an abundance 
 of water, the water-carrying tubes are very large. As the 
 season advances and the rainfall becomes less, smaller and 
 smaller tubes are made, until in the fall they are so small 
 and compact that they look like a ring of denser, harder 
 wood. In trees, therefore, which grow from year to year, 
 this circular line between the small water-carrying tubes 
 of the fall and the large ones of the spring is so plain that 
 
 Fig. 32. — Annual rings. 
 
THE WORK OF STEMS 103 
 
 we are able to tell the age of the tree, limb or twig by 
 counting the rings in its cross section. 
 
 79. How Food travels from Leaves to Roots. — The 
 food made in the leaves has three uses. (Section 70.) 
 In order that it may be used in any of these ways, it must 
 first be conducted from the leaves to the different parts 
 of the plant. We have already learned that it takes 
 several hundred pounds of water to produce one pound of 
 dry matter or food material in the plant. (Section 69.) 
 It is evident, then, that the vessels through which the 
 manufactured food travels from the leaves to other parts 
 of the plant need not be so large as those by which the soil 
 water travels from the earth to the leaves. The tubes, 
 called sieve tubes, which carry the manufactured food to 
 different parts of the plant, are very small indeed ; and 
 no careful study can be made of them without specially 
 prepared material and a compound microscope. It is 
 enough for us here to know that in the dicotyledons, these 
 sieve tubes are outside of the water-carrying vessels just 
 beneath the bark ; while in the monocotyledons, they 
 are connected with the water-carrying vessels, forming the 
 fibro-vascular bundles, as explained in Section 77. These 
 bundles, which are seen as threads, running through the 
 pith of the cornstalk, have the double function, then, of 
 carrying water from the soil to the leaves, and manufac- 
 tured food from the leaves back to other parts of the plant. 
 
 You have perhaps noticed that where a notch has been 
 cut in a tree, a callus is formed above, but not below, the 
 cut. This means that the food on its downward path has 
 found a place where the " bridge is out " and has piled up 
 on the bank on the side from which it has come. Girdling 
 a tree is simply the cutting away of the bark and the sieve 
 tubes just beneath it. This stops the current of food and 
 
104 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 starves the roots. A girdled tree does not sprout from the 
 stump. 
 
 80. The Flow of Sap. — We have perhaps heard that 
 the sap flows upward in the spring and back downward 
 in the fall. This is not the case. The roots absorb water 
 throughout the growing season and this water moves up- 
 
 FiG. 33. — How a graft is made and how it grows together. 
 
 ward rather rapidly through the water-carrying tubes 
 to the leaves where food is manufactured ; and throughout 
 the growing season, the food manufactured in the leaves 
 oozes back downward through the sieve tubes to all parts 
 of the plant. 
 
 81. The Cambium Layer. — In the dicotyledons, there 
 is a layer of cells between the water-carrying vessels and 
 the sieve tubes which lie outside of them. This is known 
 as the cambium layer. It is the thin, wet, slippery layer 
 
THE WORK OF STEMS 105 
 
 which we find when we remove the bark from a tree or 
 twig. It is here that all growth takes place and that new 
 sieve tubes or water-carrying vessels are formed as the 
 plant has need of them. When we reach the subject of 
 grafting, we shall have to remember that the cambium 
 layers of the root and the twig must be actually touching 
 each other or the two will not grow together. 
 
 82. Rope, Twine and Linen Material. — We can not 
 
 conclude our study of stems without learning something 
 of the spindle-shaped cells, called bast fibers, which often 
 make up a part of the outer portion of the stem. They 
 give it strength and flexibility. 
 
 The bast fibers of the hemp and flax, which are grown 
 in different parts of the United States ; of the Manila 
 hemp, which is a small tree of the banana family found in 
 the Philippines ; and of the century plants of Mexico 
 yield us our chief supply of rope, twine and linen thread 
 material. 
 
 The stems of the hemp and flax are allowed to soften 
 by partial decay in the field, or hot water is used, and the 
 wood removed, leaving the long fibers, which are bleached 
 and spun into the material desired. These fibers may be 
 found in the wild hemp nettle which grows along creeks 
 and in low places. If the stem is broken in winter, the 
 long strands of bast fibers may be secured and woven or 
 braided. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Name three functions of stems. 
 
 2. Name three forms of stems, 
 
 3. Name two weeds with prostrate stems, two with climbing 
 stems, and two with erect stems. 
 
 4. How does water from the soil reach the leaves ? 
 
 5. Why does a callus form above, but not below, a cut in 
 the bark of a tree? 
 
106 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 6. Why will girdling kill a tree ? 
 
 7. How does the arrangement of the water-carrying vessels 
 differ in the corn and bean ? Of what do the threads in the pith of 
 a cornstalk consist ? 
 
 8. Describe the flow of sap. 
 
 9. What is the cambium layer ? How could you find it in a 
 twig? 
 
 10. How, and from what part of hemp and flax do we get our 
 linen thread, rope and twine ? 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 THE WORK OF FLOWERS 
 
 83. The Work in which All Parts join. — All parts of 
 the plant work together to do these two things : 
 
 First : to provide for the needs of the growing plant. 
 Second : to provide some way by which another genera- 
 tion of the same kind of plants may be produced. 
 
 84. What the Flower does. — Nearly all plants are 
 propagated, or continued from generation to generation, 
 by seed. It is the business of flowers to produce this seed. 
 
 Each part of the flower plays some part, directly or in- 
 directly, in the production of seed. We shall soon see 
 why some are attractively colored ; why some are green 
 and unattractive ; why some are fragrant and some odor- 
 less ; why it is necessary for bees or other insects to go 
 from clover blossom to clover blossom or from strawberry 
 blossom to strawberry blossom ; why, if they fail to do so, 
 the clover plants produce no seed and the strawberry 
 plants no fruit ; why the corn lifts its tassel high in the 
 air and why the cane produces its seed on the top of the 
 stalk. 
 
 Let us proceed step by step to find out some of these 
 interesting and important facts and to get a glimpse also 
 of hidden changes, which take place within the flower 
 before the seed begins to form. 
 
 The first step will be to learn the parts of the flower. 
 
 107 
 
108 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 EXERCISE 35 
 
 STI^Af^ 
 
 C^IVX 
 
 ST>JLe 
 
 
 Object. — To become familiar with a flower and its parts. 
 Procedure. — Lay on the desk before you (1) the flower 
 of a dicotyledon, such as the apple, pear or petunia ; also 
 (2) the flower of a monocotyledon, as a head of cane, 
 foxtail or millet, which is just in bloom. Beginning at 
 the stem, compare the flower of the dicotyledon before 
 you with the drawing in Figure 34. 
 
 At its base, you find five stiff, green leaf -like organs. 
 These are the sepals; and all of them taken together are 
 
 called the calyx. They 
 afford protection to the 
 co/{cuji blossom before it opens. 
 Next above these, 
 we find the petals, pure 
 white or bright in color. 
 Whether united, as they 
 are in the petunia, or 
 separate, as in the apple 
 or pear, the petals make up the corolla. These serve to 
 attract insects. 
 
 Next, just inside the corolla, we find a number of small, 
 usually yellow, oblong or round bodies, held erect on tiny 
 stems. These are the stamens. The tiny, thread-like 
 stem of each one is the filament, the body at its tip, the 
 anther, and inside the anther, is a powdery substance 
 called the pollen. 
 
 Lastly, and usually in the center of the flower, we find 
 a part, expanded or divided at the top, and joined by a 
 thread-like stem somewhat larger than the filament with 
 little seed cavities in the base of the flower. The whole 
 of this central portion is called the pistil; the upper 
 divided or expanded part is the stigma; the lower portion, 
 
 Fig 
 
 34. — Parts of a 
 flower. 
 
 dicotyledonous 
 
THE WORK OP FLOWERS 
 
 109 
 
 containing the cavities in which the seeds will form, is 
 the ovary; and the connecting portion, or stem, is the 
 style. 
 
 Let us turn now to the other class of flowers before us. 
 
 We must look upon each head of these monocotyledons, 
 not as a single flower, but as a mass of flowers arranged 
 in groups of two along a central axis. That is, we find two 
 flowers together against this axis, 
 then, a little higher and on the 
 opposite side of it, we find two 
 more, and so on. 
 
 Study each group now a little 
 more closely. You find 7io se- 
 pals. Instead, you find at the 
 base of each group two stiff, 
 husk-like organs which are called 
 glumes. Above these glumes are 
 the two flowers. 
 
 At the base of each of these 
 flowers are two thin, husk-like 
 organs, one of which is smaller 
 and thinner than the other and a, glumes ; b, flowering 
 
 partly inclosed by it. The large glumes ; c, paleas ; d, stamens • 
 
 one is called the floweriiig glume, 
 
 the smaller one, the palea. Inclosed by these two are 
 three stamens, while at the center is a rounded ovary, from 
 which rise two long, feathery stigmas. 
 
 Compare now, part by part, these flowers with those of 
 the dicotyledons already studied. Point out and name 
 all parts of each flower. 
 
 If you can do this, you may take pride as well as pleasure 
 in the achievement. It is from flowers like these that all 
 grains, fruits, and seeds are produced. Very many people 
 are content to become familiar with only the flowers of the 
 
 Fig. 35. — Parts of a monocot^ 
 yledonous flower. 
 
no SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 first group ; yet all of our common field crops have flowers 
 of the second kind. 
 
 Conclusion. — Write a careful description of the flowers 
 with which you have been working, naming and describ- 
 ing each part. State whether the flower is fragrant and 
 give the color of its corolla. After you have studied 
 Sections 87 and 88, complete your notes here by telling 
 whether the pollen from the flower is scattered by the wind 
 or insects, and state how you know. 
 
 85. Parts of the Flower on Separate Plants or on 
 Different Parts of the Same Plant. — The flowers of the 
 plants we have chosen to study have all their parts to- 
 gether ; but from this it does not follow that the parts of 
 the flowers of all plants are so arranged. In the corn, 
 for instance, the tassel at the top of the stalk produces all 
 the stamens, while the ear, which is a collection of pistils, 
 is borne about midway on the stalk. Similarly, there are 
 two kinds of flowers on every pumpkin vine, — one, which 
 bears stamens and is therefore called staminate, while 
 the second one bears the pistil and is called a pistillate 
 flower. You can easily recognize the pistillate flower, 
 for at its base a small pumpkin is beginning to form. In 
 certain varieties of strawberries, all the flowers are pistil- 
 late ; and unless another variety is near which bears 
 stamens, no fruit will be produced. In mulberries, per- 
 simmons and some other trees, the staminate and pis- 
 tillate flowers are borne on separate trees, 
 
 86. How the Pollen gets from One Plant to another. — 
 
 Hold the ripe anthers of the petunia against the palm of the 
 hand and they will leave a purple-gray mark. If you had a 
 microscope to examine the spot, you would find it made 
 up of very many minute grains, which we call pollen. 
 
THE WORK OF FLOWERS 111 
 
 Examine the stigma of the petunia to see if it is sticky. 
 Touch it to your tongue to learn if it is sweet. 
 
 Before a seed will form, a pollen grain must alight on 
 the stigma. This is the first step in seed formation, which 
 we call pollination. 
 
 It is a rule of Nature that the flowers of few plants care 
 to receive their own pollen. There are very few plants 
 but that have adapted themselves so that they receive 
 pollen from other plants of the same kind. The principal 
 agents in carrying pollen from one plant to another are 
 insects and the wind. 
 
 87. The Flowers which depend upon Insects to carry 
 Pollen. — Plants which depend upon insects to bring 
 them pollen or to transport their own have : 
 
 (1) Bright colored flowers, which attract the bees and 
 other insects. 
 
 (2) A perfume, or fragrance, as in the case of the clover 
 or plum blossom, which invites the insect. 
 
 (3) Glands bearing nectar, which is gathered by insects 
 and made by bees into honey. 
 
 (4) Pollen, which is gathered by insects for food and 
 which is called beebread when found in the cells of the 
 honeycomb. 
 
 (5) The stigmas so placed that they come in contact 
 with the insect's body. 
 
 (6) Pollen, which sticks to the insect's body. 
 
 (7) Stigmas, which are expanded and sticky to receive 
 the pollen which the insect may bring from other plants. 
 
 88. The Flowers which depend upon Wind to carry 
 Pollen. — Plants which send their pollen by the wind 
 or catch that which drifts through the air have : 
 
 (1) Exposed flowers with no sepals or petals to stop 
 the drifting pollen. 
 
112 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 (2) Enough pollen produced to allow for enormous 
 waste. A single corn plant may produce as many as 
 fifty thousand pollen grains. Scarcely one in a thousand 
 reaches the stigma of a flower. 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Bee.s in clover blossoms. 
 
 (3) Dry, powdery pollen which floats easily in the air. 
 
 (4) Flowers for the most part on top of the stalk or 
 stem where they are exposed to the wind. 
 
 (5) Stigmas in the form of feathers, as in Figure 35, or 
 like the silks of corn. Both of these easily catch the 
 drifting pollen. 
 
 89. What happens after the Pollen reaches the Stigma. 
 
 — As we have said, pollination is the first step in the forma- 
 tion of seed after the flower has opened. 
 
THE WORK OP^ FLOWERS 113 
 
 If we place the pollen of the sweet pea blossom in a 
 very small glass dish containing slightly sweetened water, 
 in less than an hour we can see with the aid of a microscope 
 the pollen grains beginning to germinate. In perhaps two 
 hours a long slender tube will extend far out from the 
 original pollen grain. 
 
 When a pollen grain falls upon a stigma, it absorbs 
 moisture and nourishment from the latter and sends out 
 a tube, just as do those of the sweet pea in sweetened water. 
 This tube pushes its way down the style into the ovary. 
 Here in a small organ, called the ovule, a sperm cell from 
 the pollen tube and an egg cell within the ovule unite, and 
 a seed begins to form. This union of sperm and egg cells, 
 which is the second step in seed formation, is called 
 fertilization. 
 
 90. Cross-Fertilization the Rule. — As a rule, cross- 
 fertihzation, in which the pollen of one plant fertihzes the 
 ovules of another plant, produces the greatest number of 
 seeds capable of germination. Self-fertiHzation, in which 
 the pollen of a plant fertihzes its own ovules, tends to 
 produce no seeds at all or small seeds of which few or none 
 are capable of germination. 
 
 There are a few important exceptions to this rule, some 
 notable ones being the oat, wheat, barley and cotton 
 plants. As might be expected, the seed from a self- 
 fertiUzed plant is less subject to variation than the seed 
 from one which is cross-fertilized. 
 
 91. Cross-Fertilization by Hand. — It is possible for 
 us to secure the pollen from a plant, place it on the stigma 
 of another plant, and thus know both parents of the seed 
 we secure. If the flowers of the plant which is to receive 
 the pollen contain both stamens and pistils, the stamens 
 must be removed with a small pair of scissors and the 
 
114 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 flower covered with a paper or mosquito netting bag to 
 prevent self-fertilization or its receiving any other pollen 
 than that which we have selected. If the pistil is produced 
 
 on a separate plant, it 
 must be covered also ex- 
 cept when we are placing 
 pollen upon it. When 
 the pistil is ready to re- 
 ceive the pollen, we select 
 and carry it to the plant 
 bearing the pistil, remove 
 the sack gently, shake 
 the pollen on the stigma, 
 or better still, place it 
 there with a fine camel's 
 hair brush, tie the sack 
 securely about the blos- 
 som again and the deed 
 is done. 
 
 Ordinarily no results 
 from this cross are seen 
 in the first crop of seed 
 secured. The plants 
 which come from this 
 seed, however, often pre- 
 sent a variety of form and 
 flowers, some resembling 
 one parent and some an- 
 other with many inter- 
 mediate types. 
 
 Fertilization by hand 
 properly belongs to a kind of work called plant breeding, 
 and requires special knowledge. As amateurs, we can not 
 expect great results from it. 
 
 Fig. 37. — Blossom fixed for crossing. 
 
THE WORK OF FLOWERS 
 
 115 
 
 This matter of cross-fertilization, however, has a striking 
 apphcation in the case of the corn plant. The best develop- 
 ment of the ear of corn is seen only in case the seed from 
 which it grew was fertilized by pollen from another plant ; 
 
 Fig. 38. — Flowers of the corn plant. 
 
 but since the tassel which bears the pollen is directly above 
 the silks which receive it, self-fertilization very often takes 
 place. 
 
 By going through a field of corn when the tassels are 
 just coming out and cutting them off as they appear in 
 
116 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 every other row, we are able to secure cross-fertilized ears 
 in the detasseled rows since their own pollen is destroyed 
 and they must be fertilized by that from other plants. 
 
 If, now, the corn from the detasseled rows is used as 
 seed, it will ordinarily produce more vigorous plants and 
 likewise a larger yield per acre than will seed which has 
 been fertilized in part by its own pollen. This is true, 
 however, only of the first year's crop as after this much of 
 the seed is again self-fertilized. 
 
 Next summer, suppose you make an experiment of this 
 sort by detasseling every other row in a part of your field 
 at home. The following spring plant some of the seed 
 from these detasseled rows and compare the yield secured 
 with that from other seed. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. What is the business of flowers? 
 
 2. From memory, draw a diagram of the flower of a petunia 
 and name its parts. 
 
 3. Name two cultivated plants which have their flower 
 parts on different parts of the plant. 
 
 4. Name several cultivated plants which have both stamens 
 and pistils in the same flower. 
 
 5. Define the term pollination. 
 
 6. What are the two agents by which plants secure cross- 
 pollination ? •• 
 
 7. Name four ways by which plants adapt themselves to 
 wind pollination. 
 
 8. Name four ways by which plants adapt themselves to 
 pollination by insects. 
 
 9. Define the term fertilization, and trace the steps after 
 the pollen grain reaches the stigma. 
 
 10. Tell briefly how you could cross by hand one blossom 
 with another. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SEED 
 
 As soon as the sperm cell from the pollen tube and the 
 egg cell in the ovule have united as explained in Section 
 90, the development of the seed begins. 
 
 Fig. 39. — How food travels from the leaves to the seed. 
 
 92. How the Food is stored in the Seed. — We have 
 noted how starch is formed in the green leaves (Sections 
 
 117 
 
118 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 66 and 67), and how by a process we do not fully under- 
 stand, this starch is converted into other food compounds, 
 including fats and oils, or how it may in other cases be 
 combined with mineral elements from the soil to form 
 proteins. 
 
 As the seed develops, it draws this food from other 
 parts of the plant and stores it within itself. Around the 
 tiny plant which is developing within the seed, is built 
 layer after layer of cells stored with starch, sugar, fats 
 and proteins. In the accompanying drawing (Figure 
 39), the arrows indicate the currents of food moving 
 toward the seed where food accumulates. 
 
 93. How Man may thwart Nature's Plan. — It will 
 thus be seen that the whole plant is working to pro- 
 duce this seed. If, before the seed is fully formed, the 
 plant is harvested, much of the food will be retained in the 
 leaves and stems since it will not have had time to reach 
 the seed, and so these parts Avill be useful as forage for 
 animals, or even as food for man. If we want oat hay, we 
 cut the crop while it is yet green. On the other hand, 
 alfalfa or clover straw, from which the seed has been 
 threshed, has Httle food value, and you can readily see 
 why this is true. 
 
 Grasses are cut, dried only enough to prevent their 
 molding, and then stacked in the field or stored in barns 
 that animals may use the food that is stored in their 
 leaves and stems. For the same purpose corn plants are 
 cut before they are fully mature, and the leaves and stalks 
 are chopped together into short, small pieces, which will 
 pack solidly into the silo. 
 
 None of us enjoys roasting ears when the kernels are very 
 small and consist principally of water; neither do we 
 enjoy them when so much food from the leaves has ac- 
 
FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SEED 119 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 
 Fig. 40. — Filling a silo. 
 
120 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 cumulated in the kernels as to make them hard and 
 doughy. 
 
 94. The Forms and Uses of the Various Food Materials 
 in the Seed. — As the food accumulates within the seeds, 
 part of it assumes the form of grains, or granules, which 
 often resemble to some extent minute oyster shells; and 
 inclosed in certain parts of some seeds, oil may be seen 
 in the form of tiny droplets. A person who has made a 
 careful study of the subject can detect adulterations in 
 
 
 A-SO^-l, 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 
 Fig. 41. — A feed lot scene. 
 
 foodstuffs, such as corn meal in wheat or buckwheat flour, 
 or ground peas or beans in ground coffee, by the form of 
 the starch and protein grains. 
 
 A good stock raiser knows the use of the various kinds 
 of food stored in the seeds. He knows that protein builds 
 tissue, and must be provided in considerable amounts for 
 growing animals and milch cows ; and furthermore, he 
 knows that foods containing starch, sugars, or fats and 
 oils, yield heat and muscular energy and produce fat if 
 fed in excess, — but that they will not build tissue. 
 
 The ration for his growing pigs and milch cows includes 
 
FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SEED 121 
 
 such feeds as the outer layers of wheat grains, or wheat 
 middhngs, or perhaps flaxseed or oil meal, for these are 
 rich in proteins, and proteins produce new tissue or milk. 
 The ration for the hogs in his fattening pens will consist 
 largely of corn, for it is rich in the foods that produce 
 fat. His growing calves get a considerable amount of 
 such feeds as ground oats, oil meal or wheat middlings 
 along with their corn meal ; and even his fattening steers 
 get in addition to corn some such protein feed as cotton- 
 seed meal. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 To propagate plants is to cause them to multiply, 
 spread or continue by natural generation or other means, 
 as a species or variety. In Nature, we see each plant, 
 from the tiny one that causes the mold on bread to the 
 
 gigantic oak of the forest 
 producing its seeds or spores 
 that the species may be con- 
 tinued. 
 
 Man has selected from among 
 these wild plants those which 
 are adapted to his use and has 
 cultivated and improved them 
 until it is often with difficulty 
 that we recognize the wild 
 type from which they came. 
 Nor has man been content with only those species 
 which he has found growing in his own immediate coun- 
 try. He has — and this is especially true of the American 
 through the work of the United States Department of 
 Agriculture — searched the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for new plants and seeds to be introduced into his own 
 native land. 
 
 Fig. 42. — The Bismarck apple 
 and its wild parents. 
 
 95. How Plants are propagated. — Plants are prop- 
 agated in three ways : 
 
 122 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 123 
 
 V. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
 
 Fig. 43. — Mr. Frank N. Meyer, an agricultural explorer sent out by the 
 United States Department of Agriculture, returning from a successful trip into 
 the high mountains of China M'here he has secured new varieties of plants to be 
 tried in the United States. 
 
124 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 First : by spores (minute bodies, which are borne by 
 lower plants, such as the puff ball or the corn smut, and 
 which correspond to the seed of the higher plants). 
 
 Second : by seed. 
 
 Third : by some part of the parent plant other than the 
 seed or spore. 
 
 The beginning point of all plants is the seed or the spore. 
 Ever}^ seed contains, as we have seen, a tiny plant, which 
 under the proper conditions vnW unfold and expand, be- 
 coming more and more complex until it produces flowers 
 and finally seeds like the one from which it grew. 
 
 It must not be understood, however, that all higher 
 plants in their natural state are propagated entirely by 
 seed. The wild strawberry produces runners ; the ■vN'ild 
 plum, sprouts or suckers ; and the snap willow loses many 
 live branches which serve as cuttings. Many plants have 
 wholly or partially lost their ability to produce seed, 
 and depend upon bulbs, tubers, etc., to perpetuate the 
 species. 
 
 A few of our cultivated plants, such as the seedless 
 orange, produce no seed, while almost none of our fruits 
 come true to seed. That is to say, the seed of a Jonathan 
 apple will not produce a Jonathan tree, nor will a tree 
 gro^^Tl fromaBing cherry produce the same kind of cherries. 
 IMan must secure some part, as a leaf, a bud, a stem or a 
 root of the original tree or vine, or one of these parts from 
 a plant which came from the original. All the \anes 
 bearing Concord grapes have come in this way from a 
 single \dne still gro^^'ing at Concord, ^lassachusetts. 
 
 96. Propagation by Spores. — The plants which are 
 propagated by spores are of two classes : 
 
 (1) Those like the ferns, the mosses and the green pond 
 scums, all of which contain green coloring matter and can 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 125 
 
 Fig. 44. — Smut on an ear of corn. 
 
126 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 therefore manufacture their own food. (Section 66 and 
 Exercise 30.) 
 
 (2) Those hke the corn smut, the cotton wilt, the wheat 
 and oats rust, the potato scab, the apple blight, the mush- 
 room and the toadstool. These contain no green coloring 
 matter, can not manufacture their own food and must 
 therefore draw their nourishment from living or dead plants 
 of other kinds. In so doing, they often cause either 
 diseases or decay. 
 
 We are familiar with the destructive effect of plant 
 diseases and with the rotting of apples and potatoes. 
 We must not on this account, however, condemn all 
 plants of this second class. Many cause no injury, while 
 a multitude of them are beneficial and absolutely essential 
 to soil fertihty and plant growth. The bodies of dead 
 plants must be broken down into simpler substances. 
 This necessary work is done by plants of this class, such 
 as molds and bacteria. (Section 5.) 
 
 Place a piece of moist bread in any open, shallow dish 
 and set it aside for a few days. The whole surface will 
 become covered with common bread mold, a fuzzy growth 
 of minute plants, which develop when the spores floating 
 through the air fall and germinate upon the surface. 
 With a common hand lens, we can see dotted through this 
 growth the tiny round black bodies which bear the spores. 
 If it were not for the foul smelling gases, coming from the 
 decomposing proteins, which these plants set free, we 
 could leave the bread in the dish until the simple sub- 
 stances which molds invariably produce would alone re- 
 main. 
 
 A striking illustration of the way in which the spores of 
 these minute disease-producing plants may exist is shown 
 in the common loose smut of oats. The smut spores are 
 carried with the seed oats from infested fields. When the 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 127 
 
 oats germinate in the soil the following spring, the spores 
 germinate also and send slender, thread-like organs up- 
 ward in the tissue of the oat stem as it develops. Thus 
 we actually have one plant growing at the expense of and 
 within the tissues of another. About the time the oat 
 begins to flower, these thread-like organs push their way 
 into the base of the flower. Here they take the nourish- 
 ment which was intended for the seed (Section 92 and 
 Exercise 24), prevent its development and develop 
 instead a mass of loose, black spores. The loss to farmers 
 of the United States in a single year, caused by this smut 
 plant, has been over twenty million dollars. We shall 
 consider shortly how to prevent the spread of this disease. 
 
 97. How Spores are spread. — As agricultural students, 
 we are not particularly interested in the spores of plants 
 like the fern and the moss, but the manner in which the 
 spores of the disease-producing plants are spread is of 
 vital interest to us. The different ways by which spores 
 may be spread, or disseminated, may be grouped as 
 follows : 
 
 First : on seeds, which are carried from place to place. 
 Oat smut, stinking smut of wheat, potato blight, anthrac- 
 nose of beans, and many other diseases are spread in this 
 way. 
 
 Second : in the soil. The spores of the root rot of cotton, 
 potato scab, root rot of the beet, and many others live 
 through the winter and spread more or less through the 
 soil. 
 
 Third : on dead leaves, steins, roots, weeds and grass. 
 Many spores of the disease-producing plants pass their 
 winter stages on this kind of material. When the warm 
 weather of spring comes on, the spores develop, spread 
 and attack growing plants. 
 
 Fourth : by diseased and fallen fruit. The old, withered 
 plums, which hang on the trees all winter, harbor the 
 
128 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 spores of the brown rot of the plum. The apple scab is 
 spread from diseased fruit and leaves. 
 
 Fifth : by insects. Insects, which come to attack the 
 plants, often bring with them from other plants the spores 
 of disease. The first step, then, in the control of such 
 diseases is to destroy the insects. 
 
 98. How to prevent the Spread and Growth of the 
 Spores of Disease. — (1) Spores on the Seed. — The first 
 step in preventing propagation by spores clinging to seeds 
 is seed selection. Since many diseases are spread in this 
 way, a careful farmer tries to select clean seed from clean 
 fields. It is of course impossible to examine each seed of 
 the oats or wheat as might be done with potatoes. In 
 this case, something must be applied which will kill the 
 spores but not the seed. The methods used for the con- 
 trol of oat smut will illustrate this. 
 
 EXERCISE 36 
 
 Object. — To learn how to treat oats for loose 
 smut. 
 
 Procedure. — Put a peck of oats in the bottom of a 
 box. Make a solution of formalin in water by adding 
 5 cc. of 40 per cent formalin to 1600 cc. of water. This 
 is in the proportion of one pint of formalin to forty gallons 
 of water. 
 
 With the hands, sprinkle one quart of this solution 
 over the oats in the box and stir them thoroughly with a 
 fire shovel or stick so that every kernel will become 
 moist. Now cover them with a gunny sack or otherwise 
 so as to prevent the escape of the pungent gas which is 
 given off by the formalin. After four or five hours, remove 
 the cloth and spread the oats out on a floor, table or other 
 surface until thoroughly dried. 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 129 
 
 Conclusion. — State carefully in your notebook just 
 how you treated this peck of oats to kill any spores of 
 smut that might have been on the seed. 
 
 In actual farm practice, the oats are spread on a clean 
 floor, a sprinkler is used, the solution is applied at the 
 rate of about one gallon to each bushel, and the grain is 
 then covered for several hours, after which it is quickly 
 
 Fig. 45. — Treating seed oats for smut. 
 
 but carefully dried. If not sown at once, it must not be 
 allowed to heat or freeze. 
 
 In 1906, eight per cent of the oat crop of the United 
 States was destroyed by loose smut. At this rate what 
 would have been the total reduction in bushels in the yield 
 of a thirty-acre field, which produced forty-six bushels 
 per acre, but the seed for which was not treated for smut ? 
 If the formalin to treat the seed had cost one dollar and 
 the oat crop was worth thirty-five cents per bushel, 
 
 K 
 
130 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 how much would the owner have made by treating his 
 seed? 
 
 The scab of potatoes may be controlled in a similar 
 way by allowing the seed to remain for two hours in a 
 solution of one pint of formalin in thirty gallons of water. 
 
 (2) Spores in the Svil. — Soil, which has become in- 
 fested with the spores of such diseases as the potato scab 
 or onion smut, should be planted to some other crop for 
 several years until the ground becomes free from the spores 
 of the disease. Crop rotation, then, becomes an important 
 step in disease control as are also thorough drainage and 
 deep cultivation. 
 
 (3) Spores on Dead Plants. — Most disease-producing 
 plants have two kinds of spores : those which are able to 
 withstand the severe cold of winter, called winter spores; 
 and others which are produced during the warmer months 
 and are called summer spores. These are formed much 
 more rapidly than the winter spores but are more easily 
 destroyed. Owing to the presence of winter spores, it is 
 exceedingly important that all of the preceding year's 
 plants in infested fields be destroyed before seeding time 
 arrives. The dreaded black rust of wheat has been shown 
 to live over the winter on old grass and weeds. Field 
 sanitation, then, is an important matter. 
 
 (4) Spores on Diseased and Fallen Fruit. — The winter 
 spores are not usually directly responsible for the rapid 
 spread of disease on fruit. When a winter spore germi- 
 nates, a tiny plant develops. This little plant in turn 
 sends up a mass of summer spores, and from these summer 
 spores come the plants which really produce disease. 
 
 There are certain chemical mixtures which will destroy 
 both winter spores and summer spores when they begin 
 to germinate without injury to the plants upon which 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 131 
 
 they are lodged. The principal one of these mixtures, 
 which is known as Bordeaux (pronounced bordo), is made 
 as follows : 
 
 . EXERCISE 37 
 
 Object. — To learn how to make Bordeaux mixture. 
 
 Procedure. — Dissolve four ounces of blue vitriol in a 
 stone jar or wooden bucket — a tin one will be destroyed 
 by the vitriol — containing three and one eighth gallons 
 of water. 
 
 Place four ounces of fresh unslacked, or stone lime in 
 another bucket or jar containing the same amount of 
 water. 
 
 When the lime is thoroughly mixed with the water, pour 
 the contents of both buckets or jars into a third jar or 
 wooden bucket large enough to contain all of it. 
 
 You have now made the standard Bordeaux mixture at 
 the rate of four pounds of lime and four pounds of blue 
 vitriol to fifty gallons of water. 
 
 If you place a clean, bright knife blade in the blue 
 vitriol solution before adding it to the lime mixture, a 
 coating of copper will form over its surface. This should 
 not occur in the Bordeaux mixture. If even a slight 
 copper coating appears when the knife blade is placed in 
 it, you should add more lime, as otherwise the mixture 
 will ^' burn '' the leaves of your potatoes or apple trees 
 when it is applied. 
 
 Conclusion. — By applying this mixture when the buds 
 of the apple are just showing pink, the destructive apple 
 scab may be controlled. 
 
 If this mixture is applied to potatoes when they are 
 about six inches high, and every two weeks thereafter, the 
 dry rot, or late blight, will be held in check. In the year 
 of 1905, this disease caused a loss of fifty million dollars 
 in the state of New York alone. 
 
132 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 The dreaded black rot of the grape can be controlled 
 if Bordeaux mixture is applied when the buds are just 
 swelling, again when they unfold, and two or three times 
 after this at intervals of about two weeks. 
 
 The most effective means we have of preventing the 
 
 Fig. 46. — The apple scab. 
 
 germination and growth of spores is the Bordeaux mixture. 
 It should not be applied during rainy weather ; and for 
 stone fruits, such as the cherry, peach and plum, it should 
 be used in only half strength. 
 
 By the addition of three pounds of arsenate of lead to 
 fifty gallons of Bordeaux mixture, both biting insects and 
 diseases can be controlled. 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 133 
 
 99. Conditions which favor the Entrance and Growth 
 of Spores. — (1) Unhealthy Condition of the Plant which 
 they attack. — Plants that are weakened by drouth or by 
 the attacks of insects, or those that have become shaded 
 by weeds are more hable 'to be destroyed by disease 
 than others. The disease, in other words, makes the 
 greatest progress when the plant is in an unhealthy 
 condition. 
 
 (2) Moisture. — Moisture favors the growth of spores. 
 In low, damp places, in dark, wet cellars, where fruit and 
 vegetables are stored, the spores of disease and decay 
 thrive. In Section 43 we learned that the greatest enemy 
 of stored seeds is moisture. This is partly due to the fact 
 that it favors the growth of molds which may eventually 
 cause the death of the embryo. 
 
 (3) Darkness. — Direct sunhght will do much to prevent 
 the propagation of spores. We therefore destroy weeds, 
 leave sufficient space between our plants, and prune our 
 trees to let in the sunhght. 
 
 (4) Heat. — Spores spread and grow best in warm 
 places. This is why we put fruit and vegetables in cool 
 cellars, in cold storage or in the refrigerator. 
 
 (5) Careless Treatment. — By bruising or breaking the 
 skin of fruit or vegetables, we may open the way for the 
 entrance of spores, and decay will follow. Similarly, by 
 careless pruning or cultivating, we may allow the spores 
 of disease to gain entrance into living plants. 
 
 100. Propagation by Seed. — The higher plants are 
 commonly propagated by seed. However, this means of 
 propagation will be considered in detail in the chapters on 
 special crops. In Chapters VII and VIII, we have already 
 learned essential facts concerning selection, storing and 
 germination of seeds. 
 
134 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 101. Propagation by some Part of the Plant other than 
 Seed or Spore. — • The methods of propagation other than 
 by seeds or spores may be placed in three groups : 
 
 (1) Plants may be formed while still attached to the 
 parent plant. This may be by (a) runners, (6) tip layers, 
 (c) layers, or {d) suckers. 
 
 (2) Plants may be formed from portions detached from 
 the parent plant. This includes propagation by (a) bulbs, 
 (b) tubers, and (c) cuttings. 
 
 (3) Plants may be formed by the union of two plants as 
 by (a) budding and (b) grafting. 
 
 Fig. 47. — Runner on a strawberry plant. 
 
 102. Plants formed while still attached to the Parent 
 Plant. — Such plants draw nourishment from the parent 
 plant until they are able to maintain an independent 
 growth. After this, the young plant is usually separated 
 from the older one by the death of the part connecting 
 the two, though this is not always true of suckers. Some 
 plants, such as the strawberry, send out long, prostrate 
 stems from which, at either the ends or the nodes, roots 
 develop and new plants form. Such a prostrate stem is 
 called a runner. 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 135 
 
 The stems of a few plants, such as the black-cap rasp- 
 berry, tend to curve toward the ground. Roots will 
 form at the tip if it is in close contact with the soil or 
 
 Fig. 48. — Propagating a plant by tip layers. 
 
 covered by it. The new plant thus formed is called a 
 tip layer. If the ground is kept free from weeds and the 
 soil loose and mellow, the formation of both runners and 
 tip layers is favored. 
 
 Plants Hke the grape, the snowball and the rambler 
 rose, whose stems do 
 not naturally curve 
 toward the ground, 
 may be layered. This 
 is done by bringing a 
 stem carefully to the 
 
 ■\:Sl''^Sj;' 
 
 ^SjgKg3#'-=i£:^'-"-'-"^''i>**«^r: 
 
 Fig. 49. — Propagating a plant by layers. 
 
 ground and holding it 
 
 in place by covering 
 
 it with earth. Roots 
 
 then grow out from 
 
 the buried stem, and the new plant which forms at this 
 
 point is called a layer. 
 
 The roots of many plants send up sprouts which are 
 called suckers. Such plants do not develop good root 
 
136 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 systems, owing in part to their connection with the parent 
 plants, and they show a tendency to produce new suckers. 
 The red raspberry is propagated entirely by suckers. 
 
 103. Plants formed by Portions which become de- 
 tached from Parent Plant. — ^Some plants which are ac- 
 customed to long periods of inactivity, for example, 
 those in arid regions, or in wet countries subject to 
 overflow, lose their power to produce seed and form 
 hulhs instead. A bulb is in reahty a very short under- 
 ground stem, having leaves closely crowded about it, 
 which are filled with nutriment to feed the young plant 
 when it begins to grow. 
 
 EXERCISE 38 
 
 Object. — To learn how to care for bulbs and how plants 
 are developed from them. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure from some seed house or local 
 merchant a dozen or more of each of the following kinds 
 of bulbs : paper white narcissus, tulip, Roman hyacinth 
 and crocus ; also procure a few bulbs of the Chinese 
 sacred Hly. Secure two boxes about two feet long, one 
 foot wide and four inches deep. 
 
 Cover the bottom of one of the boxes with one inch of 
 rich, fine soil. Over this put one half inch of fine sand. 
 Press the bulbs of the Roman hyacinth slightly into the 
 sand about two inches apart. Add more fine soil to the 
 box until the bulbs are completely covered. Set it 
 aside in some convenient part of the room where it 
 does not get direct sunhght, and see that the soil does 
 not dry out. 
 
 Place the bulbs of the narcissus in the other box in the 
 same manner. Instead, however, of keeping the box in 
 the room, place it outside in some cool, well-drained and 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 137 
 
 shaded place and cover it with about six inches of soil and 
 six inches of leaves. 
 
 Thoroughly spade up the soil in some protected corner 
 of the school grounds to a depth of about twelve inches. 
 Plant the tulips and crocuses in this bed about four inches 
 deep. When cold weather sets in, cover the bed with 
 two feet of leaves or hay. 
 
 All of the planting, both in boxes and beds, should be 
 done by the first of October. In about six weeks bring 
 the box of narcissus bulbs into the room, place it and the 
 box of hyacinth bulbs in a warm, sunny window and watch 
 the development of leaves and blossoms. 
 
 In the early spring, remove the leaves or hay from the 
 bed of tulips and crocuses. 
 
 If desired, the bulbs of the Chinese sacred Hly and some 
 of those of the narcissus may be placed in glass dishes 
 containing water and enough clean stones to hold the bulbs 
 erect. The development of the roots may then be studied 
 as well as that of stems, leaves and flowers. 
 
 Conclusion. — Only the roots developed while the bulbs 
 were kept out of the sun by deep covering or otherwise. 
 What started the development of the leaves and blossoms ? 
 Tell briefly how to have flowers from Thanksgiving until 
 Easter. 
 
 Why may not this exercise be the beginning of an effort 
 to make the school grounds more attractive and beautiful 
 by a general plan of landscape gardening, which should 
 include the planting of shade trees and hardy shrubs as 
 well as bulbs? 
 
 Tubers. — A tuber is a short, thickened, underground 
 stem. Buds form on these stems just as on any others 
 though we ordinarily speak of these buds as " eyes." 
 Such plants as the potato, dahha and others are propa- 
 
138 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 gated by planting the tuber whole or by planting pieces 
 of it'. The young plant is developed from the bud, and, of 
 course, if a piece should have no buds, or eyes, it will not 
 grow. 
 
 Cuttings. — Such plants as the willow, poplar, grape 
 
 vine, spiraea and 
 bridal wreath may 
 be propagated in the 
 following manner : 
 
 Secure in the late 
 autumn some fresh, 
 firm young twigs 
 of the same season's 
 growth. Cut them 
 into pieces about six 
 inches in length and 
 store them in the 
 ground as you did 
 the tulip and crocus 
 bulbs in the last ex- 
 ercise. In the spring, 
 at garden planting 
 time, set these cut- 
 tings out in rows, 
 leaving only one or 
 two buds above the 
 surface of the 
 ground. 
 
 Fig. 50. — Cuttings of various kinds of 
 
 wood. 
 
 104. Plants formed by the Union of Two Plants. — 
 
 None of our choice varieties of fruit come true to seed. 
 This is a fact of vital consequence in fruit culture. We 
 can not reproduce a desirable variety of fruit by planting 
 the seed. Furthermore, not many of our fruit trees can 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 139 
 
 be propagated by cuttings. Hence the necessity of the 
 third method commonly practiced, — that of uniting two 
 plants. 
 
 A bud or twig of the variety desired is united with a root 
 grown from a seed, called a seedling root, so that the two 
 grow together, forming a single plant. The upper part of 
 the tree so formed will then bear the desired variety of 
 fruit. 
 
 If a twig and root are caused to unite in this way, the 
 process is known as grafting, the root being referred to as 
 the stock while the twig is known as the don. If a bud 
 is inserted in the stem and allowed to develop until it 
 becomes a part or all of the top, the process is known as 
 budding. 
 
 EXERCISE 39 
 
 to 
 
 Object. — To learn how to propagate plants by 
 grafting. 
 
 Procedure. — ■ Procure from some nursery company 
 as many apple seedling roots, or stocks, as you wish to 
 make grafts. Gather some fresh, firm twigs of last season's 
 growth from the apple tree you wish to propagate. 
 
 Provide strips of old mushn or cahco, which has been 
 dipped in a hot wax made as follows : Melt together in an 
 old pan or other dish resin, 4 parts ; beeswax, 2 parts ; 
 and tallow, 1 part. After the cloth has cooled, tear it 
 into strips about one eighth of an inch wide and six inches 
 or more in length. 
 
 The cion and stock to be joined together should be 
 equal in diameter and small. The former should be cut 
 back to a length of five or six inches if it is longer than this. 
 Both should be cut off obliquely, the bevel, as well as the 
 length of the cut, being the same on the two pieces. Each 
 should now be spht at a point near the middle, the spUt, 
 
140 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 however, extending but a short distance back from the 
 bevel surface. When this is done, it will be found that 
 the two pieces will fit together in the manner shown in 
 Figure 51. 
 
 Care must be taken that the cambium layers (Section 
 81) of the two pieces coincide, as otherwise they will 
 not grow together. If, however, the two pieces are of the 
 same size, and if the bark of each joins the other perfectly, 
 the cambium layers are quite certain to be in contact. 
 
 About the joint, or 
 spHce, wrap enough 
 of the waxed cloth to 
 hold the two pieces 
 firmly together. 
 
 This work should 
 be done in winter ; 
 and when it is finished, 
 the grafted plants 
 hMinw should be stored in 
 sand outside the 
 schoolroom and cov- 
 ered with about a foot 
 of st r aw, hay or 
 leaves. In the spring 
 at garden planting 
 time they should be removed and set in the open 
 ground. 
 
 Conclusion. — This graft is called the whip graft. Tell 
 in your notebook just how it is made or make a drawing 
 to illustrate it. 
 
 J 
 
 Fig. 51. — The whip graft. 
 
 It must not be understood from the above that all roots 
 and twigs will unite regardless of kind, or species. Only 
 members of the same family will unite, and these will not 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 141 
 
 always do so. Among the stone fruits, the plum will 
 unite with the peach, or either of these will unite with 
 the apricot. Among the fruits which form seeds, as the 
 apple, the quince will unite with the pear. The apple 
 will unite with crabapple and with the different varieties 
 of large apples, but it is only in very rare cases that it 
 will unite with any other plant than these. 
 
 Grafting may be done on mature trees as well as on 
 young ones but we use a different graft. This will be 
 shown in the next exercise. 
 
 EXERCISE 40 
 
 Object. — To show how the character of a grown tree 
 may be changed, or how several varieties of fruit may be 
 grown on the same tree. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure a smooth, straight piece of the limb 
 of an apple tree about the size of a broom stick and from 
 eight to ten inches in length ; some twigs from bearing 
 apple trees, such as were used in Exercise 39 ; and a ball 
 of the wax used in that exercise. Before this wax is 
 handled, the hands should be rubbed with tallow to pre- 
 vent the wax from sticking to them. 
 
 Split the end of the limb down about one and one half 
 inches, using a piece of wood as a mallet and a knife blade 
 as a chisel. Cut two of the twigs to a length of about six 
 inches and wedge-shaped at the larger end. Thrust one 
 of these sharpened twigs into either side of the cleft in 
 the larger piece, making sure that the outside of the limb 
 and the outside of the twig are flush, or even. Cover the 
 wound and exposed parts with wax so that neither water 
 nor fungi can enter and cause rot. 
 
 Conclusion. ■ — Describe in your own words just how this 
 graft is made, or make a drawing that will show it clearly. 
 
142 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Small twigs can be grafted upon the larger limbs of 
 trees in this way, and the twigs and branches will unite, 
 the joint becoming quite smooth. In fact, this graft is 
 often used on mature trees to grow a different variety or 
 perhaps several varieties of fruit upon the same tree. 
 This work should be done in the spring just as 
 the tree resumes its growth. Each one of us can 
 make a graft of this kind upon a tree at home. 
 
 The stone fruits, such as the cherry, plum and 
 peach, do not produce roots suitable for grafting. 
 Moreover, the gum which comes out on the cut 
 interferes with this method of propagation. We 
 propagate these trees, then, not by grafting but 
 by budding. The seed of one, say a peach, is 
 planted, and when it is a few months old, a 
 single bud taken from the tree which we wish 
 
 to propagate is put into the 
 stem or trunk, in the manner 
 shown in the next exercise. 
 
 EXERCISE 41 
 
 Object. — To learn how 
 plants are propagated by bud- 
 ding. 
 
 Procedure. — Procure some 
 fresh twigs of an apple or peach 
 tree, a sharp pocket knife and 
 some common wrapping cord. 
 Place the twigs in water for twenty-four hours in order 
 to make the bark slip easily. If this work is done in the 
 spring, soon after the leaves have expanded, the twigs 
 may be used as soon as gathered. Cut the cord into pieces 
 from eight to ten inches in length. 
 
 A B 
 
 Fig. 52. — The cleft graft. 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 143 
 
 Take one of the twigs, and with your knife make a cut 
 through the bark on one side directly across the grain of 
 the wood. Next make a cut through the bark downward 
 from the center of the one already made so that the two 
 will form a letter T. 
 
 Remove a plump bud with a httle of the bark from 
 another twig and insert it in the first twig where the cuts 
 
 ■V • . - 
 
 Fig. 53. — How the bud is inserted. The top is removed after the 
 
 wound has healed. 
 
 have been made. In doing this, Uft the bark of the t\vig 
 on both sides of the downward cut, and thrust the little 
 piece of bark to which the bud is attached underneath, 
 leaving no part of the bark exposed. Now press the bark 
 of the twig firmly down over the inserted bud by wrapping 
 the twig with string above and below, but not directly 
 across the bud. 
 
 If the leaves have expanded, this exercise may be per- 
 formed out of doors upon trees of plum, peach, apple, 
 or any shade or forest trees. 
 
144 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Conclusion. — Briefly, this is the story of a '^ budded " 
 peach tree, — and all peach orchards consist of budded 
 trees : 
 
 A peach pit or seed was planted and allowed to grow 
 one season. Near the close of the growing season, perhaps 
 in the latter part of August, a bud from a tree bearing the 
 desired variety of peaches was inserted in the trunk of the 
 seedhng near the surface of the ground just as you have 
 inserted the bud in the twig above. During the follow- 
 ing ten days or two weeks, the httle bud grew rapidly. 
 The string was then removed. Nothing further was done 
 until the following spring, when the top of the seedhng was 
 removed and the inserted bud became a twig, and finally, 
 a new top. This was allowed to grow where it stood for 
 another year and was then transplanted to the orchard. 
 
 Suppose you had a plum tree of a choice variety and 
 wished to propagate it in order that you might have a 
 number of trees of the same kind. Tell in your note- 
 book exactly how you would do it. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Define the term propagation. 
 
 2. Name three ways by which plants are propagated. 
 
 3. How do plants, which contain no green coloring matter, 
 obtain their food ? What do they cause ? 
 
 4. Name five ways by which spores that cause disease are 
 spread. 
 
 5. Tell how to treat seed oats for smut. 
 
 6. Name five conditions which favor the entrance and 
 growth of spores. 
 
 7. Tell briefly how to secure flowers from bulbs from Thanks- 
 giving until Easter. 
 
 8. Tell briefly how to propagate apple trees, using the whip 
 graft. 
 
 9. Tell the story of a peach tree from the time the seed is 
 planted until the tree is set in the orchard. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 WHY' MAN CULTIVATES PLANTS 
 
 There are about two hundred thousand known species 
 of plants in the world. When we compare this vast num- 
 ber with the few that man has chosen to cultivate, we are 
 led to ask : Why are these few useful to him, and what part 
 or parts of them are deemed so desirable that he is wiUing 
 to labor dihgently and patiently often for months or even 
 for years in order to secure them? 
 
 105. Classes of Plants according to the Parts for which 
 they are cultivated. — We may classify plants roughly 
 according to the portions from which the useful parts 
 come. Most of those that are cultivated by man may be 
 grouped under five heads as shown in the outhne below : 
 
 /. Plants cultivated for their Grains which furnish Food 
 for Man and Domestic Animals. — These plants include : 
 
 (1) Corn. 
 
 (This crop will be studied in Chapter XVI.) 
 
 (2) Wheat. 
 
 (3) Oats. 
 
 (4) Barley. 
 
 (5) Rye. 
 
 (6) Rice. 
 
 (These crops will be studied in Chapter XVIL) 
 
 77. Plants grown for Forage and Pasture for Domestic 
 Animals, the Useful Part coming from the Stems and 
 I. 145 
 
146 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Leaves. — Some of these plants are also used for lawns. 
 They include : 
 
 (1) Grasses. 
 
 (a) Wild Grasses. 
 (6) Timothy, 
 (c) Redtop. 
 {d) Brome Grass. 
 {e) Blue Grass. 
 (These will be studied in Chapter XVIII.) 
 
 (2) Clovers, or Legumes. 
 
 (a) Alfalfa. 
 (6) Red Clover, 
 (c) Alsike Clover. 
 {d) White Clover, 
 (e) Sweet Clover. 
 (/) Field Peas. 
 {g) Cow Peas. 
 Qi) Soy Beans. 
 (These will be studied in Chapter XIX.) 
 
 ///. Plants cultivated for the Fiber, which is found 
 either in the Stems or in the form of Lint on the Seeds. — 
 These plants may also yield food and oil. They include : 
 
 (1) Cotton. 
 
 (2) Flax. 
 
 (3) Hemp. 
 
 (These plants will be studied in Chapter XX.) 
 
 IV. Plants cultivated for their Fruits. — These plants 
 include : 
 
 (1) Seed, or Pome Fruits, 
 
 (a) Apples. 
 
 (6) Pears, 
 
 (c) Quinces. 
 
WHY MAN CULTIVATES PLANTS 147 
 
 (2) Stone, or Prune Fruits. 
 
 (a) Cherries. 
 
 (b) Peaches. 
 
 (c) Plums. 
 
 (d) Prunes. 
 
 (e) Apricots. 
 
 (3) Grapes. 
 
 (4) Small Fruits. 
 
 (a) Strawberries. 
 (6) Raspberries. 
 
 (c) Blackberries and Dewberries. 
 
 (d) Currants. 
 
 (e) Gooseberries. 
 
 (5) Citrus Fruits. 
 
 (a) Oranges. 
 (6) Lemons. 
 (c) Grapefruit. 
 (We shall study these fruits in Chapter XXL) 
 
 V. Plants known as Vegetables, which are cultivated for 
 their Leaves, Seeds, Fruits and Underground Parts. — 
 
 (1) For the Leaves. 
 
 (a) Lettuce. 
 
 (b) Cabbage. 
 
 (c) Spinach. 
 
 (d) Celery. 
 
 (2) For the Seeds. 
 
 (a) Peas. 
 
 (6) Beans. 
 
 (c) Corn (Sweet). 
 
 (3) For their Fruits. 
 
 (a) Tomatoes. 
 (6) Melons. 
 
 (c) Pumpkins and Squashes. 
 
 (d) Cucumbers. 
 
148 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 (4) For the Underground Parts. 
 
 (a) Potatoes. 
 
 (b) Sweet Potatoes. 
 
 (c) Onions. 
 
 (d) Carrots. 
 
 (e) Beets. 
 (/) Turnips. 
 (g) Parsnips. 
 (h) Radishes. 
 
 (These plants will be studied briefly in Chapter XXII.) 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 CORN 
 
 The leading cereal crop of the United States is Indian 
 corn. It was cultivated in a rude way by the Indians 
 long before the white man dreamed of such a country as 
 America. The earliest settlers recognized its value and 
 at once commenced to raise it. Forests have been cut 
 down to make room for fields of it ; and swamps and low- 
 lands have been drained that its production might be in- 
 creased. If the corn fields of the United States were 
 placed together, they would cover entirely the states of 
 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 
 Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New 
 Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, with many large fields 
 remaining. 
 
 106. Uses of Corn. — Corn is used in four rather distinct 
 ways : 
 
 (1) As a grain ration for domestic animals. 
 
 (2) As fodder, or roughage, for domestic animals. 
 
 (3) As food for man. 
 
 (4) In manufactured products. 
 
 As the grain, with which to fatten the animals that con- 
 stitute our meat supply, corn stands practically alone. 
 
 If the corn plants, both stalks and ears, are cut while the 
 leaves are still green and the kernels, are just becoming 
 hard, they make an excellent rough forage for domestic 
 animals, 
 
 149 
 
150 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Corn is used in a 
 variety of forms for 
 human food, as corn 
 meal, hominy, break- 
 fast foods, canned 
 corn, roasting ears, 
 etc. 
 
 The number of 
 manufactured prod- 
 ucts made from corn 
 is increasing year by 
 year. Among them 
 are glucose, corn sirup, 
 corn starch, oil, gum, 
 rubber substitutes 
 and alcoholic prod- 
 ucts. 
 
 107. Distribution 
 of Corn. — Corn is a 
 native of Mexico. 
 When we study its 
 habits and require- 
 ments carefully, we 
 shall see that it still 
 retains many of its 
 subtropical character- 
 istics although the 
 plant has pushed its 
 way steadily north- 
 T? c^ A 1 1 uii f ward even into 
 
 Fig. 54. — An ideal hill of corn. 
 
 Canada. 
 Corn is grown throughout the southern states. It is 
 succeeding in New England. Minnesota and North 
 
CORN 
 
 151 
 
 Dakota are producing surprising yields. The cultivation 
 of the crop is extending into the western states where it 
 was formerly thought that the corn plant would not 
 thrive. " It may be in fact that the time will come when 
 we shall quit talking about a corn belt as though corn were 
 
 something that could be 
 grown only in a limited sec- 
 tion from east to west, and 
 that corn will be grown in 
 every section where farming 
 is possible." ^ 
 
 The corn belt, just referred 
 to, includes the states or parts 
 of states where the produc- 
 tion of corn is now largely 
 centralized ; viz., Ohio, In- 
 diana, Illinois, Iowa, southern 
 Minnesota, the eastern parts 
 of South Dakota, Nebraska 
 and Kansas, and the northern 
 part of Missouri. 
 
 frS' ■= 
 
 S:rP§Li 
 
 ■§^>^ 
 
 i>S_" 
 
 lAC 
 
 ,5r _^r^^A^tr 
 
 S'S^^^A 
 
 '•V 
 
 ^^- 
 
 Fig. 55. — 
 An ear of dent 
 corn. 
 
 108. How the Corn Plant 
 has changed as it has moved 
 Northward. — In the South, 
 if the soil conditions are 
 favorable, the stalks are tall 
 and massive, the ears are 
 
 Fig. 56. — 
 An ear of flint 
 corn. 
 
 large, and the kernels are large and deep with much white 
 starch, while the dent on the crown of each one may be so 
 deep that its sides become pinched together. As we go 
 northward, we find the stalks becoming smaller and less 
 
 1 Wallace's Farmer, January 21, 1915. 
 
152 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 woody, and the ears likewise smaller, while the kernels 
 are shorter, more flinty and less deeply dented, until 
 at last we encounter the characteristic flint corn of the 
 northern regions. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that the corn plant has 
 adapted itself in a truly marvelous way to grow in a wide 
 range of climate, it is still extremely sensitive to even 
 slight changes in climatic conditions. Thus we frequently 
 find that if the seed is sent or taken to a distance no greater 
 than forty or fifty miles from the locality where it was 
 grown, it will not produce at all well for a year or two, 
 or until it has had time to adapt itself to the new climatic 
 conditions. Corn growers are for this reason extremely 
 cautious about procuring seed from other localities than 
 their own. We may truthfully say that there is not only 
 a corn for each climate but for every locality as well. 
 
 109. Climatic Requirements of the Corn Plant. — Cer- 
 tain climatic conditions are necessary to the best growth 
 of corn wherever it is cultivated. 
 
 The soil must be warm when the seed is planted and it 
 should remain warm thereafter. While the growing season 
 may vary in length, the average temperature of both day 
 and night must be high. 
 
 While the seed is germinating, and the plants are yet 
 small, much wet weather is detrimental. It makes the 
 ground cold, excludes oxygen, and the stand may be poor 
 owing to the rotting of the seed. If the seeds germinate 
 under this condition, the little plants form shallow root 
 systems and so become unable to make a vigorous growth 
 or to withstand dry weather. Wet weather, moreover, 
 interferes with cultivation and allows weeds to become 
 established. 
 
 The months of July and August represent the critical 
 
CORN 
 
 153 
 
 period in the life of the corn plant as regards weather con- 
 ditions. The rapidity of growth at this time as compared 
 with that of other plants is amazing ; and because of this, 
 
 Fig. 57. — Cornfield scene. 
 
 it needs very much water. Frequent warm rains at this 
 time are exceedingly important in determining the yield 
 of the crop. 
 
154 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 As the ears become well developed, the supply of mois- 
 ture should diminish. This, too, is a matter of importance 
 since continued rains after this time prolong the season of 
 growth. In wet seasons, therefore, the crop is frequently 
 injured by early autumn frosts. 
 
 110. Soil Requirements of the Corn Plant. — Corn 
 
 requires a fertile, well-drained soil, containing a large 
 amount of humus. Owing to its vigorous growth, it 
 demands large amounts of the essential elements mentioned 
 in Section 7. Nitrogen, in particular, is rapidly removed 
 by it from the soil. Unless some means of renewing the 
 supply of nitrogen is provided, the yields of the succeeding 
 crops gradually decrease. In fact, we may say that the 
 rainfall of July and August and the supply of nitrogen in 
 the soil are the two factors which commonly influence the 
 production of the corn crop throughout the Corn Belt. 
 
 111. The Production of Corn. — The production of 
 corn may be studied under eight important heads : 
 
 (1) Selection of the Seed. 
 
 (2) Storage of the Seed. 
 
 (3) Testing the Seed. 
 
 (4) Grading the Seed. 
 
 (5) Preparing the Seed Bed. 
 
 (6) Planting the Seed. 
 
 (7) Cultivation of the Crop. 
 
 (8) Harvesting the Crop. 
 
 112. Selection of the Seed. — In Chapter VII, and 
 particularly in Exercise 18, we learned some of the im- 
 portant points to look for in an ear of corn and in the stalk 
 which bore it. We must now take up a more critical 
 study of the ear which we wish to use for seed. 
 
CORN 155 
 
 We shall doubtless be surprised that there are so many 
 ways in which ears of corn may differ, and that so many 
 points must be considered in the selection of those that 
 are to be used as seed. 
 
 In general, the selection of seed corn is a process of 
 elimination, or casting out of the unfit ; and we may reject 
 an ear either because of some condition indicating impaired 
 vitality or because it shows one or more characteristics 
 which we deem undesirable and do not wish to perpetuate. 
 In the selection of seed corn, then, we generally consider : 
 
 First : the soundness and maturity of the ear. 
 
 Second : the characteristics of the ear as a whole. 
 
 Third : the characteristics of the kernels. 
 
 The three exercises which follow, if carefully performed, 
 will make clear the points for which one should look 
 when seeking a seed ear of corn. 
 
 EXERCISE 42 
 
 Object. — To learn how to recognize immaturity and 
 unsoundness in an ear of corn. 
 
 Procedure. — Select from any crib or field eight ears of 
 corn as directed below. Do not break any ear, nor remove 
 more kernels than necessary in order to determine with 
 certainty its condition. 
 
 (1) An ear whose kernels are mouldy at the cob. 
 Mouldy kernels usually indicate dead germs or embryos. 
 
 Such an ear is, of course, of no value as a seed ear. (Sec- 
 tion 99.) 
 
 (2) An ear whose kernels are so loose on the cob as to 
 rattle when the ball of the thumb is drawn lightly along 
 the row. 
 
 This condition is called chaffiness, and is due to im- 
 maturity. Kernels from such ears may sprout, but they 
 will produce weak seedlings. 
 
156 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 (3) An ear too heavy for its size arid easily twisted, 
 owing to the presence of excessive moisture. 
 
 This is called sap- 
 piness. When such 
 seed is stored, we 
 know what an enemy 
 this moisture will be- 
 come. (Sections 35 
 and 43.) 
 
 (4) An ear showing 
 blistered germs. 
 
 This again indi- 
 cates immaturity and 
 makes its vitality 
 questionable. 
 
 (5) An ear showing 
 discolored germs, 
 varying from yellow 
 to black, when the 
 
 seedcoat is opened with a knife blade. 
 
 Such discoloration is an indication of a weakened or 
 dead germ. 
 
 Fig. 58. — • Mouldy corn. 
 
 Fig. 59. — A chaffy ear. 
 
 (6) An ear showing either at the crowns of its kernels or 
 down their backs a white color in patches. 
 
CORN 157 
 
 This is called starchiness and usually, though not always, 
 indicates immaturity. A small amount of starchiness is 
 allowable at times, but much is to be avoided. 
 
 (7) An ear whose kernels are blistered elsewhere than 
 on their germs. 
 
 This again is a sign of 
 immaturity even more seri- 
 ous than blistered germs. 
 
 (8) An ear which is firm 
 
 and dry, and which shows ^^^«- 60. — Kernels with blistered 
 ^ ' ... germs. 
 
 none of those indications of 
 
 immaturity or unsoundness named in the preceding 
 
 paragraphs. 
 
 Such an ear may be regarded as sound and mature. 
 
 Conclusion. — Write in your notebook the points which 
 you have studied in connection with immaturity and un- 
 soundness, and tell precisely what each condition indicates. 
 
 EXERCISE 43 
 
 Object. — To learn to recognize the desirable and un- 
 desirable characteristics of an ear of corn which we wish 
 to use for seed. 
 
 Procedure. — Select and bring to the schoolroom thir- 
 teen ears of corn, each of which is sound and mature and 
 shows vitality. No ear may be considered in this exercise 
 or for seed "purposes at any time which shows any evidence 
 of low vitality. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, each of these ears must 
 show either a desirable or an undesirable characteristic 
 as required below. Those which illustrate desirable charac- 
 teristics are given first and in italics. Note carefully 
 the reasons given for the desirabihty or the undesirability 
 of the respective ears. 
 
158 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Size of Ear 
 
 (1) An ear between eight and ten inches in length. Its 
 circumference should be about three fourths of its length, 
 
 the measurement being 
 taken one third of the 
 distance from butt to tip. 
 (1) An ear more than 
 eleven inches long and an- 
 other less than seven. 
 
 The best corn breeders 
 and growers do not now 
 try to raise lai^ge ears of 
 corn as has been com- 
 monly done in the past. 
 It has been found that 
 the size of ear which can 
 safely be raised in any 
 locality depends very 
 largely upon the length of 
 the growing season. The 
 longer the growing season, 
 the more time the plant 
 has to manufacture food, 
 and the larger the ear 
 will probably be. There- 
 fore ears in the South are 
 of greater average size than those in the North, provided 
 both are raised under like soil conditions. In Iowa and 
 Illinois, the two leading corn states, the dimensions given 
 first above are considered to be about right. It is clear, 
 however, that in states farther south the standard of size 
 should be somewhat greater. 
 
 Fig. 61. — An ear of desirable size. 
 
CORN 
 
 159 
 
 SHAPE OF EAR 
 
 (2) An ear nearly cylindrical, but very slightly tapering, 
 and having straight rows from hutt to tip. This ear must be 
 full in the middle and of the desirable size given in (1). 
 
 Fig. 62. — An ear of desirable size 
 and shape. 
 
 Fig. 63. — An ear of desirable size 
 and shape, having a desirable butt. 
 
 (2) An ear in the form of a cyhnder about two thirds 
 of its length, then sharply tapering ; another sharply 
 tapering from butt to tip ; and still another with extremely 
 crooked rows. 
 
 The kernels are more uniform in both size and shape in 
 the nearly cylindrical ear, and also in those ears whose 
 
160 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 rows are straight than in other ears. This is important 
 for the reason that uniform kernels drop evenly from the 
 planter, thus insuring a uniform stand. 
 
 THE BUTT 
 
 (3) An ear whose butt is covered with kernels of nearly 
 the same shape and size as those of the body of the ear. 
 
 These kernels should be 
 uniformly arranged and 
 fit closely about the shank. 
 This ear should be of the 
 desirable size given in (1) 
 and of the desirable shape 
 given in (2) , since it repre- 
 sents simply another step 
 toward the ideal ear which 
 we hope at last to find. 
 
 (3) An ear whose butt 
 is covered with irregular 
 or ''blocky" kernels which 
 do not fit closely about the 
 shank. 
 
 A butt of the desirable 
 kind described in (3) in- 
 sures greater uniformity in 
 the size and shape of the 
 kernels of the ear, the 
 importance of which has 
 already been stated. 
 Moreover, in a butt of 
 this description there is 
 less waste space between the kernels both because of 
 the greater uniformity of kernels in size and shape and 
 because of their close arrangement about the shank. 
 
 Fig. 64. — An ear of desirable 
 size and shape, having a desirable 
 butt and tip. 
 
CORN 
 
 161 
 
 This in turn increases the proportion of corn to cob, the 
 shelling percentage. 
 
 THE TIP 
 
 (4) An ear whose tip is completely covered, or whose 
 cob is only slightly exposed between the kernels. Most of the 
 
 Fig. 65. — Improving step by step. 
 
 kernels about the tip should be dented and rather deep. 
 This ear should be of the desirable size given in (i), the 
 desirable shape given in {2), and it should have as nearly 
 as possible the desirable butt given in {3) . 
 
 (4) An ear whose cob is exposed for half an inch or more 
 at the tip, and surrounded by round or shot-shaped 
 kernels. 
 
162 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 The desirable tip insures greater uniformity in size and 
 shape of kernels and also a higher shelling percentage. 
 
 DEPRESSIONS IN THE ROWS 
 
 (5) An ear whose rows show no depressions throughout 
 their length. This ear should be of the desirable size and 
 shape given in {1) and {2), and it should have as nearly 
 as possible the desirable butt and tip described in {3) and 
 
 W). 
 
 (5) An ear whose rows show numerous depressions. 
 Depressions in rows are another cause of non-uniformity 
 in size and shape of kernels, which we are seeking to 
 avoid. 
 
 Conclusion. — State carefully in your notebook the 
 points that are regarded as desirable in an ear of seed corn 
 and give reasons. Name the undesirable characteristics. 
 
 EXERCISE 44 
 
 Object. — To learn to recognize the 
 desirable and undesirable characteris- 
 ■--^ tics of the kernels of a seed ear. 
 
 Procedure. — Select ten ears of corn 
 
 whose kernels show the desirable and 
 
 - -'= undesirable characteristics named be- 
 
 LA-X-i- . .'.^d low. Again the desirable characters 
 
 are in italics. 
 
 Since the kernels must be examined 
 Fig. 66. — The parts carefully, it is necessary to remove two 
 
 of a corn kernel. , i p -, i ^ • i 
 
 or three irom each ear about midway 
 h, "the ^p^iumufeT"ci between the butt and tip. After this, 
 the germ ; d, the hy- keep each ear, together with the kernels 
 
 pocotyl, also called i • i c •, j. r j.u 
 
 the radicle ; e, the which Came irom it, separate irom the 
 tip cap. other samples. 
 
CORN 
 
 163 
 
 SHAPE OF KERNELS 
 
 (1) An ear most of whose kernels are keystone-shaped; 
 that is, slightly wider at the crown than at the base. They 
 should be of only medium 
 depth and average about six 
 to the inch in the row. This 
 ear, as well as all others re- 
 quired in this exercise, must 
 be sound and mature and 
 show vitaUty; and if pos- 
 sible, or as nearly as possible, it should possess all the 
 desirable characteristics brought out in Exercise 43. 
 
 (1) An ear whose kernels are very shallow and nearly 
 square, that is, practically as wide at the base as at the 
 crown; also one whose kernels are sharp and pointed; 
 another, whose kernels are very deep but about equally 
 wide at base and crown ; and still another with " shoepeg " 
 
 Fig. 67. 
 
 Kernels of 
 shape. 
 
 keystone 
 
 Square. 
 
 Pointed. Rectangular. Shoepeg. 
 
 Fig. 68. — Kernels of undesirable shapes. 
 
 Round. 
 
 kernels, that is, kernels which are unusually narrow and 
 very deep. 
 
 As will be seen by the illustrations, kernels of keystone 
 shape fit one against the other without unnecessary loss 
 of space between them or between the rows at either top 
 or bottom. This means that the shelling percentage is 
 high. 
 
 The depth of the kernel, like the size of the ear, depends 
 as a rule upon the length of the growing season. The 
 shorter the growing season, the shallower the kernels. 
 
164 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 In Missouri, for instance, it is safe to grow a type of corn 
 with a deep kernel, while one of only medium depth can 
 be safely grown in Minnesota. 
 
 Very shallow and nearly square kernels mean a low 
 shelling percentage. If square blocks, for example, are 
 placed around a circle, their tops are slightly pulled apart. 
 Square kernels about a round cob will be separated at the 
 top in the same way, causing a loss of space between the 
 rows. Moreover, since the kernels themselves are shallow, 
 the proportion of kernel to cob is still further reduced. 
 
 If the kernels are sharp and pointed, there will be waste 
 space at the base both between the rows and between the 
 kernels in the row. If the kernels are very deep and 
 equally wide at base and crown, (1) they are liable to be 
 starchy, owing to immaturity, which in turn is due to the 
 long growing season required ; also (2) there is waste 
 space between the rows at the crown, just as in the case 
 of square kernels. 
 
 When the kernels are " shoepeg " in shape, there is 
 again a loss of space between the rows and a poor develop- 
 ment of germs. Moreover, because of their depth, there 
 is a strong tendency to starchiness due to immaturity. 
 
 SIZE OF GERM 
 
 (2) An ear whose kernels have germs which are large and 
 thick. This ear should have if possible, or so far as possible, 
 all desirable characters given up to this time. 
 
 Fig. 69, — Kernels with large germs. 
 
CORN 
 
 165 
 
 (2) An ear whose germs are unusually small. 
 
 Large germs are considered desirable, owing to the fact 
 that they are rich in oil and protein and therefore high in 
 feeding value. 
 
 Fig. 70. — Kernels with small germs. 
 PURITY OF KERNELS 
 
 (3) An ear having 7io mixed kernels. This ear should 
 have as nearly as possible all the desirable characters 
 hitherto studied. If the ear which was used in (2) of 
 this exercise has no mixed kernels, it may be used 
 here. 
 
 (3) A yellow ear, having one or more mixed kernels ; 
 also a white ear, having one or more mixed kernels. 
 
 A mixed kernel on 
 a yellow ear is known 
 by the fact that its 
 upper half shows the 
 pure white of ordi- 
 nary white corn. On 
 the other hand, a 
 mixed kernel on a 
 white ear is known 
 
 
 onHijf'^siiPrafl 
 
 
 » 
 
 Fig. 71. — An ear showing mixed kernels. 
 
 by the fact that its lower half shows the yellow of 
 ordinary yellow corn. By looking closely, this last may 
 be seen between the rows of a white ear if mixed kernels 
 are present. 
 
 Mixed kernels show that pollen from another variety of 
 corn has fertilized certain kernels on the ear, that is, they 
 
166 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 indicate a crossing of varieties. For this reason, an ear 
 showing mixed kernels, Hke one showing evidence of 
 impaired vitahty, must be barred from all judging contests 
 of seed corn. 
 
 We must not understand that the variegated kernels of 
 such varieties of corn as the " caHco " are mixed kernels 
 in the above sense. 
 
 Conclusion. — List carefully and fully in your notebook 
 the desirable characters of a kernel of corn and give your 
 reasons. List also the undesirable characters and tell 
 why they are undesirable. Go over in your mind again 
 and again the important points already given — fifteen in 
 all — under (1) Soundness and Maturity, (2) The Ear 
 and (3) The Kernel, that you may think of them in 
 logical order while selecting and judging the ears to be used 
 in the next exercise. 
 
 Can you rank these fifteen points in order of impor- 
 tance, giving good reasons for placing them as you do? 
 
 EXERCISE 45 
 
 Object. — To find and award a blue ribbon to a prize- 
 winning ear. 
 
 Procedure. — Select and bring to the schoolroom an 
 ear which approaches the ideal as nearly as possible. This 
 ear should be taken from among those which you selected 
 and stored away for this purpose some time ago as required 
 in Section 41, unless you are able to find a better one else- 
 where. 
 
 Bring it securely wrapped in paper so that other mem- 
 bers of the class may not know to whom it belongs. Leave 
 it with the teacher, who will attach to it a numbered tag 
 and keep a record of the owners of all ears entered in this 
 way in the contest. 
 
 Remember that this ear must be sound and mature, 
 
CORN 
 
 167 
 
 showing no evidence whatever of impaired or doubtful 
 vitahty and that it must be free from mixed kernels. 
 
 The ears should be laid on a table, two or three kernels 
 removed from each one, and kernels and ears placed side 
 by side, — some of the kernels being laid with the germs 
 up and the remainder with the germs down. After 
 this, they should not be shifted to other positions, or the 
 ears and kernels will become separated. 
 
 The entire class will now act as judges, and will proceed 
 as follows : 
 
 Begin by ranking all the ears according to size, as this 
 was the first point studied in connection with the ear. 
 By ranking, we mean deciding which one is best, or should 
 rank first, as regards the point which is being considered, 
 which one should rank second, which one third, and so on 
 through the entire class of ears. If all of the ears, however, 
 prove to be of the right size, as is frequently the case, this 
 point may be omitted ; or if two or more are equally good 
 in this or any other point, give them the sarne rank. 
 Record the ranks given the respective ears in each point 
 in the manner shown below : 
 
 
 Ear 
 
 Ear 
 
 Ear 
 
 Ear 
 
 Ear 
 
 Ear 
 
 
 No. 1 
 
 No. 2 
 
 No. 3 
 
 No. 4 
 
 No. 5 
 
 No. 6 
 
 Size 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 Shape 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 Butt 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 Tip 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Depressions in Rows 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 Shape and Size of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kernels 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 Size of Germs .... 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 22 
 
 25 
 
 24 
 
 18 
 
 28 
 
 30 
 
168 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Note that the above record, which was for a class of 
 only six ears, means that, as regards size, ear No. 2 ranked 
 first, No. 3 ranked second, No. 1, third, No. 6, fourth. 
 No. 5, fifth and No. 4, sixth. As regards shape, however, 
 the rank was very different. No. 1 ranking first. No. 4, 
 second, and so on. 
 
 Remember that only one point is to be considered 
 at a time and the rank of all the ears in this one point is to 
 be recorded before another point is taken up. The ears 
 should not be handled while this judging is being done. - 
 
 You may find it somewhat difficult to judge the ears in 
 regard to some one point, especially if there is a large 
 number of ears instead of merely six as in the case above. 
 If you have trouble of this kind, search out the poorest 
 one and rank it lowest on your record ; then find the 
 poorest one of those still remaining, ranking it next lowest, 
 and so on until all are placed. In this way, you \vill find 
 the ranking of the ears on any given point quite a simple 
 matter. 
 
 When the ears have been ranked on all the points, add 
 the columns in the manner shown above to find the total 
 score of each ear. 
 
 The one with the lowest, or smallest, total score wins first 
 place in the contest; for in order to get the lowest score, 
 the numbers in its column must be smaller than those in 
 other columns, thus denoting higher average rank. The 
 ear with the next lowest score takes second place in the 
 contest, etc. 
 
 The judging of these ears should be done without 
 assistance from any one else. Indeed, you should make 
 it a point not to compare notes with others. 
 
 When you have made the final placing of all ears accord- 
 ing to their total scores, write the result on a slip of paper, 
 stating which ear is given first place, which one second 
 
CORN 
 
 169 
 
 place, and so on through the list. Then sign your name 
 to the sHp and hand it to the teacher, who will make the 
 final decision as to how the ears should rank in the contest. 
 Remember that there is abundant room for difference of 
 opinion in this judging, as well as in any other, but that 
 there is no ground for 
 offense on the part of 
 any one. It is 77iuch 
 more important that 
 you should be able to 
 judge accurately, rec- 
 ognizing arid naming 
 the ears that are really 
 best in the class, than 
 that your own speci- 
 men should win the 
 contest. 
 
 A blue ribbon should 
 be attached to the best 
 ear, a red ribbon to 
 the next best and a 
 white ribbon to the 
 third best. 
 
 Conclusion. — Hang 
 the prize-winning ears 
 in some convenient 
 place in the school- 
 room where they may be seen by visitors. Write a 
 criticism of these three ears, stating in what respects each 
 one is particularly good and in what respects it is poor. 
 
 113. The Selection of the Seed Supply. — Nature allows 
 for a prodigal waste of seed each j^ear. On the other hand, 
 the careful farmer is anxious to have every seed he selects 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Fig. 72. — A grand champion ear. 
 
170 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 for planting capable of germination. Several different 
 methods of selecting a supply of seed for the ensuing 
 year's crop are used throughout the leading corn states. 
 Among those commonly practiced are the four given below : 
 (1) The farmer may go into his fields before the first 
 killing frost of autumn and gather the seed ears in a sack 
 or basket. The advantages of this method are : 
 
 Fig. 73. — Boys gathering seed corn. 
 
 (a) He is able to select those ears which mature early, 
 thus securing early maturity in the following season's crop. 
 
 (6) He is able to study the parent plant and its environ- 
 ment, just as we have done in Exercise 18. 
 
 (c) He is able to study the characteristics of the ear 
 and kernels, precisely as we did in Exercises 42, 43, and 44. 
 
 (d) He is able to preserve the vitality of the seed, since 
 it is gathered before the frost has had a chance to injure 
 it and may be properly cared for thereafter. 
 
CORN 171 
 
 (2) He may select it while husking, putting it into a 
 box or basket attached to the wagon for this purpose. 
 The advantages of this method are : 
 
 (a) He may study the parent plant and its environment. 
 
 (b) He may study the characteristics of the ears and 
 kernels. 
 
 (c) He is able to preserve the vitahty of the seed as 
 he finds it. 
 
 The disadvantages of this method are : 
 
 (a) He is unable to select early-maturing ears with any 
 degree of certainty. 
 
 (6) The vitahty may have been already impaired by 
 severe frosts. 
 
 (c) Corn husking is done too hurriedly to permit of a 
 careful examination of parent stalks, ears or kernels. 
 
 (3) He may select seed ears while unloading the corn 
 from the wagon. The advantages of this method are as 
 follows : 
 
 (a) He may study the characteristics of ears and 
 kernels. 
 
 (6) He may preserve the vitahty of the seed as he finds 
 it. 
 
 On the other hand, this method has the serious dis- 
 advantages named below : 
 
 (a) He can not study the parent plants nor their en- 
 vironment. 
 
 (h) He can not determine which ears will yield early- 
 maturing seed. 
 
 (c) The vitahty may have been already impaired. 
 
 (d) There is not enough time to examine the ears 
 properly. 
 
 (4) He may leave the selection of seed until late winter 
 or spring and then take it from the crib. There is httle 
 
172 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 to be said in favor of this method, save that the character- 
 istics of ears and kernels may be seen. The chief objec- 
 tions to *it are : 
 
 (a) Nothing is known as to the parent plant or its 
 environment. 
 
 (6) It is impossible to determine which ears will yield 
 early-maturing seed. 
 
 (c) The vitality has very probably been seriously im- 
 paired. This will be certainly true unless the corn was 
 thoroughly dry when stored in the crib. 
 
 114. How Selection of Seed may influence the Yield. — 
 
 From the foregoing comparison of methods, it is evident 
 that that of selecting seed corn from the field before the 
 first severe frost occurs in the fall is greatly superior 
 to any other. 
 
 The farmer who selects his supply of seed in this way 
 may reasonably expect to be rewarded by more vigorous 
 plants, a more uniform stand, and consequently by in- 
 creased yields. 
 
 This is particularly true if he has previously taken the 
 precaution to detassel alternate rows in a part or all of his 
 field in the manner explained in the latter part of Section 
 91, and if he now selects his seed supply only from the 
 detasseled rows. 
 
 115. Drying out the Seed. — Even though seed corn 
 is mature and has been gathered in favorable weather, it 
 should be dried as thoroughly as possible. 
 
 This is brought about by putting it in a dry, well venti- 
 lated place where there is a free circulation of air about each 
 ear. At this time the ears should not be allowed to be in 
 contact at any point. 
 
 Unless the ears are thoroughly dried out, moisture, 
 
CORN 
 
 173 
 
 which is known to be the chief enemy of stored seeds 
 (Section 35), may lead to the death of the embryo in two 
 ways : 
 
 (1) It favors the growth of destructive molds, as ex- 
 plained in Section 99. 
 
 (2) It makes the seed incapable of Avithstanding freez- 
 ing. 
 
 The drier the seed, the more freezing it will endure. This 
 
 Fig. 74. — Making a seed corn holder. 
 
 fundamental principle must be kept constantly in mind 
 in drying seed corn. 
 
 116. Storing the Seed. — After the seed corn is thor- 
 oughly dried out, it should be stored where the followdng 
 conditions are provided : 
 
 (1) Protection from rain and snow, or dampness of any 
 kind. 
 
174 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 (2) Protection from insects, rats, mice and other 
 animals. 
 
 (3) Free circulation of air. 
 
 (4) Protection from extremes of heat and cold. 
 
 (5) A convenient and simple arrangement of ears for 
 spring seed testing. 
 
 There are very many different methods of storing seed 
 corn, whether on nails, on strings, in racks or otherwise. 
 One method, which seems to be meeting the approval of 
 
 many of the best farmers, is 
 to cut a sort of pole ladder 
 out of rather heavy wire fenc- 
 ing, having square meshes 
 and the wires soldered, or 
 ''welded" together at the in- 
 tersections. Such fencing is 
 easily procured at any store 
 handling goods of this class. 
 
 One of the vertical wires is 
 followed from top to bottom 
 and cross wires cut away from 
 it at every other intersec- 
 tion so that it resembles a pole with steps nailed on 
 it. The drawing and pictures show clearly how this is 
 done. 
 
 The ears are put on these holders, which are then hung 
 up in some such place as the garret of a dwelhng house 
 where the conditions mentioned at the beginning of this 
 section prevail. 
 
 I ■■ ■ I <■ I M ■ 
 
 Fig. 75. — How the wire is cut. 
 
 117. Testing the Seed. — No matter how carefully the 
 seed has been selected and stored, we can not be certain 
 of our stand in the field without testing specimen kernels 
 from each ear. While we are able in certain cases to de- 
 
CORN 
 
 175 
 
 tect dead kernels by an examination of the germs, yet we 
 can not always do so with any degree of certainty ; and 
 as for those which are alive, we are wholly unable to dis- 
 tinguish in this manner the kernels of strong vitality from 
 those which are weak. It follows that we can not be 
 sure of the vitality of our seed corn save by an actual 
 germination test. 
 
 There are many 
 methods of testing 
 seed corn, although 
 the same principles un- 
 derlie all of them : 
 
 First : Cloth, or any 
 other material which 
 touches the seed, 
 should be boiled or 
 some other method 
 used to kill the spores 
 of molds which may 
 otherwise destroy the 
 vitality of the seed. 
 
 Second : The ma- 
 terial in contact with 
 the seed should be uni- 
 formly moist, but not 
 wet. (Section 47.) 
 
 Third: The seed 
 should be kept at a 
 fairly uniform temper- 
 ature of about seventy degrees Fahrenheit ; that is, at 
 about ordinary room temperature. (Section 48.) 
 
 Fourth : The seed must not be so closely confined as 
 to exclude oxygen. (Exercise 20.) 
 
 A few weeks before planting time in the spring, ger- 
 mination tests may be made for as many patrons of the 
 school as the space and time will allow. 
 
 Fig. 76. — A good way to store seed corn. 
 
176 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 EXERCISE 46 
 
 Object. — To determine the percentage of germinable 
 kernels in twelve ears of corn. 
 
 Procedure. — Each student should have a seed corn 
 holder, made from soldered wire fencing as shown in Figure 
 75 and described in Section 116. If this can not be con- 
 veniently procured, however, a holder, or rack, of any other 
 kind may be used. 
 
 Bring to the schoolroom twelve ears of corn, which are 
 to be used in the spring for seed. Place them on your 
 holder, numbering the samples according to their position 
 in some order that is not Hable to become confused. If 
 there is any danger of getting the ears disarranged, they 
 should be numbered by placing a rubber band about each 
 one and fastening to the band a small numbered tag, 
 or by driving a tack and numbered strip into the butt. 
 
 Each student . should have a piece of musHn of good 
 quahty about nine inches wide and thirty-six inches long ; 
 and he should write upon it plainly his name, the name of 
 the farmer for whom the seed corn is tested and the date 
 of making the test. 
 
 Lay your strip on a desk or table. Using a soft pencil 
 — not indelible — mark it off as follows : 
 
 (1) Draw a cross line ; that is, a line at right angles to 
 the length of the strip, eight inches from the left end. This 
 eight-inch space is to be left vacant. 
 
 (2) Draw a line lengthwise along the middle of the 
 cloth from this cross line to the other end. 
 
 (3) Draw six other cross lines at right angles to this 
 long line and four inches apart. 
 
 There are now fourteen squares on your cloth. How- 
 ever, the two at the end will not be used and may be dis- 
 regarded. Number the others with your pencil so that 
 
CORN 
 
 177 
 
 
 the numbers will correspond in position if possible to 
 those of the ears on the holder. This numbering should 
 begin with the squares next to the eight-inch vacant 
 space. 
 
 Wet the strip and spread it out upon a desk or table or 
 upon a smooth board. Now remove six kernels from ear 
 number one, one from opposite sides near the butt, one 
 from opposite sides at the middle, and one from opposite 
 sides near the tip, — but no two from the same row. Place 
 these kernels, germs upward, in square number one. They 
 may be arranged in two rows of three kernels each, and 
 with tips all pointing in the same direction, preferably 
 a.way from the vacant 
 space at the end of 
 the cloth. 
 
 Place six kernels, 
 taken in the same man- 
 ner, from ear number 
 two in square number 
 two. Proceed in this way until the kernels that are to 
 be tested from each ear are properly arranged in their 
 respective squares. 
 
 Lay a light stick about nine inches long at the end where 
 the vacant space was left. Roll the cloth loosely but care- 
 fully about it until all the kernels are inclosed, taking care 
 not to get them out of their respective squares. 
 
 Tie a string or place a rubber band loosely about each 
 end of the " rag doll " you have just made. The doll 
 should now be placed in a pail of water at the temperature 
 of the room for eight or ten hours. If it is put in the water 
 at or before the opening of school in the morning, and 
 removed from it at the close, the kernels will have taken 
 up enough water to give a good test. 
 
 When the rolls are removed from the pail, take off the 
 
 N 
 
 Fig. 77. — How the cloth is marked. 
 The squares may be numbered otherwise 
 if desired to correspond to the position of 
 the ears in the seed corn holder. 
 
178 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 strings or rubber bands, place them loosely in a box of 
 moist sawdust or in folds of clean, wet gunny sacks, and 
 set them in a warm place for five or six days. If there is 
 danger of freezing in the schoolroom, the box should be 
 taken to some home until the rolls are to be opened and 
 the count of the germinable seeds is to be made. The box 
 should be covered with a screen to prevent the mice from 
 entering ; and the sawdust or the folds of sacks should 
 not be allowed to dry out. 
 
 Fig. 78. —^ Some rag dolls. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College- 
 
 After five or six days, carefully remove the rolls from the 
 box and unroll, taking care again not to displace the 
 kernels from their respective squares. 
 
 Conclusion. — Arrange in your notebook a table as 
 shown on page 179. 
 
 Figure the percentage of strong, weak and dead seed in 
 each ear, and also in the twelve ears, which you have tested, 
 taken as a whole. 
 
 If a perfect stand from strong seed yields sixty bushels 
 of corn per acre, at what rate should your twelve-ear 
 
CORN 
 
 179 
 
 sample yield, provided the weak kernels develop into 
 weak plants, 3delding only thirty bushels per acre. 
 
 Ear No. 
 
 Kernels with 
 Strong Sprouts 
 
 Kernels with 
 Weak Sprouts 
 
 Kernels with 
 No Sprouts 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 ]2 
 
 
 
 
 Compare your results with those of others of the class, 
 inquiring as to how each sample was selected, dried and 
 stored, and see if you can find out why some samples 
 test better than others. 
 
 118. Grading the Seed. — In the selection of seed ears, 
 we have endeavored in every way possible to secure uni- 
 formity in size and shape of kernels in order that the 
 planter might drop the seed accurately, which in turn 
 should result in an even stand in the field. 
 
 We may be sure, however, that the kernels will not be 
 
180 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 so uniform as we desire, no matter how carefully the 
 seed ears have been chosen. There are three reasons 
 for this : 
 
 (1) The kernels near the tips will be small. 
 
 (2) The kernels about the butts will be large and more 
 or less irregular in size. 
 
 (3) The average size of kernels on different ears will 
 vary surprisingly. 
 
 Because of the first two facts, the kernels about the 
 
 Fig. 79. — Strong, . weak, and dead kernels. Note that kernels 
 lacking the root sprout are accounted as dead, since they could not 
 grow. They would be regarded in the same way if the stem sprout 
 were lacking. 
 
 butt and tip of each ear are shelled off and discarded before 
 removing the corn from the bodies of the ears. 
 
 After this is done, it is necessary to grade the remaining 
 kernels as they are shelled. In doing this, three boxes 
 or measures are provided, in the first of which are to be 
 placed large kernels, in the second, kernels of medium 
 size, and in the third, those which are small. The ears 
 are shelled separately into a pan, usually with a hand 
 sheller; a glance is then sufficient to show whether 
 the kernels are of large, medium or small average size; 
 
CORN 181 
 
 and they are placed in the box in which they are seen 
 to belong. 
 
 When the shelling is finished and the seed has been 
 graded in this way, we have three sizes of seed. Even 
 planting then becomes merely a matter of changing the 
 plates in the machine when changing from one size of 
 seed to another. If the planter does not drop the seed 
 evenly, the grading, not the machine, should be blamed. 
 
 119. The Ideal Seed Bed for Corn. — The ground in 
 which the seed is planted is known as the seed bed. An 
 ideal seed bed for corn may be described as follows : 
 
 First : It should contain an abundance of available 
 plant food. 
 
 Second : It should be finely pulverized. 
 
 Third : It should be loose and mellow so that the particles 
 may he closely and compactly against the germinating 
 seeds and yet allow air and moisture to move freely 
 through it. (Sections 46 and 47.) 
 
 ■ Fourth : It should be reasonably free from weed seeds. 
 
 Fifth : It should be free from injurious insects. 
 
 Sixth : The surface should be made smooth to allow the 
 easy movement of machinery. 
 
 The methods to be employed in securing these condi- 
 tions depend chiefly upon the character of the preceding 
 crop and the condition in which it has left the ground. 
 Corn is usually planted, — 
 
 (1) In sod ground; i.e., land previously in grasses 
 or clovers. 
 
 (2) In cornstalk ground, or land previously in corn. 
 
 (3) In stubble ground; i.e., land previously in small 
 grain. 
 
182 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 120. Preparing a Seed Bed in Sod Ground. — If sod 
 
 ground is to be prepared for corn, it should be (1) plowed 
 in the fall unless it is badly needed for fall pasture ; (2) al- 
 lowed to crumble and disintegrate through the winter 
 (Exercise 15) ; (3) disced well early in the spring ; (4) 
 disced and harrowed thoroughly and repeatedly later 
 when getting the seed bed ready for planting ; and finally 
 (5) harrowed until the ground is finely pulverized. 
 
 Fig. 80. — Getting the ground ready for corn. 
 
 The advantages of fall plowing of sod, which should be 
 rough, or ridged, not smooth, are : 
 
 (a) Crumbling and disintegration, due to freezing and 
 thawing, can take place. 
 
 (6) There is ample time for decay, which makes plant 
 food available. 
 
 (c) This disintegration and decay tend to restore capil- 
 lary connection so that moisture can rise more freely from 
 below. 
 
 (d) The hibernating quarters of many injurious insects 
 
 are destroyed. 
 
CORN 183 
 
 Unless the rough plowed sod is disced down early and 
 well in the spring, it will dry out badly. Discing at this 
 time forms a mulch which conserves moisture ; and it also 
 admits air about the roots, thus hastening decay and 
 liberating plant food. 
 
 It is common knowledge that corn in sod ground is 
 liable to " fire " during the hot months of summer. This 
 may be expected whenever large pieces of sod are allowed 
 to remain in the seed bed, since the air can circulate so 
 freely through the open spaces about them that the bed 
 is quickly dried out. The corn, then^ becomes yellow 
 simply from lack of moisture. To prevent this, it is neces- 
 sary to disc thoroughly when getting the seed bed ready 
 for planting that these sod masses may be cut into fine 
 pieces; and after this, the harrow should be used until 
 the soil is in the finest possible state of division. 
 
 It is sometimes found impossible to plow sod ground 
 for corn in the fall as indicated above. In this case, it 
 should be first disced very early in the spring when the 
 ground has thawed to a depth of only two or three inches. 
 The disc at this time will cut through the sod, chopping it 
 into fine pieces ; and when the plowing is done later, the 
 earth will crumble as it turns nearly as well as does stubble 
 ground. 
 
 The plowing of sod in the spring should be done early, 
 as considerable time is needed to restore the capillary 
 connection with the subsoil and to liberate plant food by 
 decay. It is a serious mistake to allow the grass to begin 
 to grow before plowing sod in the spring as it consumes 
 available plant food which at this time is deficient ; and 
 later, when it is turned under, it prevents the rise of 
 moisture from below. In doing this plowing in the spring, 
 the harrow should follow soon after the plow as it forms 
 a mulch, which prevents the newly turned sod from drying 
 
184 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 out. It is a notable fact that sod ground can be plowed 
 earlier in the spring than any other ground, due to the fact 
 that the abundance of roots in the soil prevents the baking 
 which invariably follows the turning of other ground while 
 wet. 
 
 The final preparation of spring plowed sod ground should 
 be similar to that of fall plowed sod, save that discing 
 and harrowing should be even more thoroughly and 
 painstakingly done. 
 
 121. Preparing a Seed Bed in Cornstalk Ground. — If 
 
 corn is to be planted on cornstalk ground, the first step 
 in seed bed preparation is the breaking down of the pre- 
 vious year's stalks. Following this, the land (2) should 
 be plowed — unless the lister is to be used — as early as 
 the condition of the soil will permit ; (3) the harrow should 
 follow the plow closely ; and (4) when the seed bed is 
 finally prepared for planting, it should be repeatedly 
 disced and harrowed until it has become mellow and well 
 pulverized. 
 
 In breaking down the old stalks, the disc is commonly 
 used. It is driven diagonally through the field and may 
 go over the ground as often as necessary, depending 
 upon the growth of stalks. Only in exceptional cases, if 
 ever, should the stalks be raked up and burned, since this 
 results in the loss of both humus and nitrogen from the 
 soil. (Sections 68 and 110.) 
 
 The plowing should not be done when the ground is so 
 wet that it turns up '' slick," as it will then bake, clods 
 will form, and these may remain in the seed bed throughout 
 the season. 
 
 If weeds and grass are allowed to grow before the ground 
 is plowed, they consume plant food, which the young 
 plants are certain to need later. 
 
CORN 185 
 
 The harrow should follow the plow within half a day as 
 a rule. In this way, the formation of clods can be pre- 
 vented, and the mulch which is formed prevents the seed 
 bed from drying out. 
 
 122. Preparing a Seed Bed in Stubble Ground. — 
 
 Small grain in the rotation really ought to be followed by 
 clover or some other legume to restore nitrogen to the 
 soil. Corn, therefore, should not be planted in stubble 
 ground. This rule may be disregarded only in case a 
 liberal application of barnyard manure is made a part 
 of the preparation of the ground for corn. 
 
 In this case, the successive steps should be about as 
 follows : 
 
 (1) The stubble should be disced as soon as the small 
 grain is removed. This will form a mulch, prevent further 
 loss of moisture, destroy weeds, cause weed and other seeds 
 to germinate so that they will not be present in the ground 
 the following spring, and make the draft lighter for the plow. 
 
 (2) Barnyard manure should be applied liberally with 
 a manure spreader. 
 
 (3) The ground should be plowed in the fall as its 
 moisture-holding capacity is thereby greatly increased. 
 
 (4) It should be disced very early in the spring, as 
 otherwise the rough plowed soil will dry out badly and the 
 corn crop may be injured by the lack of moisture later. 
 
 (5) The ground should be disced and harrowed until 
 mellow and well pulverized when the final preparation 
 is being made for planting. 
 
 123. Planting the Seed. — There are three common 
 methods of planting corn : 
 
 (1) It may be checked; i.e., planted in hills in such a 
 manner that rows are formed both lengthwise and cross- 
 
186 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 wise of the field. This is the common practice in sections 
 having considerable rainfall. The particular advantage 
 is that the corn may be cultivated both ways, thus keeping 
 the weeds in check more easily. In case the corn is blown 
 down by violent summer storms, however, there is further 
 
 Fig. 81. — Lister at work. 
 
 advantage in the fact that the wagon may be driven 
 through in either direction at husking time. 
 
 (2) It may be drilled; i.e., planted in continuous rows 
 rather than in hills, a kernel being dropped every few 
 inches. 
 
 Drilled corn gives no higher yield than checked corn, 
 provided there is the same number of stalks to the acre 
 
CORN 187 
 
 in the two cases. However, drilling is regarded as pref- 
 erable if the corn is to be used for silage, as by planting 
 the kernels closer together in the rows, the growth may 
 be made less rank and woody and harvesting machinery 
 will run more smoothly. Drilling may also be preferred 
 in case the field is irregular in shape so that checking is 
 difficult or in case it is notably free from weeds so that 
 cross cultivation is unnecessary. 
 
 (3) It may be listed; i.e., planted in the bottom of a 
 furrow, made by a special implement known as a lister, 
 which is really a plow with two mold boards, which turn 
 the ground to right and left. This practice prevails 
 generally in the regions lacking ample rainfall. After the 
 permanent root systems of the young plants have formed, 
 the furrow is gradually filled up and in this way the roots 
 are virtually sent down to moisture. It is a highly success- 
 ful method, inasmuch as it results in notably increased 
 yields in many parts of the western border of the Corn 
 Belt. 
 
 The seed is usually drilled in the lister furrow by a special 
 attachment to the lister, or by a single drill or planter. 
 
 124. The Time of Planting. — The date of planting 
 corn in any locality is determined by a number of factors, 
 among which are the following : 
 
 (a) Latitude. 
 
 (6) Weather Conditions. Cold spring rains frequently 
 delay planting. 
 
 (c) Temperature of the Soil. This, rather than arbi- 
 trary dates on the calendar, is the most reliable guide as 
 to when planting should be done. In general, the tem- 
 perature of the ground should have reached at least fifty- 
 five degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 {d) Quality of Seed. Seed that is known to be capable 
 
188 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 of strong, vigorous germination may be safely planted 
 earlier than that whose vitality is low, because if bad 
 weather follows such seed will not decay so readily. 
 
 (e) Insects. These are commonly most destructive 
 early in the seasorl ; hence late planted corn is less liable 
 to be injured by them. In sod ground, believed to be 
 badly infested by them, this is to be kept constantly in 
 mind. 
 
 The general rule is to plant corn as early as the tempera- 
 ture and other soil conditions will permit. It has been 
 quite conclusively shown that the highest yields are se- 
 cured by early planting, owing, doubtless, to the greater 
 length of the growing season. 
 
 125. The Depth of Planting. — The general rule as to 
 depth of planting is to plant as shallow as the conditions 
 which govern germination will permit ; that is, the seed 
 should be put into the ground only so deep as is necessary 
 in order to secure all three of the conditions upon which 
 germination depends, viz. : moisture, oxygen and suitable 
 temperature. (Section 46.) 
 
 The average depth of planting is perhaps about two and 
 one half inches. As previously stated (Exercise 27), 
 we do not try to control the depth of the root systems by 
 the depth of planting, since this is impossible. In any 
 given case, the depth of planting is determined chiefly 
 by the following conditions : 
 
 (1) Soil Texture and Structure. — In loose sandy soil, 
 it is necessary to plant deep in order to reach moisture. 
 On the other hand, this would not do ordinarily in a heavy 
 clay soil as the seed would be deprived of oxygen, and 
 moreover, after a heavy rain such soil has a tendency 
 to puddle and bake, which prevents the sprouts from 
 pushing through. 
 
CORN 189 
 
 (2) Condition of the Seed Bed. — If the seed bed is 
 poorly prepared, clods form, the surface dries out, and it 
 becomes necessary to plant deeper than if the seed bed 
 were well prepared. 
 
 (3) Amount of Humus in the Soil. — If there is a large 
 amount of humus in the soil, the seed bed does not dry 
 out readily (Exercise 5), it contains plenty of air, or oxygen 
 (Exercise 10), and hence corn need not be planted so deep 
 as would otherwise be required. 
 
 (4) The Depth of the Water Level. — The nearer the level 
 of the gravity water is to the surface, the shallower the 
 seed must be planted. 
 
 (5) The Time of Planting. — The later the planting is 
 done, the warmer the soil, and the drier it is as a rule near 
 the surface ; hence late planting may be somewhat deeper 
 than early planting. 
 
 126. Distance between the Rows. — The distance 
 between the rows varies greatly in different sections. 
 In some parts, especially on new soils, the rows are com- 
 monly three feet apart, while in other sections, whose 
 soils are nearing exhaustion, the average distance between 
 rows is upwards of six feet. In Iowa, it is commonly 
 three and one half feet. 
 
 The proper distance in any given case is determined, 
 as the foregoing suggests, chiefly by the fertility of the 
 soil. It may depend in certain cases, too, upon the use 
 to be made of the crop. If it is intended that the crop 
 be used as silage, the rows may be closer together than 
 otherwise as the growth will be less woody. 
 
 127. The Number of Kernels in Each Hill. — This, too, 
 varies considerably in different localities. In the leading 
 corn states, the number is usually either three or four. 
 
190 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 In any given case, the number that should be planted in 
 each hill ordinarily depends upon several factors. These 
 are as follows : 
 
 (1) Quality of the Seed. — If the percentage of germin- 
 able kernels is known to be low, the number planted in 
 each hill is usually increased. 
 
 (2) Fertility of the Soil. — If plant food is abundant 
 in the soil, a greater number of kernels may be planted in 
 each hill, since a greater number of plants can be supported. 
 
 (3) Average Rainfall. — In regions where the rainfall 
 is scant, fewer kernels are planted in each hill than in 
 humid sections. 
 
 (4) Insects. — If the soil is infested by destructive 
 insects, it is deemed prudent to increase the number of 
 kernels in each hill. 
 
 (5) Use to be made of the Crop. — If the crop is to be 
 used for fodder or silage, the number of kernels in each 
 hill may be increased. 
 
 128. The Replanting of the Missing Hills. — If for 
 
 any reason the stand proves to be poor, the question of 
 replanting arises. This is not at all the simple matter that 
 it appears to be. It is easy enough, of course, to replant 
 the occasional missing hills. The difficulty, however, 
 arises in the fact that the plants in these hills, being younger 
 than those about them, will not put forth flowers until the 
 remainder of the field has passed the flowering stage. 
 Most of the pollen from the older plants will have been 
 shed before the silks of the younger plants are ready to 
 receive it, the usual result being that the pistillate flowers 
 of the latter are but poorly fertilized and small ears, or 
 none at all, are formed. This may be avoided in a meas- 
 ure by replanting with seed of some earlier variety, but 
 the result in this case is a mixture of varieties. For these 
 
CORN 191 
 
 reasons, corn growers regard replanting with disfavor 
 and seek to avoid it so far as possible. 
 
 A fairly satisfactory rule to follow is : 
 
 If more than twenty per cent of the plants are missing, 
 replant the entire field; if between ten and twenty per 
 cent, replant the missing corn; if less than ten per cent, 
 replant none. 
 
 If the replanting is made necessary as a result of the 
 destruction done by insects, the new rows should be 
 planted between the old ones, and the latter should be left 
 standing so that the insects may continue to feed upon them. 
 
 129. Cultivation begins with the Harrow. — If the 
 seed has been put in by either checking or drilHng, the 
 ground should be harrowed crosswise of the rows as soon 
 as the planting is finished. This will prevent the washing 
 out of the kernels by subsequent showers, the water from 
 which would naturally follow the tracks of the planter 
 wheels. 
 
 Even after the young plants are up, the field may be 
 harrowed to advantage, as this will break up any crust 
 that may have formed, thus preventing the loss of mois- 
 ture ; and at the same time it will destroy very many 
 small weeds. This harrowing, however, should not be 
 done in the early morning when the little plants are turgid 
 and therefore brittle (Section 69), as many of them will 
 be broken off. Moreover, the harrow should usually be 
 driven crosswise of the rows, the teeth should be set 
 slanting backwards, the corn should not be harrowed just 
 as it is coming through the ground, and the harrow should 
 be kept away from wet places. 
 
 130. Later Cultivation of the Crop. — For later cultiva- 
 tion, the shovel cultivator is the implement generally used. 
 
192 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 The old-fashioned cultivator with four large shovels, 
 which stirred the ground deeply and left it in a ridged 
 
 Fig. 82. — Cultivator with large shovels. 
 
 condition, is being gradually displaced by others, having 
 six or more smaller shovels. It was formerly held that 
 
 Fig. 83. — Cultivator with small shovels. 
 
 the ground in which corn was growing required deep 
 stirring throughout the early part of the season. This 
 
CORN 
 
 193 
 
 idea is now being gradually abandoned as many good 
 farmers are coming to believe (1) that the seed bed should 
 be prepared before, not after, planting, and (2) that the 
 severing of roots by deep cultivation works serious injury 
 to the growing plants, especially if this occurs after they 
 have attained considerable size. 
 
 131. Depth of Cultivation. — No fixed rule can be 
 given as to the proper depth of cultivation. If the seed 
 
 Fig. 84. — Depth of corn roots. 
 
 bed has not been well prepared, deep stirring may be 
 beneficial while the plants are small. However, as they 
 become larger, the deep cultivation should be discon- 
 tinued, as otherwise the shallow, spreading roots are cut off. 
 There is but one way to tell how deep it is safe to cul- 
 tivate. This is to make a careful examination to ascertain 
 
194 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 how near the roots are to the surface. After the cultivator 
 has gone through the field once, we should scrape away 
 the earth in two or three places to see if any of the roots 
 have been cut or broken off. 
 
 It is in the upper three or four inches of soil that avail- 
 able plant food is most abundant, and this is the feeding 
 ground of many important roots of the corn plant. It is 
 self-evident that they should not be destroyed. It is 
 safe to say that a great deal of the damage that has been 
 sustained by farmers of the Corn Belt in the past as the 
 result of drouths was avoidable in the sense that it was 
 the direct effect of the severing of feeding roots at a time 
 when the plants were unable to withstand this treatment 
 without serious injury. 
 
 132. Frequency of Cultivation. — The number of times 
 that corn should be cultivated is determined by certain 
 conditions which are highly variable. Since the purposes 
 of cultivation are mainly to destroy weeds and to conserve 
 moisture, we may say that the frequency of cultivation 
 depends upon the weediness of the field and upon the 
 number of beating rains which it may receive. It is a 
 mistake either to allow weeds to become established in the 
 field or to allow a crust, from which moisture can escape, 
 to form and remain on the surface ; and on the other 
 hand it is inadvisable to cultivate soil when it is already 
 free from weeds and its surface finely pulverized. 
 
 It should be noted in this connection that mere size 
 constitutes no good reason for discontinuing the cultiva- 
 tion of corn, or, as we say, " laying it by." It is true 
 ■ that when the plants become large enough to shade the 
 ground effectually, the growth of weeds is checked to some 
 extent, but it is also true that much more moisture is 
 needed at this stage than at any other and that its con- 
 
CORN 195 
 
 servation is more important than at any previous time. 
 The correctness of this principle is abundantly shown by 
 the fact that those farmers, who, in dry seasons, make it 
 a practice to cultivate their corn throughout the hot, dry 
 months whenever a crust begins to form almost invariably 
 secure a very substantial increase in yield. The cultiva- 
 tor used for this work is made to go between the rows. 
 It is fitted with very small shovels, or even with harrow 
 teeth, and is frequently made at home. 
 
 A twofold injury results in case a crust is allowed 
 to form upon the surface: the moisture, of which the 
 plants stand in great need, is lost by evaporation ; and by 
 the cracking of the dried-out soil, which almost invariably 
 occurs, the roots that occupy the best part of the plants' 
 feeding ground are broken or torn apart in large numbers, 
 this being especially true of the smaller ones. 
 
 133. Cultivation of Listed Corn. — Three things must 
 be kept in mind in cultivating hsted corn : 
 
 (1) The furrows should be opened out while the 
 corn is just becoming estabhshed in order that the 
 young plants may receive the maximum amount of 
 
 « 
 
 sunHght. 
 
 (2) The weeds that appear on the shoulder of the 
 ridge and about the young plants should be destroyed. 
 
 (3) The furrow should be graduaUy filled up as the 
 corn becomes older that the roots may be protected from 
 the drying effect of the winds of midsummer. (Section 
 
 123.) 
 
 The furrows are opened out by discs which work in the 
 bottom and against the shoulders of the ridges. This 
 operation also destroys weeds on the sides and tops of 
 the ridges. Small, curved knives or discs should follow 
 behind and throw a very slight amount of dirt about the 
 
196 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 young corn to bury the tiny weeds and to prevent evapo- 
 ration of moisture. 
 
 As the corn becomes larger, the discs are reversed and 
 the soil is drawn by successive cultivations about the 
 roots of the plants. Shovels are usually substituted for 
 the discs at the second and later cultivations. 
 
 134. Harvesting the Crop. — One of the pecuHarities 
 of every food-producing plant is that as food material 
 
 Fig. 85. — Cutting corn with a binder. 
 
 is stored in the seed, other parts of the plant become 
 gradually woody and indigestible. 
 
 In the case of corn, for example, we find that while 
 the amount of dry matter in the plant increases steadily 
 until the crop is nearly or quite mature, the amount of 
 digestible matter increases only until the kernels become 
 glazed over and diminishes quite rapidly thereafter. Thus 
 the mature plants on an acre, yielding sixty bushels of 
 
CORN 
 
 197 
 
 corn, contain approximately 3300 pounds of digestible 
 food material ; but these same plants, at the stage when 
 
 Fig. 86. — Husking in the field. 
 
 the ears were in the glaze, contained from 4000 to 4400 
 pounds of digestible food material. In general we may 
 say that the amount of digestible nutrients in the corn 
 
198 ' SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 plant is at least from 25 to 35 per cent greater when the 
 ears are in the glaze than when the plant is mature. 
 
 It is chiefly due to this fact that the practice of cutting 
 corn when the ears are in the glaze, chopping it into fine 
 pieces, and storing it in silos to be fed out later, has proved 
 profitable, though another important reason is found in 
 the fact that a store of palatable, succulent feed is thus 
 secured for winter use. This method of harvesting the 
 crop is undeniably gaining in popularity, and justly so. 
 
 The practice of cutting the corn while in the glaze 
 and shocking it to be used as dry fodder later, also has the 
 advantage named above of yielding a greater amount of 
 digestible food material from a given area than will be 
 secured if the plants are allowed to mature and only the 
 ears are taken. However, this method is open to the 
 objection that a considerable amount of the food value is 
 ordinarily lost as the result of molds, Aveathering and 
 other causes. 
 
 Notwithstanding the advantages of other methods, 
 however, it is still true that by far the greater part of the 
 corn crop grown in the central states is allowed to ripen 
 in the field, gathered in wagons and stored in cribs. 
 
 135. Crops used as Substitutes for Corn. — In those 
 sections of the West where the rainfall is scant during the 
 hot summer months, corn can not be safely grown. To 
 take its place, other plants which are peculiarly adapted 
 to a semiarid climate have been introduced from foreign 
 lands, and are extensively grown for their grains which are 
 not greatly different from corn in composition. Among 
 these are Kafir corn, milo maize, dura, feterita and others. 
 
 These plants are not to be regarded as varieties of corn 
 at all. In fact, they are only distantly related to it, 
 though they are true grasses. They came to us from 
 
CORN 
 
 199 
 
 Africa, while corn is a native of southern Mexico. They 
 are sorghums, belonging to the same genus as ordinary 
 sorghum cane ; but they are not sweet as we are apt to 
 think all sorghums must be. They all bear their seeds, 
 which are of various colors and more or less round in 
 shape, in heads or spikes, at the tops of the stems. The 
 
 Fig. 87. — Field of Kafir corn. 
 
 leaves are coarser, thicker and glossier than those of corn 
 and the yield of grain per acre is somewhat less. 
 
 The value of these plants in the semiarid West depends 
 not alone upon the fact that their pollen is able to fertilize 
 the ovules while in a drier condition than is required by that 
 of corn, but also upon their remarkable abihty to revive 
 after hot winds or drouth and to continue growth. More- 
 
200 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 over, they are actually able to draw more moisture from 
 the soil than is the corn plant. 
 
 Corn which has once been stunted by drouth or by hot 
 winds never fully recovers. The sorghums do recover, 
 usually producing satisfactory crops of grain in spite of 
 these adverse conditions. They have made possible the 
 cultivation of a great deal of land in the semiarid West, 
 which, but for them, could not be made to yield profitable 
 crops. 
 
 136. Planting and cultivating Kafir 'Corn and Similar 
 Drouth-Resistant Crops. — Notwithstanding the fact that 
 these crops endure drouth to a remarkable degree, they 
 require a moist, mellow seed bed at the time the young 
 grain is sprouting, and rather exacting conditions as to 
 the way in which the seed is put into the ground. If the 
 ground is too dry, or if the seed is planted too shallow, 
 the young plants will not succeed. If planted too deep, 
 or in a situation where the loose dirt will be washed over 
 them during dashing rains, the young plants can not push 
 their way to the surface, owing to the limited supply of 
 food in the seeds which are comparatively small (Exer- 
 cise 24.) 
 
 Those fields which produce the best yields of Kafir 
 corn and other similar crops are the ones in which (1) the 
 soil has been put carefully into condition to receive and 
 hold the moisture as explained in Sections 30 and 31, and 
 in which (2) the furrows have been opened with the lister 
 in such a way as to prevent so far as possible the water 
 from running down the rows. The latter is accomplished 
 by keeping the bottoms of the furrows as nearly level as 
 possible, as, for example, by following around the hills 
 with the lister rather than simply up and down their 
 slopes. 
 
CORN 
 
 201 
 
 The planting is done from one to three weeks later 
 than that of corn in the same latitude. The best plan 
 is to put the seed in 
 with a drill of special 
 design, which leaves 
 the bottom of the fur- 
 row slightly ridged 
 along the middle. This 
 prevents such soil as 
 may be washed into 
 the furrow from being 
 deposited upon the 
 sprouting seeds. Dry 
 land farmers, and 
 others who grow Kafir 
 corn, say that more 
 seed is planted too 
 deep than too shallow. 
 Experience and experi- 
 ments show that seed, 
 covered to a depth of 
 about one inch with 
 moist, mellow earth, 
 germinates and be- 
 comes estabhshed well. 
 
 Care must be exer- 
 cised during the first 
 cultivation not to 
 cover the young, ten- 
 der plants. Moreover, 
 
 they need plenty of Fig. 88. — Head of Kafir com. 
 
 sunshine and warmth. 
 
 In general, the methods of cultivation are the same as 
 those given for listed corn in Section 133. 
 
202 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1 . Name four uses of corn. 
 
 2. What changes do we find in the corn plant as we go from 
 south to north through the United States ? 
 
 3. Name the two factors which commonly limit the yield of 
 corn throughout the Corn Belt. 
 
 ^ 4. Name seven indications of unsoundness or immaturity 
 in an ear of corn. 
 
 5. Name five important points considered in examining the 
 ear of seed corn. Three in examining the kernels. 
 
 6. Name four methods of selecting the seed supply for the 
 following year's crop. 
 
 7. State the advantages of the one first given in the text. 
 
 8. In what ways may moisture cause the death of the germs 
 of an ear of seed corn? 
 
 9. Name the conditions necessary in storing seed corn. 
 
 10. Tell how to make a germination test with a "rag doll." 
 
 11. Describe the ideal seed bed for corn. 
 
 12. Name the steps necessary in preparing such a seed bed 
 in sod ground. 
 
 13. What are the advantages of fall plowing of sod ground? 
 
 14. State two reasons why the burning of stalks should be 
 avoided. 
 
 15. What is the particular advantage of checking corn? 
 
 16. What is the great advantage of listing corn? 
 
 17. Why do corn growers regard the replanting of missing 
 hills with disfavor? 
 
 18. How could you tell how deep it is safe to cultivate a field 
 of corn? 
 
 19. Name two injurious results of allowing a crust to form on 
 the surface of the ground while the corn is growing. 
 
 20. Name three reasons why the sorghums can succeed in drier 
 weather than can corn. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE SMALL GRAINS 
 
 The term cereal is applied both to the plants which 
 yield the grains and to the grains themselves. Cereals, 
 then, include corn, Kafir corn and other sorghums, oats, 
 rye, barley, rice, millet, etc. The cereals are all monocoty- 
 ledons and members of the grass family. They make up 
 by far the greater part of the food of man and have since 
 the dawn of history occupied very largely his cultivated 
 land. 
 
 The leading cereal, or grain crop, varies in different 
 countries. In northern Europe it is rye ; in southern 
 Europe, barley; in Asia, rice. In North America, the 
 most important crop is maize, or corn, while wheat 
 occupies second place although it is the chief food of 
 civilized man. Oats rank third. 
 
 Wheat 
 
 137. Why Wheat is so extensively grown. — The 
 Chinese are known to have cultivated wheat for nearly 
 five thousand years. As civilization has moved west- 
 ward, the cultivation of wheat has moved also in that 
 direction. There are a number of reasons why wheat 
 has always been a leading grain crop and will always 
 continue to be so : 
 
 (a) It succeeds in a wide range of soils and chmates. 
 
 (6) It requires as httle tillage as any grain we grow. 
 
 (c) It yields quick and abundant returns. 
 
 203 
 
204 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 
 y3 
 
 00 
 
 o 
 
 l-H 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 205 
 
 (d) It can be easily transformed into a light, appetizing, 
 wholesome, almost perfect food for human beings. 
 
 (e) Valuable foods for domestic animals are prepared 
 from those portions of the grain which man does not use 
 for white flour. 
 
 138. Climatic Conditions Favorable for the Growth of 
 Wheat. — In , North America, the greater part of the 
 wheat crop is produced where the temperature in January 
 is below freezing. Wheat is grown in California and other 
 portions of the country where cold winter weather does 
 not prevail, but on the whole, the cultivation of the crop 
 is moving northward. The immense wheat fields of Al- 
 berta and Saskatchewan in Canada show this to be true. 
 
 The best wheat is grown where there is a long, cool 
 spring, followed by a moderately dry, sunny summer 
 season while the grain is ripening. 
 
 139. Winter and Spring Wheat. — There are two 
 general classes of wheat : that which is sown in the fall, 
 called winter, or fall wheat ; and that which is sown in the 
 spring. In general, winter wheat, which comprises from 
 sixty to seventy per cent of the total wheat crop of the 
 United States, is grown south of the forty-second parallel, 
 while most of the spring wheat is grown north of that line. 
 
 Winter wheat is more productive than spring wheat, 
 as a rule, in those sections where both may be grown ; 
 and owing to the introduction of hardier varieties, it is 
 being grown, like corn, farther north each year. 
 
 140. Systems of Rotation. — Throughout the newer 
 regions of the great wheat belt, wheat follows wheat 
 year after year. The virgin soil, modern cultivating 
 and harvesting machinery, the comparatively low price 
 of land, the satisfactory returns and the scarcity of labor 
 
206 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 have been responsible for this. However, after only a 
 few years, it is found necessary to introduce some system 
 of '^ rotation," or succession of crops, which will keep up 
 the physical condition and as far as possible the fertility 
 of the soil. 
 
 In the older grain states, particularly those of the great 
 central valley, a five-year rotation is often recommended 
 as follows : 
 
 First Year, Corn. 
 Second Year, Oats. 
 Third Year, Wheat. 
 
 Fourth and Fifth Years, Timothy and Clover which 
 have been sown in the wheat the third year. 
 
 In those sections of the country, which are given over 
 largely to the production of corn, corn is often grown two 
 years in succession. Oats are sown in the cornstalks the 
 following spring, for the soil is well settled, making a firm 
 seed bed, which is highly desirable. Wheat with which 
 timothy is sown follows the oats ; and clover is sown in the 
 wheat field in the spring. The young clover takes pos- 
 session of the land after the wheat is removed, yields a full 
 crop the following year, and the ground is plowed in the fall. 
 The sixth spring, the field goes back into corn again. 
 
 Sometimes this rotation is shortened by omitting the 
 oats. Wheat then follows corn. If winter wheat is 
 grown, the corn may be cut for fodder or for silage, or the 
 wheat may be sown between the corn rows with a one- 
 horse drill. Spring wheat is sown with larger drills 
 after the cornstalks have been cut or broken down in the 
 spring. 
 
 141. The Seed Bed and how to prepare it. — Successful 
 growers of small grains have learned that these crops 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 207 
 
 demand a seed bed that is loose, or mellow, in the upper 
 two or three inches, but firm and compact below this 
 depth. 
 
 To secure a seed bed of this description in case wheat is 
 to be grown after oats, the stubble ground may be (1) 
 disced as soon as possible after the oats are removed; 
 (2) plowed, not too deeply, as early as this can be conven- 
 iently done ; (3) harrowed immediately after plowing to 
 prevent loss of moisture; and (4) harrowed and disced 
 as often as necessary just before seeding time in order 
 to make the surface soil loose and mellow. 
 
 The advantages of discing before the plowing is done 
 are as follows : 
 
 (1) It conserves moisture by making a dust mulch. 
 
 (2) It allows rain to enter the soil instead of running off. 
 
 (3) It destroys growing weeds, and starts the germina- 
 tion of other weed seeds in the soil. 
 
 (4) It makes the draft lighter for plowing because the 
 soil is loose and mellow. 
 
 (5) It pulverizes the soil and works the straw into it 
 in such a manner as to allow the water to rise freely after 
 plowing. 
 
 The reasons for early plowing of the ground when pre- 
 paring it for wheat are : 
 
 (1) It gives time for the seed bed to become firm and 
 compact whether from rains, the weight of horses and 
 machinery or other cause. 
 
 (2) It gives time for capillary connection to be restored. 
 
 (3) It gives time for hberation of plant food by decay. 
 
 (4) In the case of winter wheat, winterkilling is reduced 
 because of the greater compactness of the seed bed. 
 
 142. Selection of the Seed. — Experiments favor the 
 selection of the large, plump seeds, for the reason shown 
 
208 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 in Exercise 24. These may be secured by running the 
 wheat through the fanning mill, which removes not only 
 the small, shriveled and broken kernels, but many of the 
 weed seeds as well. Uniformity, freedom from weed 
 seed and other foreign matter, soundness, weight per 
 bushel and hardness are all taken into consideration in 
 selecting seed wheat. 
 
 We may compare and judge samples, and in this way 
 become familiar with our leading small grain. 
 
 EXERCISE 47 
 
 Object. — To compare and judge two samples of seed 
 wheat. 
 
 Procedure. — Procure two samples of wheat, each to con- 
 sist of a quart or more. Mark them " No. 1 " and ''No. 2." 
 
 Compare them with regard to uniformity, freedom from 
 foreign matter, including weed seeds, soundness, weight 
 per bushel and hardness as directed below : 
 
 (1) Uniformity. — The kernels should be uniform in 
 size, shape and color ; and in judging the sample, the 
 prevailing size, shape and color should be used as a basis. 
 The term color as used here relates to the natural color 
 of the kernels. It follows that we do not hold it against 
 a sample at this stage if discolored kernels are present, 
 for the reason that discoloration of kernels will be con- 
 sidered later under soundness. In determining the pre- 
 vailing size, shape and color, count out one hundred kernels 
 and sort them out in piles according to the differences 
 which they show in this respect. 
 
 The reason for making uniformity an important factor 
 in judging grains is that it is our only reliable guide as to 
 the purity of the variety. If varieties are mixed, we find 
 that the size, the shape, or the color, or perhaps all three, 
 will be variable. 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 209 
 
 (2) Freedom from Foreign Matter. — We look for three 
 kinds of foreign matter in wheat. The first and worst 
 one is weed seeds ; the second is grain of other kinds, as 
 barley or oats; and the third is inert matter, as sticks, 
 clxaff, etc. 
 
 (3) Soundness. — This is an important factor to con- 
 sider in judging seed wheat. The kernels should be plump 
 and bright in color. Shriveled kernels indicate immaturity. 
 The sample should be free from kernels which are decayed, 
 sprouted, musty, moldy, binburnt, broken, shrunken, 
 smutted, bleached, bUstered, discolored, damp, or insect 
 injured. 
 
 Most of these unsoundnesses indicate that the vitality 
 of the seed has been impaired or destroyed, which ac- 
 counts for the importance attached to this point in judging 
 seed wheat. 
 
 (4) Weight per Bushel. — Plump, well-developed ker- 
 nels of 7nediu7n size indicate a high weight per bushel. 
 We consider the sample low in weight per bushel in pro- 
 portion as we find many shrunken, shriveled, musty, 
 moldy, sprouted or badly weathered kernels, or in case 
 much inert foreign matter is present. In judging samples, 
 weight per bushel is usually determined rather by indica- 
 tions of this kind than by actual weighing, as the latter 
 can not ordinarily be done. 
 
 High weight per bushel is desirable in seed wheat, for 
 it means that the kernels are plump, or in other words 
 that the store of food for the embryo in the average kernel 
 is large. (Exercise 24.) 
 
 (5) Hardness. — Relative hardness may be deter- 
 mined by biting in two several kernels from each sample, 
 or by cutting them in two with a knife. Hard wheat is 
 best for milling purposes and commands a higher price in 
 the market. 
 
210 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Conclusion. — State which of the two samples you 
 consider better from the standpoint of uniformity and 
 give reasons for your opinion. In the same way, state 
 which one you beheve to be better as regards freedom from 
 foreign matter, soundness, weight per bushel and hardness, 
 giving reasons for your decision in each case. In view of 
 all the answers you have given, which one do you regard 
 
 as the better of the two 
 samples of wheat? 
 State reasons for your 
 answer fully. 
 
 Now weigh equal 
 amounts by measure 
 of each sample, using, 
 for instance, a baking 
 powder can, level full, 
 and see if their rela- 
 tive weights are about as you have judged them to be. 
 Write in your notebook the reason or reasons why each 
 of the five points named is regarded as important in judg- 
 ing seed wheat. 
 
 Fig. 90. — Drilling in wheat. 
 
 143. Planting the Seed. — The grain drill has come 
 largely to take the place of the old broadcast method, and 
 on the whole has given much better results. 
 
 The time of sowing depends upon the climate, the soil, 
 and, in case of winter wheat, upon the prevalence of an 
 insect known as the Hessian fly. The farther south we 
 go, the later the sowing may be done for winter wheat. 
 In the region of the fortieth parallel, the date of sowing 
 it is about the middle of September. Farther north, 
 where spring wheat is raised, the seeding is done from the 
 latter part of April until the latter part of May, depending 
 upon the latitude or the season. Fall or winter wheat 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 
 
 211 
 
 may be sown in a fertile soil later than in a poor soil and 
 in a well-prepared seed bed later than in one poorly pre- 
 pared. The roots must become well established before 
 winter sets in or winterkilling is apt to result. On the 
 other hand, too early sowing may cause plants to 
 " shoot," after which they will be killed by the extreme 
 cold of winter. 
 
 
 iiif 
 
 ., ■■ 
 
 J 
 
 
 H^ 
 
 
 ^F 
 
 - >-^fe#^^«i 
 
 
 
 '1 
 
 > 
 
 Fig. 91. — Cutting grain with a self-binder. 
 
 The Hessian fly makes its appearance known by attack- 
 ing the volunteer wheat, which comes up after the crop 
 is harvested. When the insect is present in the fields, 
 seeding must be delayed until practically time for frost, 
 for after this time, the eggs are no longer laid. In Kansas 
 and Oklahoma, wheat planted in the first week in October 
 usually escapes injury from the Hessian fly. 
 
 144. Harvesting the Wheat. — The wheat harvest 
 begins in the South in May and moves gradually north- 
 ward, the crop in North Dakota being harvested in August. 
 
212 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Laborers are able to follow the harvest and find employ- 
 ment in the wheat fields throughout the summer months. 
 
 The time of cutting wheat depends largely upon the 
 kind of machinery with which it is done. Wheat, which 
 is cut with the binder, and placed in shocks, must be not 
 fully ripe or the grain will shatter. 
 
 If the wheat is cut with the header, it must be nearly 
 ripe or it will mold when placed in the stack. 
 
 Fig. 92. 
 
 Courtesy Internalional Harvester Co. 
 Combined harvester and thresher. 
 
 In California, Oregon and Washington a combined 
 header and thresher is often used. In this case, the grain 
 must be fully ripe, as otherwise it can not be stored. The 
 varieties of wheat grown there and the dry weather which 
 usually prevails at harvest time, make it possible for grow- 
 ers to allow their grain to stand even for several weeks. 
 
 145. The Uses of Wheat. — Unless the price of wheat 
 is very low, whole wheat is not used as a feed for domestic 
 animals. 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 213 
 
 The inner portion of the grain is used for flour, the 
 wheat yielding about seventy per cent of this product. 
 
 The outer coat of the grain is made into bran, a coarse, 
 light product, which is extensively used as a feed for stock. 
 The embryos and the layers just beneath the bran are 
 mixed usually with the bran itself, forming a product, 
 known as wheat middlings: These portions of the grain 
 are rich in protein, and therefore have a high feeding 
 value. (Section 94.) 
 
 If no part of the grain is removed after grinding, the 
 product is known as Graham flour; if the coarser parts 
 are removed, it is called whole wheat flour. 
 
 Experiments have shown that the percentage of the 
 different flours that is digestible when used as food is as 
 follows : 
 
 White flour 90.1 % 
 
 Whole wheat flour 85.5 % 
 
 Graham flour 80.7 % 
 
 Thus we see that a higher percentage of the white flour 
 is digestible than of the others, partially because of its 
 finer state of division, but also because most of the in- 
 digestible parts of the kernels have been removed. Be- 
 cause of this greater digestibility, bread from white flour 
 will doubtless long remain, as it is at present, the choice 
 of the great majority of the people. 
 
 Oats 
 
 146. Oats a Cool Climate Crop. — The oat plant is a 
 short season plant. It requires a smaller amount of 
 heat for its development than does barley or wheat; 
 and for this reason, it is grown most successfully in the 
 cooler climates. In Scotland, Norway, Sweden and in 
 Canada, large quantities of oats are grown. The average 
 
214 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 yield per acre steadily increases as one goes northward 
 throughout the United States to Canada, and the average 
 
 weight per bushel 
 increases at the 
 same time. In the 
 South, the oats 
 commonly grown 
 are those which, 
 like winter wheat, 
 are sown in the 
 fall. Although not 
 so valuable a crop 
 as some others, oats 
 are grown exten- 
 sively in the United 
 States because the 
 crop fits well in the 
 rotation. 
 
 147. Varieties of 
 Oats. — In color, 
 oats may be white, 
 yellow, red or black, 
 those of the first 
 two colors being 
 most commonly 
 grown. 
 
 As in the case of 
 wheat, there are 
 two general classes 
 of oats ; viz., winter 
 oats and spring 
 oats. The former are grown in southern and Pacific states, 
 and, like corn and winter wheat, are gradually moving 
 
 Fig. 93. — Panicle of oats. 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 215 
 
 northward. By far the larger part of the oats grown by 
 the civihzed world, however, are of the spring varieties. 
 
 The variety of oats adapted to any given locality 
 depends not upon the length of the hot, growing season 
 as in the case of corn, but upon the duration of the cool 
 weather in spring and early summer. Thus in Canada, 
 late maturing varieties of spring oats are successfully 
 grown. In the northern part of the United States, medium 
 varieties of spring oats thrive best, since late varieties can 
 not mature in time as a rule to escape the hot weather. 
 In the same way, early spring oats give the largest yields 
 in the Corn Belt generally, while in the South, where the 
 period of cool weather is short, spring varieties can not 
 be grown successfully, but it becomes necessary to use 
 instead those varieties which make a part of their growth 
 in the fall and hence are able to mature their crop before 
 the hot summer weather comes. 
 
 148. Preparation of the Seed Bed. — Oats do not 
 require as deep a seed bed as does wheat. Land which 
 has been in corn the previous year may be thoroughly 
 disced in the spring and the seed planted preferably with 
 a drill; but only in cases of extreme necessity, if ever, 
 may the growth of stalks be burned at this time. 
 
 Among the advantages of drilling may be mentioned 
 the following : 
 
 (1) The seed is planted at a uniform depth. 
 
 (2) A more even distribution of seed is secured. 
 
 (3) The crop germinates, grows and matures more 
 evenly. 
 
 (4) The yields are larger.' 
 
 (5) Less seed is required. 
 
 If the soil is naturally compact, as is often the case in 
 the eastern states and also in those soils lacking humus, the 
 
216 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 best results are usually obtained by plowing the seed bed 
 before discing. If this is done in the fall, the farmer is 
 able to get his field planted earlier in the spring, and the 
 firm, fine, compact seed bed, which all small grains require, 
 will have had time to form. 
 
 149. The Selection of Oats for Seed. — Heavy seed 
 is preferred to that which is hght in weight. In Minnesota, 
 the difference in yield between heavy and light seed has 
 been found in some cases to be nearly ten bushels per acre. 
 
 The seed should, if possible, be taken from fields free 
 from loose smut, but if there is any indication of the dis- 
 ease, the oats should be treated as explained in Exercise 36. 
 In fact, some of the most successful growers recommend 
 that all seed oats be so treated every other year. 
 
 The desirable characters of seed oats may be well 
 brought out by comparing one sample with another. 
 
 EXERCISE 48 
 
 Object. — To compare and judge two samples of oats. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure two samples of oats, each to con- 
 sist of at least two quarts. They should be marked " No. 
 1 " and '' No. 2." Compare them carefully as regards (1) 
 uniformity, (2) freedom from weed seeds and other foreign 
 matter, (3) soundness, (4) proportion of kernel to hull, and 
 (5) weight per bushel, in the manner directed below : 
 
 Uniformity. — As in the judging of wheat, we wish the 
 sample to be uniform in size, shape and color. The 
 prevailing size, shape and color are used as a basis, and 
 discoloration of kernels is not held against the sample 
 at this stage as it will be under soundness. In determin- 
 ing the prevailing size, shape and color, count out one 
 hundred kernels and sort them out in piles according to the 
 differences which they show in these respects. 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 217 
 
 The importance of uniformity in oats is precisely the 
 same as in wheat, that is, it is our only means of judging 
 purity of variety. A mixture of varieties will show varia- 
 tion in one or more of the three respects named. 
 
 Freedom from Foreign Matter. — Foreign matter in- 
 cludes (1) weed seeds, (2) other grains, and (3) inert 
 matter, the first being most objectionable and the last 
 least so. 
 
 Sou7idness. — As in the case of wheat, this is deemed an 
 important point to consider in judging seed oats. The 
 grain should be bright, but not green — as this indicates 
 immaturity — nor yet dull in color. No damp, dis- 
 colored, weathered, immature, musty, moldy, smutted, 
 badly broken or sprouted grains should be present, as these 
 conditions indicate that the vitality has been impaired 
 or destroyed. We do not, however, regard a slight dis- 
 coloration as a very serious matter since it is so commonly 
 found and can not ordinarily be taken as an indication of 
 impaired vitality. 
 
 Proportion of Kernel to Hull. — A high proportion of 
 kernel to hull is, of course, desirable, as it indicates that 
 the feeding value of the grain is high. 
 
 The indications of a high proportion of kernel to hull 
 are (1) a plump kernel, (2) a thin hull, and (3) a short 
 hull without an awn. The opposite conditions, of course, 
 indicate a low proportion of kernel to hull. 
 
 Weight per Bushel. — The indications of a high weight 
 per measured bushel are (1) plump grains of medium size, 
 and (2) a high proportion of kernel to hull, determined as 
 shown above. 
 
 In general, high weight per bushel means that the 
 oats should produce vigorous young plants when sown, 
 owing to the large stores of food in the plump kernels. 
 
 Conclusion. — Which sample do you deem better 
 
218 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 from the standpoint of uniformity? Write reasons for 
 your answer. Which one excels in each of the other four 
 points ? Give reasons in each case. Finally, which is the 
 better sample? Write your reasons carefully. 
 
 Why is each of the five points given regarded as im- 
 portant in judging seed oats? 
 
 150. Harvesting the Crop. — If oats are cut with a 
 self-binder, they should be harvested just as the straw is 
 turning yellow and the leaves are drying up, at which 
 time the kernels are past the " hard dough stage." If 
 cut before this time, the kernels will become shriveled ; 
 if later, the oats will shatter badly and much of the grain 
 be lost. 
 
 If oats are to be used as hay, they should be cut while 
 the kernels are in the milk stage. 
 
 151. Shocking and Stacking Oats. — After the oats 
 are cut, the bundles are usually set together in shocks. 
 The grain which, as stated in the preceding section, is not 
 fully mature at the time of cutting continues to ripen 
 after shocking. 
 
 There are two general types of shocks, — the long and 
 the round. Each has its advantages and its advocates. 
 The long shocks permit a freer circulation of air and hence 
 dry out more quickly and thoroughly. This type of 
 shock is preferable if the grain is cut a little too green, or if 
 many coarse weeds are present. On the other hand, the 
 round shocks expose less surface to the elements and 
 are less easily blown down, and they, therefore, afford 
 better protection from the weather, especially if they are 
 capped. The merits of the two types of shocks probably 
 depend more upon the skill and ability of the shocker 
 than upon the shocks themselves. 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 219 
 
 No matter which type is used, the oats are certain to be 
 injured if they are subjected to many soaking or beating 
 rains. To avoid the danger of this injury, many good 
 farmers make it a practice to stack their grain as soon as 
 it has ripened and dried out properly in the shock, unless 
 it is to be threshed very soon. The advantages of this 
 practice, provided the stacking is well done, are : 
 
 (1) It prevents loss due to injury in the shock, thus 
 yielding grain of better quality than would otherwise be 
 obtained. 
 
 (2) It prevents heating and sweating in the bin after 
 threshing. 
 
 (3) Less labor is required at threshing time. 
 
 (4) The straw is left in a convenient place and is 
 usually of a superior quahty. 
 
 152. The Uses of Oats. — Oats are used largely as a 
 feed for horses and to a limited extent for cattle and 
 sheep. They are not considered a desirable feed for 
 hogs, other than brood sows, on account of their coarse 
 hulls. 
 
 Oat hay is an excellent forage and is used extensively 
 in the southern and Pacific states. It is cared for just 
 as is any other crop of hay, but if handled too much, 
 both leaves and grain are lost by shattering. 
 
 Oats are sometimes sown with field peas or with rape. 
 In the first case, the mixture of oats and peas makes 
 excellent hay, while in the latter case, the rape is used 
 for pasture after the oats are harvested. 
 
 153. OatmeaL — Oats, freed from their hulls and rolled, 
 make the most nutritious cereal food we have, though 
 oatmeal was not used as human food until machinery was 
 perfected for removing the hulls. 
 
220 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 M 
 o 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 pq 
 
 6 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 221 
 
 The consumption of this product continues to increase 
 year by year, and, hke the Scotchman, the American is 
 coming to be known as an oatmeal eater. 
 
 Barley and Rye 
 
 Neither of these grains is grown extensively in the 
 United States, at least as compared with corn, wheat or 
 oats. Both are naturally cool climate crops. 
 
 154. Methods of Cultivation and Uses of Barley. — 
 Barley is grown in a wider range of climate than any 
 other cereal ; but in our country, it is produced in greatest 
 abundance in the drier portions of the plains states and in 
 the Pacific states. In those states where oats and corn 
 can not be very successfully grown, as in California, 
 barley has become an important crop and is used for hay 
 as well as for grain. 
 
 Barley requires the same seed-bed preparation as does 
 wheat, and the crop is harvested in much the same way. 
 
 Aside from its use as a feed for stock, this grain is used 
 for making malt from which certain alcoholic liquors are 
 derived. 
 
 155. Soil Requirements and Uses of Rye. — = While 
 barley demands a fertile soil, rye will succeed in a very 
 poor soil. Hence rye is grown in soils, as well as in 
 climates, where other grain crops fail. 
 
 Rye is used in making flour, particularly in some 
 foreign countries, and also as a feed for domestic animals. 
 The straw is used in the manufacture of paper and as 
 packing material. It is the opinion of some authorities 
 that, were it not for the demand for the straw, the produc- 
 tion of the crop would rapidly decrease. 
 
222 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Rice 
 
 156. The Soil Requirements of Rice. — Rice is con- 
 sumed more largely by the human race than is any other 
 grain. This is due to the fact that it succeeds well in the 
 centers of densest population, as in India, China and Japan. 
 
 Fig. 95. — A field of growing rice. 
 
 The production of rice has increased rapidly in the 
 United States in the last ten to twenty years. Lowlands 
 in the southern part of this country not suited to other 
 crops produce an excellent grade of this grain. It is 
 required that these lowlands be capable of being drained 
 or flooded at will. 
 
 157. Preparation of the Seed Bed. — The land is 
 plowed while it is dry in the fall and winter months if the 
 soil is of such a character as to permit of this. Certain 
 types of rice soil, however, can not be worked in this 
 
THE SMALL GRAINS 223 
 
 condition and must therefore be plowed and harrowed 
 while covered by water. 
 
 158. Planting the Seed. — The seed may be planted 
 in the soil while it is submerged. If the land can be cul- 
 tivated dry, however, the seed is planted while it is in this 
 condition either with a drill or broadcast ; and if necessary, 
 it is covered by means of a harrow or otherwise. The 
 water is then turned on the land to start germination, 
 after which it is drained off again until the plants are well 
 started. ^. 
 
 159. Caring for the Growing Crop. — When the plants 
 are about six inches high, the field is again flooded and 
 the water kept on it at a depth of from two to six inches 
 for about two months. The water is constantly renewed 
 to prevent its becoming stagnant or the water weeds 
 from becoming estabhshed. 
 
 When the rice is in the milk stage, the water is drained 
 off and the land allowed to dry while the grain ripens. 
 The crop is cut with an ordinary wheat binder wherever 
 possible though it is necessary in certain places along the 
 lower Mississippi to use the sickle. The bundles of rice 
 are shocked and later threshed with the ordinary threshing 
 machine. 
 
 160. How the Grain is prepared for Use. — The rice 
 grains are covered with rough hulls when they come from 
 the threshing machine. At the rice mills, these hulls are 
 removed by rapidly revolving '' milling stones," after 
 which the outer coat, or cuticle, of the kernel is removed 
 by special machinery. The grains are then run through 
 machines which pohsh them by friction against cyhnders 
 covered with moose hide or sheep skin. The polished 
 rice has less food value than that which is not pohshed, 
 
224 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 but its appearance has until recent years given it a higher 
 market value. 
 
 161. Uses of Rice. — Rice is used almost exclusively 
 as human food although some is used in the manufacture 
 of starch. The bran and the finely broken pieces, usually 
 called rice flour, are used as a feed for stock, corresponding 
 to the bran, shorts and middlings of wheat. 
 
 '' Rice straw " hats are not made from rice, but from 
 other grasses. Similarly, Chinese " rice paper " is made 
 from the pith of a tree. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Name the six principal cereals of America. 
 
 2. What is the leading small grain of America ? Of northern 
 Europe? Of southern Europe? 
 
 3. Name five reasons why wheat is extensively grown. 
 
 4. What is the most favorable spring and summer weather 
 for wheat? 
 
 5. What is the difference between winter wheat and spring 
 wheat ? 
 
 6. What kind of seed bed do small grains require ? 
 
 7. Name the points considered in the selection of seed wheat 
 and also of seed oats. 
 
 8. What are the advantages of long shocks? Of round 
 shocks ? 
 
 9. Give the uses of wheat, oats, barley and rye. 
 10. Tell briefly where and how rice is grown. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS AND LAWNS 
 
 In taking up a brief study of the plants under this head, 
 we must keep clearly in mind what true grasses look like. 
 Plants of other famiUes, as for example, the pea, or clover 
 family, are used extensively for pastures, meadows and 
 lawns ; but they are not true grasses and \Yi\l not be studied 
 in this chapter. 
 
 162. Characteristics of All the Grasses. — We have 
 studied in different places in the preceding chapters the 
 characteristics of the grasses, which are monocotyledons. 
 Let us now bring them together that we may always know 
 a true grass when we see it. 
 
 The roots of the grasses are fibrous, springing from the 
 base of the stem as the first, or temporary root is "vvithering 
 away and finally forming a mass just beneath the surface 
 of the ground, as explained in Exercise 27. 
 
 The stems are round and usually hollow, though they 
 are sometimes filled with pith as is the cornstalk. They 
 are made up of nodes and internodes ; that is, prominent 
 joints with spaces between the joints. 
 
 The leaves envelop the stem by a sheath at the lower 
 portion, are parallel-veined and their upper parts are 
 relatively narrow and lance-shaped. They are arranged 
 alternately on the stem, one springing from each node. 
 
 The flowers are greenish in color, inconspicuous, and 
 appear usually at the tops of the stems. We have studied 
 a typical grass flower in Exercise 35. 
 Q 225 
 
226 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 The seed is a grain, covered with a thin seedcoat. It is 
 usually longer than wide, the germ being located at one 
 end and on one side. 
 
 . 163. A Peculiar Habit of Growth. — Grasses, particu- 
 larly those which grow year after year, or perennials, 
 
 (-'(jpy right by Undcnvood and Undtr/cood. 
 Fig. 96. — Cattle on the range. 
 
 often have creeping underground stems by which the 
 plants spread. 
 
 In the small grains, which are not perennials, but an- 
 nuals, we call this habit stooling. The same tendency is 
 shown even by corn in its habit of forming suckers. These 
 in corn are considered undesirable, while we often watch 
 for wheat to stool with some anxiety as it is a method 
 which the plant has of filling the vacant spaces. 
 
 Grasses used for the purposes named in this chapter 
 may be grouped under three heads : 
 
GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS, LAWNS 227 
 
 First : wild prairie and timber grasses. 
 
 Second : cultivated meadow and pasture grasses. 
 
 Third : lawn grasses. 
 
 164. Wild Grasses. — When the white man first 
 began to settle in the territory now known as the United 
 States, the land was covered either with timber or with 
 wild grasses. Gradually the timber has been cut away 
 and the prairie grasses have been broken up to make 
 way for cultivated fields. There yet remain, and will 
 probably always remain, however, vast stretches of 
 prairie in the western plains and in the extreme western 
 parts of the United States where wild grasses are abundant, 
 supporting milUons of head of cattle, sheep and horses, and 
 yielding large quantities of wild hay. 
 
 165. Cultivated Grasses. — The principal grasses which 
 have come to occupy an important place for meadow and 
 pasture purposes are : 
 
 Timothy, the standard meadow grass. 
 Kentucky blue grass, a pasture grass, which is used 
 also for lawns. 
 
 Redtop, which is used for both pastures and meadows. 
 Brome grass, used for both meadows and pastures. 
 Bermuda grass, likewise used for both purposes. 
 Millets and sorghums, which are annual meadow grasses. 
 
 Timothy 
 
 166. Where and how Timothy is grown. — This plant 
 occupies first place among the cultivated hay, or meadow 
 grasses of the United States. It is grown largely in the 
 states east of the Missouri River and north of the fortieth 
 parallel, in the high parks of the Rocky Mountain region, 
 and far northward even into Alaska. 
 
228 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 The seed is often mixed with a spring or fall small grain 
 crop, called a nurse crop, from ten to twelve pounds being 
 sown as a rule to the acre. The fall seeding is usually 
 preferred. The crop takes possession of the ground after 
 the small grain is harvested and is allowed to remain for 
 
 two or more seasons. If clover is sown 
 with the timothy, as is usually the case, 
 the clover forms seed and disappears 
 in the fall of the second year. After 
 this the field is usually put into some 
 other crop, though if this is not done, 
 the growth the third year is nearly pure 
 timothy as a rule. 
 
 167. Advantages and Disadvantages 
 of Timothy. — Since timothy is the lead- 
 ing hay crop of America, we may look 
 for it to possess a number of advantages 
 over other similar crops. Among these 
 are : 
 
 (a) It becomes established more read- 
 ily than other cultivated grasses. 
 
 (b) It is easily harvested and quickly 
 cured, thus escaping injury from rains. 
 
 (c) The seed is cheap and easily 
 procured. 
 
 (d) It may be fed without fear of injurious results, 
 making a palatable hay for horses, especially if cut at the 
 proper time and carefully cured. 
 
 (e) It is adapted to a wide range of soils and cHmates. 
 (/) There is always a market demand for the hay. 
 
 On the other hand, we often hear farmers offering the 
 following objections to timothy : 
 (a) It yields but one crop a year. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 97. — Timothy 
 in flower. 
 
GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS, LAWNS 229 
 
 (6) It can not be pastured without injury to the suc- 
 ceeding crop. 
 
 (c) It is less nutritious than alfalfa or other legumes. 
 
 (d) It exhausts the soil quickly of its supply of nitrogen. 
 
 168. When to cut Timothy. — There are two things 
 to consider in determining the time of cutting timothy : 
 
 Fig. 98. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Raking timothy hay. 
 
 (1) the yield and quahty of the hay, and (2) the effect upon 
 the succeeding crop. 
 
 Let us consider the latter point first. 
 
 A pecuhar characteristic of the timothy plant is that 
 it stores food not alone in the seed but in the stem itself, 
 in one or more internodes near the base. These inter- 
 nodes, which become swollen, are called corms. The store 
 of food which they contain is apparently used the follow- 
 ing year in developing new stools, by means of which the 
 plant is thickened. It follows that the plant should not 
 
230 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 be cut until a sufficient amount of food has been stored 
 in the corms to provide for the later, spreading growth. 
 This is usually not until the seed is in the dough stage, 
 or when the purple stamens have all, or nearly all, dropped 
 away. Cutting that is done earher than this very often 
 results in injury to the succeeding timothy crop, this being 
 especially true in dry seasons, or in regions of scant rain- 
 fall. Examine some timothy plants at your first oppor- 
 tunity while haying is going on and find the corms at the 
 bases of the stems. If these corms are eaten by stock, the 
 plants are, of course, injured, — ^ which means that timothy 
 should not be pastured in the fall. 
 
 The first point above, that of yield and quahty of the 
 hay, is not in conflict with the second one just discussed. 
 If cut too young, timothy will shrink badly ; but if it is 
 allowed to become too ripe, the hay is woody and unde- 
 sirable. Fortunately, at the time when the seed is just 
 formed and in the dough stage, the corms contain enough 
 nourishment to insure proper subsequent growth. 
 
 Blue Grass 
 
 169. The Character and Value of Blue Grass. — " Give 
 blue grass credit for having fought its own way alone and 
 unhelped. Without any aid of man, it came to the new 
 clearing ; it grew about the cabin dooryard ; it carpeted 
 the newly cleared pasture ; it enriched and beautified 
 the roadside ; it held the clayey hillside and the animals 
 cropped it and waxed fat. Not corn, not wheat, not 
 tobacco, but blue grass, became the chief article of export 
 from the Central West, going out disguised as beef, mutton, 
 or pork, a large part of each being of its making. Of the 
 millions of blue grass pastures in America, only a few have 
 ever had seed of this grass sown upon them." ^ 
 
 1 Wing's Meadows and Pastures. 
 
GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS, LAWNS 231 
 
 On lands rich in lime, particularly in the limestone 
 regions of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, blue grass is 
 at its best. The horses, cattle and sheep of those regions 
 have long been famous. 
 
 Fig. 99. — A blue grass pasture. 
 
 170. The Seeding of Blue Grass. — When it becomes 
 necessary or desirable to sow blue grass seed, the soil 
 should be cultivated until a fine, firm seed bed is formed. 
 The seed does not germinate as a rule unless at some time 
 during the day or night, the temperature falls to near 
 forty degrees Fahrenheit. It follows that seed should be 
 sown in the cool, moist weather of spring or fall. As a 
 
232 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 matter of fact, it is usually sown with some other grass, 
 which estabUshes itself quickly, but which the blue grass 
 eventually crowds out. 
 
 171. Advantages and Disadvantages of Blue Grass. — 
 
 Among the advantages of blue grass the following may 
 be named : 
 
 (a) It starts to grow early in the spring and grows late 
 in the fall. 
 
 (6) It is highly nutritious and palatable. 
 
 (c) It endures close pasturing, as well as clipping with 
 the lawn mower, and hence it is an admirable grass for 
 both pastures and lawns. 
 
 (d) It is a persistent perennial. 
 
 (e) It spreads rapidly, and it is a useful and beauti- 
 ful grass along the roadsides and in open timber lands. 
 
 (/) It cures well in the field and makes excellent winter 
 pasture. 
 
 Many farmers, however, object to blue grass, giving 
 among their reasons the ones below : 
 
 (a) It is shallow-rooted and dries up during the months 
 of high temperatures and light rainfall, July and August. 
 It is often of little value for pasture during these months. 
 
 (h) It spreads rapidly and often crowds out timothy 
 and clover. In Oregon, men complain that blue grass 
 crowds out other grasses and then dies, itself, of drouth. 
 
 (c) It is of little value for hay. 
 
 (d) It does not become established as quickly when the 
 seed is sown as do some other grasses, the time required 
 often being two or three years, or even more. 
 
 Redtop 
 
 172. The Range and Character of Redtop. — Redtop 
 grows as far south as Louisiana, and is a very important 
 
GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS, LAWNS 233 
 
 grass in Tennessee and northward to the New England 
 states and Canada. In fact, it has the widest range of 
 any cultivated grass in America. 
 
 It resembles in a general way the Kentucky blue grass, 
 but grows taller, blooms a month or more later, and has a 
 narrower, more divided top. 
 
 Like timothy, redtop may be sown with wheat in the 
 fall, or it may be sown in the spring either alone or with 
 a nurse crop of small grain. 
 
 173. Its Advantages and Disadvantages. — Among the 
 advantages of redtop may be mentioned those below : 
 
 (a) It succeeds on poorer soils than does timothy. 
 
 (b) It succeeds on wetter soils than does timothy. 
 
 (c) It can be pastured after the hay is cut. 
 
 The objections to it, which are commonly urged, are : 
 (a) It does not make hay of the best quality. 
 (6) It is not as easily established as timothy. 
 
 (c) The seed is more expensive than timothy seed. 
 
 (d) Stock do not find redtop as palatable as other 
 grasses. 
 
 Brome Grass 
 
 One of the latest grasses introduced by the United 
 States Department of Agriculture is brome grass, or 
 hromus inermis. It has become an important crop in the 
 West and Northwest where the summers are not excessively 
 hot. It is valuable for both pasture and hay. It is one 
 of the first grasses to start in the spring, grows late in the 
 fall, comes on quickly after rains following dry weather, 
 and is exceedingly palatable. These are among its 
 advantages. 
 
 On the other hand, the seed is expensive and liable to be 
 mixed with that of quack grass. Like other grasses, it 
 
234 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 exhausts the soil, and when sown with clovers, tends to 
 crowd them out. Moreover, it tends to form too dense a 
 
 sod even when sown alone, be- 
 coming ''sod bound," and this 
 eventually reduces the yield. 
 And furthermore, it is not an 
 easy grass to eradicate when we 
 wish to put the land into some 
 other crop. 
 
 Bermuda Grass 
 
 174. The Range and Char- 
 acter of Bermuda Grass. — In 
 the southern part of the United 
 States where Kentucky blue 
 grass does not thrive, Bermuda 
 grass is extensively grown. It 
 withstands the hottest weather, 
 endures drouth, and is valuable 
 for both pastures and meadows. 
 Moreover, it is the principal 
 lawn grass of the South. 
 
 While this grass maybe grown 
 from the seed, the latter is ex- 
 pensive and the results uncer- 
 tain. Hence the usual method 
 is to scatter or to set out in rows pieces of fresh sod on 
 the prepared soil and to cover them lightly with earth. 
 
 175. Advantages and Disadvantages of Bermuda 
 Grass. — Bermuda grass has many advantages for the 
 southern farmer, among them being those given below : 
 
 (a) It succeeds in sections where the summers are very 
 hot and often dry as in Oklahoma and Texas. 
 
 Fig. 100. 
 
 - Panicle of brome 
 grass. 
 
GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS, LAWNS 235 
 
 (6) It makes a soft, tough sod, for which reason it is 
 often called the blue grass of the South. 
 
 (c) It binds the soil together, thus preventing erosion 
 by wind and water. 
 
 (d) It stands graz- 
 ing well — the closer 
 the better, in fact, on 
 rich land. 
 
 (e) It succeeds on 
 poor soils, though it 
 responds quickly to 
 feeding with barnyard 
 manure. 
 
 The principal ob- 
 jections to the cultivation of Bermuda grass are : 
 
 (a) The foUage is easily killed by frosts, while severe 
 freezing often kills the roots. 
 
 (b) It will not endure shade, and hence is of httle value 
 among trees or where tall weeds are allowed to grow. 
 
 (c) It is difficult to eradicate when once it becomes 
 thoroughly established in a field. 
 
 Fig. 101. 
 
 Courtesy Brttatra' GaztUt. 
 A Bermuda grass plant. 
 
 Millets and Sorghums 
 
 In certain parts of the semiarid West and Southwest 
 where the perennial grasses do not succeed well, the annual 
 grasses are the chief source of forage. By cultivating the 
 land carefully, the moisture is caught and retained in the 
 soil. Millet or sorghum is then drilled into the seed bed 
 with the result that the seeds germinate quickly and the 
 plants mature in favorable years before the driest part of 
 the season comes on. 
 
 These crops are not among the so-called drouth resistant 
 ones, such as Kafir corn and milo maize. On account of 
 their early maturity, however, they are valuable in the 
 
236 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 regions of little rainfall. Moreover, they are used for 
 forage to a limited extent in the humid sections. 
 
 176. Where each Grass thrives. — It is apparent 
 from our study thus far that each grass has its own pecul- 
 iar range which should be recognized by farmers generally. 
 
 In the Corn Belt and eastward, when a meadow crop is 
 desired, fertile land that is well drained should be put into 
 timothy. If the land is not well drained, redtop thrives 
 better. If a pasture grass is wanted, however, Kentucky 
 blue grass is easily the first choice. 
 
 In the gulf states, Bermuda grass is preeminent, while 
 redtop is also grown. 
 
 Brome grass is extensively grown in the states of the 
 Northwest because of its peculiar adaptation to the 
 chmate and soil. 
 
 In the western parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, 
 Texas and New Mexico, as well as in other dry farming 
 regions, annual grasses, such as millet or sorghum, take 
 the place of perennial grasses. 
 
 For lawns, Kentucky blue grass is the best where it 
 can be grown ; but in the South, Bermuda grass must be 
 used instead. 
 
 177. Why Clovers should be grown with the Grasses. — ■ 
 
 Grasses feed largely upon nitrogen, notwithstanding 
 they do not have the means of taking this element from 
 the air as do the clovers. If red clover, then, is sown with 
 timothy, we find that the yield of timothy is ordinarily 
 increased, since the grass obtains a part of the nitrogen 
 which the bacteria on the clover roots gather from the air. 
 In the same way, burr, or white clover, sown with Bermuda 
 grass, causes the latter to thrive better than when sown 
 alone ; and brome grass succeeds much better when sown 
 with alfalfa. There are few other classes of plants which 
 
GRASSES FOR PASTURES, MEADOWS, LAWNS 237 
 
 succeed so well together as do the clovers and grasses. 
 Moreover, the hay produced is more desirable than 
 that of either grasses or clovers alone, since it is more 
 nutritious than the former and cures much better than . 
 the latter. 
 
 There is, however, another still more important reason 
 why clovers or some other legumes should be grown with 
 the grasses ; viz., it is our cheapest and most effective 
 means of preventing the exhaustion of nitrogen from the 
 soil. It is a matter of the utmost importance to maintain 
 this supply of nitrogen for the reasons given in Section 110. 
 To accomplish this under ordinary farm conditions, 
 legumes must be grown in the rotation (Section 140) ; and 
 there is no time in the rotation when clovers can be con- 
 veniently grown save with the grasses. 
 
 We may say then that it is always better to grow clovers 
 with the grasses in the rotation. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Describe briefly the characteristics of the grass family. 
 2." Name six cultivated grasses and state the purpose or 
 purposes for which each is grown. 
 
 3. Name fom' advantages and three disadvantages of 
 timothy. 
 
 4. When should timothy be cut for hay, and why ? 
 
 5. Name the advantages and disadvantages of Kentucky 
 blue grass. 
 
 6. In what part of the country is redtop grown and in what 
 soils will it succeed? 
 
 7. What is the usual method of propagating Bermuda 
 grass ? 
 
 8. In what sections are the millets and sorghums found most 
 valuable, and why ? 
 
 9. State where each of the cultivated grasses is chiefly grown. 
 10. State three reasons why clovers should be grown with the 
 
 grasses. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 One of the most interesting and useful families of the 
 whole plant kingdom is the Leguminosse, to which the 
 locust trees, alfalfa, red clover, sweet clover, vetches, peas, 
 beans and other plants belong. In recent years, the term 
 legume has been used principally in referring only to 
 those members of the family which are. cultivated in fields 
 and are therefore of agricultural importance. 
 
 178. Characteristics of the Legumes. — Leguminous 
 plants, which are dicotyledons, have many lateral roots, 
 which branch from one tap root. 
 
 The stems vary from prostrate to trailing, climbing or 
 erect. 
 
 The leaves have one central vein with many finer ones 
 branching from it, giving the appearance referred to as 
 netted veined. They are usually round or oval and are 
 arranged spirally about the stem. 
 
 Nearly all legumes have rather showy flowers, which 
 attract bees and thus secure cross-fertilization. The 
 form of the flowers helps to distinguish them. Taking 
 the pea as an example, the largest petal, which is upper- 
 most, is called the standard. Below this are two petals, 
 one on either side, known as wings, while the two united 
 petals below the wings form what is called the keel. Have 
 you ever noticed that the oddly shaped flower of the pea 
 resembles very closely that of the sweet clover, or that the 
 head of red clover really consists of a group, or mass, of 
 
 238 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 239 
 
 similarly shaped flowers? This peculiar shape is seen in 
 the flowers of all legumes. 
 
 The seed is borne usually in a pod, to the side of which 
 it is attached, as in the bean or pea. The seeds, like the 
 flowers, are pecuHar in 
 shape, resembUng usually 
 an ordinary bean, but in 
 some cases they are more 
 rounded, like the pea. 
 The taste of all raw legu- 
 minous seeds is surpris- 
 ingly the same. 
 
 By comparing the 
 points which we have just 
 mentioned 'with those of 
 the grasses as given in 
 Section 162, you will see 
 how radically the two 
 classes of plants differ. 
 
 179. How Legumes 
 benefit the Farmer. — The 
 value of these crops to 
 the soil and to the farmer 
 may be stated as follows : 
 
 (1) They add nitrogen to the soil. 
 
 (2) The roots open the soil to a great depth. 
 
 (3) They add humus to the soil. 
 
 (4) They make other plant food available. 
 
 (5) Because of the large amount of protein which they 
 contain, they are valuable in balancing the rations of both 
 animals and man. 
 
 (6) They assist by means of rotation in the control of 
 insects and fungous pests. 
 
 Fig. 102. — Pea blossoms. 
 
240 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 180. How Legumes add Nitrogen to the SoU. — Legumes 
 and soil fertility are inseparable. Farmers have known for 
 ages that legumes enriched the soil, but it is only in recent 
 years that the reasons for this have been discovered. 
 
 On the roots of practically all legumes are found peculiar, 
 whitish knot-Kke bodies, which were long a puzzle to 
 
 scientists, since they 
 seemed to have no pur- 
 pose nor function, yet 
 were known to be 
 necessary to the best 
 growth of the plants. 
 At length, however, 
 the puzzle was solved. 
 These bodies, which 
 are called nodules, and 
 which vary in size from 
 that of a pin point to 
 that of a pea, are the 
 homes of friendly bac- 
 teria, which gather ni- 
 trogen from the soil 
 air and convert it into 
 plant food. A part of 
 this food is used by the 
 growing legume, but 
 much of it is returned to the soil and used by the crop 
 which is grown upon the land after the clover is plowed 
 under. 
 
 It sometimes happens that these nodules do not form 
 on the roots of legumes. This may be due to the absence 
 of the necessary bacteria in the soil ; and unless they are 
 introduced, neither the clover nor the succeeding crops 
 will thrive as they should. 
 
 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
 
 Fig. 103. — Nodules on roots of red 
 clover. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 241 
 
 181. How Roots of Legumes open the SoU. — It is a 
 well established fact that legumes almost invariably 
 leave fields in better condition than they find them. This 
 is unquestionably due in part to their deep rooting habit. 
 Red clover roots may penetrate the soil to a depth of 
 several feet while alfalfa roots have been found thirty 
 feet below the surface 
 
 of the ground. 
 
 When these roots 
 decay, the soil is opened 
 to the passage of both 
 air and water, while 
 the humus made by 
 the decaying roots is 
 a valuable addition to 
 the soil. 
 
 182. How Legumes 
 add Humus to the 
 SoiL — The roots of 
 legumes are not the 
 only valuable part of 
 these plants. Clovers, 
 cowpeas, or other leg- 
 umes may be plowed under, or they may be fed to 
 animals and the manure returned to the land with the 
 result in either case that the store of humus in the soil is 
 largely increased. 
 
 183. How Legumes make other Plant Food Available. 
 — It is apparent that the long roots of the legumes must 
 bring up plant food from considerable depths, and that 
 when they decay, this w^U be Hberated and thus become 
 available to the shallows-rooted cereals. Aside from this, 
 however, the decay of the humus, which these plants 
 
 R 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 
 Fig. 104. — Roots of young alfalfa extend 
 deep into the soil. 
 
242 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 leave in the soil, produces substances which tend to dis- 
 solve mineral elements that are otherwise insoluble. 
 
 184. How Legumes balance the Food Ration. — Corn 
 and other grains, used for fattening the animals which yield 
 our meat supply, are generally rich in carbohydrates, which 
 are heat-producing materials, but lacking in proteins, or 
 tissue building foods. (Sections 67 and 94.) The seeds, 
 stems and leaves of the legumes are rich in proteins and 
 therefore are used to balance the rations of our Hve stock. 
 
 In the same way, beans and peas are important articles 
 of food for man since they contain an unusually high 
 proportion of proteins. 
 
 185. How Legumes assist in the Control of Insects and 
 Fungous Pests. — Leguminous crops are not subject to 
 the attack of the same classes of insects and fungous 
 diseases as are cereals. 
 
 Those enemies, which have been present in a field of 
 corn or wheat, must largely disappear when the land is 
 occupied by clover. 
 
 186. Where the Different Legumes grow. — There is 
 no place in the United States where one or more varieties 
 of legumes will not thrive if the soil and moisture condi- 
 tions are right. 
 
 Let us in fancy go to the Gulf of Mexico, and, joining 
 hands in a line from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, 
 travel northward to the Canadian line, finding out what 
 we can that is interesting and instructive about legumes. 
 
 Along the Gulf, and extending northward almost to 
 the Ohio River, we shall find the little Japan clover on 
 both poor and rich soils, but more abundantly on the poor 
 soils where the perennial grasses will not thrive. On the 
 river bottom land, subject even to an occasional overflow, 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 243 
 
 we may find it as tall as two feet. We will find that it is 
 sometimes cut for hay, occasionally yielding as much as 
 three tons per acre ; that animals relish it and thrive upon 
 
 Fig. 105. — Field of crimson clover. 
 
 it ; and that the soil becomes richer year Vjy year where it 
 is grown. 
 
 We shall find, too, that progressive planters in these 
 
244 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Fig. 106. — Cowpeas planted in corn to make silage. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 245 
 
 gulf states are sowing crimson clover in their cotton and 
 
 corn at the last cultivation. This wonderful crop will 
 
 then occupy the ground after the cotton or corn has been 
 
 removed, will furnish 
 
 excellent forage for 
 
 sheep, pigs, and calves, 
 
 will grow during the 
 
 mild southern winter?, 
 
 stop the leaching of 
 
 the nitrogen by the 
 
 rains of winter, bloom 
 
 in the early spring, 
 
 and stand ready to be 
 
 plowed under to make 
 
 the soil fertile for 
 
 another crop. It can 
 
 not, however, be safely 
 
 fed as hay after the 
 
 heads begin to ripen as 
 
 they are coarse, harsh, 
 
 and often injurious. 
 
 Those interested per- 
 sons toward the east of 
 the line will doubtless 
 pass along the word 
 that they find the 
 cowpea growing in a 
 variety of places and 
 that it is doing won- 
 ders in adding fertility 
 
 to the soil. They find it in fields with oats, either to be 
 used as hay or to become a pasture for hogs. They find 
 it sown after the regular crop has been removed. They 
 find it frequently sown in corn at the last cultivation and 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Fig. 107. — An alfalfa plant. 
 
246 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 making use of the land after the corn is mature ; or it may 
 instead be harvested with the corn, in which case most 
 excellent silage is secured. This crop is grown not only in 
 Florida and Alabama but westward to central Texas and 
 northward to the Ohio River. Here it meets the field pea, 
 or the Canada field pea, as it is often called, which grows 
 northward into Canada. 
 
 Here and there through the gulf states, we shall find 
 growing that queen of all legumes, alfalfa. The most 
 
 Fig. 108. — Sweet clover growing along a limestone road. 
 
 enthusiastic reports regarding it along the whole line, 
 however, will come from those of our number who go into 
 the fertile, irrigated valleys of the Southwest. There they 
 will find this deep-rooted perennial crop producing from 
 four to six cuttings of hay a year and making a richer, more 
 palatable feed as well as a heavier yield than any of 
 the other legumes anywhere. Owing to the fact that its 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 247 
 
 roots penetrate so deeply into the earth, alfalfa will be 
 found growing not alone on the irrigated land, but on 
 land on which no water is placed and where the rainfall 
 is even as low as eighteen inches a year. Indeed, it is in 
 regions of scant rainfall that it produces its best seed, 
 though the hay crop is light. 
 
 As we move northward, we find still the wonderful 
 fields of alfalfa. Colorado fields are far-famed, more 
 than one half of the area in hay in that state being in 
 alfalfa. A smaller amount of the crop will be found in 
 Wyoming, and even 
 less in Montana, for 
 alfalfa is naturally 
 adapted to a warm, 
 dry climate. 
 
 In the northward 
 movement of our line 
 of young investigators, 
 none will encounter 
 more of this splendid 
 crop than those who 
 pass through Kansas 
 and Nebraska. Here whole valleys, as the Arkansas, the 
 Kaw, the Solomon, the Little Beaver and the Platte are 
 given over largely to the production of alfalfa hay and 
 seed. 
 
 That part of our line eastward from the Missouri 
 River will find that in the CaroHnas and Virginia, in 
 Pennsylvania and New York, some alfalfa is grown and 
 successfully; that in Ohio, Indiana, lUinois and Iowa 
 the cultivation of this crop is rapidly increasing as its 
 needs become better known to the farmers ; and that 
 even in Minnesota and the Dakotas, a hardy variety, 
 known as the Grimm alfalfa, is being extensively grown. 
 
 Fig. 109. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 A red clover plant. 
 
248 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Along the highways, on stony hillsides, in neglected 
 places, and here and there in cultivated fields from Ala- 
 bama to Wyoming, and from California to New Jersey, 
 we find a once rejected plant that is now coming to be 
 recognized as one of the farmer's truest friends. It is 
 sweet clover, — and it is not a weed. Rather it is a valu- 
 able forage and pasture crop when stock have once learned 
 to eat it. It is a wonder worker for the soil and it yields 
 honey for the bees. In barren, neglected tobacco fields, 
 in stiff clayey irrigation land, and indeed in nearly any 
 
 Fig. 110. — The white clover. 
 
 soil that is rich in lime, even though it be lacking other- 
 wise in fertility, sweet clover thrives and prepares the 
 way for other crops. 
 
 When the portion of the fine, which is following up 
 the Mississippi River, reaches the junction of that river 
 with the Missouri, they will find the red clover, which most 
 of us know and love so well, coming into its own. 
 Westward they will find it to Kansas, eastward, to the 
 coast, and northward, to the Canadian fine. Those in the 
 far West will also find it on the Pacific coast north of 
 California. Red clover, good farmers will tell you, are 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 249 
 
 other words for better agriculture, since it not only fits 
 into the crop rotation, but it is easily and quickly estab- 
 lished and makes an excellent forage for live stock. 
 
 Throughout this same region and extending to some 
 distance northward, the little white, or Dutch clover is 
 found. In fact it has 
 a wider range than 
 that indicated, but it 
 is in this region that 
 it is best known. It is 
 a low, creeping clover ; 
 and as we soon dis- 
 cover, it is an unfailing 
 sign of a fertile soil. 
 
 In this same region, 
 we find still another 
 clover, a plant, which, 
 because it resembles 
 both red and white 
 clovers, is thought by 
 many to be a cross be- 
 tween the two. It is 
 known as alsike. We find it on the lower, wetter grounds 
 and on those poorer in lime. It differs from the white 
 clover in that it becomes tall enough to cut for hay, 
 though we find it used principally in pastures. ^ 
 
 There are still some other legumes of rather less im- 
 portance that our line of investigators will doubtless have 
 found. Among these is the soy bean, which thrives 
 throughout the Corn Belt and southward, the peanut, and 
 the vetches, the latter being found all over the South 
 and even as far north as New York. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that legumes are held in 
 high esteem by farmers everywhere and must in the future 
 
 Fig. 111. — An alsike clover plant. 
 
250 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 come to be grown more and more in order to keep up the 
 fertility of the soil, it is still true that these crops are as 
 a class difficult to raise and that the percentage of seedings 
 
 which fail is discour- 
 agingly high. Let us 
 seek out then if we 
 may some of the prin- 
 cipal causes of these 
 failures. 
 
 187. Why Clovers 
 frequently fail. — 
 There are at least 
 seven causes of the 
 clover failures which 
 seem to be growing 
 more and more numer- 
 ous throughout the 
 leading grain states : 
 
 (1) The soil has be- 
 come deficient in lime, 
 and because of this 
 may, in fact, be acid. 
 
 (2) The soil is lack- 
 ing in phosphorus, 
 
 (3) The soil is lack- 
 ing in humus. 
 
 Fig. 112. — Some vines of hairy vetch. 
 
 (4) The soil does not contain friendly bacteria. 
 
 (5) The nurse crop is not suited to the needs of the young 
 clover. 
 
 (6) The seeding, or sowing, is not properly done. 
 
 (7) Drouths of midsummer or other unfavorable 
 weather conditions may cause the death of the young 
 plants. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 251 
 
 o 
 a 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 CI 
 
 s 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 a; 
 > 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 2 
 
 r^ 
 
 ■v. 
 
252 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 188. How Acid Soil affects Clovers. — Under the sys- 
 tem of farming generally practiced in the United States, 
 the soil gradually becomes acid, or sour. We can not, 
 of course, perceive this change in the soil with our senses ; 
 and since it comes so slowly, and its effect on cereal crops 
 is not readily seen, it may remain unsuspected for a 
 considerable time, sometimes even for several years. 
 
 The clovers generall}^ are singularly sensitive to this 
 acid condition of the soil ; and often the first indication 
 we have of it is their feeble and uncertain growth in 
 fields where it seems that they should thrive. 
 
 The truth is that it is impossible to grow red clover, 
 sweet clover, alfalfa, or certain other legumes success- 
 fully in an acid soil. How long they can survive in it 
 even depends chiefly upon how strongly acid the soil 
 may be. Thus if the acidity is only very slight, the young 
 clover plants may be only somewhat weakened, rather 
 than killed ; and the crop ma}^ even mature, though the 
 growth will not be vigorous. If, however, a little more 
 acid is present, the little plants will grow still more weakly ; 
 and because of this weakened state, they readily succumb 
 to unfavorable climatic conditions, such as drouth, or 
 perhaps extreme cold, later, in which case the failure is 
 commonly attributed to drouth or winterkilling as the 
 sole cause. It is merely a matter, then, of the degree of 
 acidity as to what the effect upon the clovers will be ; 
 and if the soil is strongly acid, we find, just as we should 
 expect, that the little plants usually die soon after the 
 germination of the seed. 
 
 It is not at all difficult to detect acidity in the soil. 
 If a slip of blue litmus paper, such as we used in Exer- 
 cise 28, is placed in a cup of acid soil which has been 
 made wet with soft water, it will gradually change in 
 color, becoming tinged with pink. Let us make some 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 253 
 
 tests of this kind and learn if there is any acid soil in the 
 fields near by. 
 
 EXERCISE 49 
 
 Object. — To ascertain if the soils in our fields at home 
 or in other fields near the schoolhouse are acid. 
 
 Procedure. — Bring to the schoolhouse, wrapped in a 
 clean paper, about a pint of soil from a field at home. 
 If it is taken from one in which clover has frequently 
 failed, so much the better. This soil should not be taken 
 up or handled with the hands, but with a small paddle 
 or shovel instead. Since other members of the class 
 will also bring samples, there will be a number to be 
 tested for acidity, and they should be marked or numbered 
 to prevent their becoming confused. 
 
 Procure, if possible, as many clean cups, glasses or 
 cans as you have samples of soil. Put a sample into 
 each cup, filling it about three-fourths full. Then add 
 soft water while you stir it with a small stick until a stiff 
 mud has been formed. 
 
 Now open a slit in this mud with a knife blade, insert 
 a slip of blue litmus paper, and close the wet soil against 
 the paper tightly with the fingers. Insert the litmus 
 slips in the other samples in the same way. Allow them 
 to remain in the wet soil for about an hour ; then remove 
 the slips, dip them in soft w^ater to rinse off the dirt, 
 and note the color of each one. 
 
 If any given slip is still blue, the soil is not acid ; if 
 it is very faintly pink, you will know that the soil is 
 slightly acid ; and if it is distinctly pink, the soil is strongly 
 acid. 
 
 Conclusion. — Write in your notebook the results of 
 the test of each sample, stating first the field from which 
 it came and then its condition as shown by the litmus 
 paper. 
 
254 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 In making a litmus paper test to ascertain whether 
 clover will probably grow in a given field, we do not 
 usually follow the above method since it is necessary to 
 make many tests in different parts of the field. This 
 is due to the fact that the soil may be acid in some places 
 but not so in others. 
 
 The test of an entire field may be made in this manner : 
 
 Go into the field after a rather light rain while the 
 soil is in the form of a stiff mud about like putty. If 
 the test is made after a heavy rain, some of the acids 
 may have been washed out of the soil, and this will in- 
 terfere temporarily with the test. 
 
 Beginning at some point in one corner of the field, cut 
 a sht in the soil with a knife blade and insert a slip of 
 blue litmus paper to a depth of from one to three inches, 
 pressing the wet soil firmly against it. Repeat this 
 process at other points about ten rods apart each way 
 all over the field, marking each place by a stake. 
 
 After an hour or more, go over the field again, carry- 
 ing a small pail of soft water, in which to rinse the slips 
 of paper as they are dug from the ground. 
 
 Since some parts of the field are liable to be more 
 strongly acid than others, it is better to carry a plat of 
 the field, showing the location of each test, and to record 
 the results on it as the slips are dug up and examined. 
 It is important to have this information when we get 
 ready to correct this acidity in the soil by the method 
 which we shall shortly learn. 
 
 It should be understood that soil acidity may or may 
 not extend to the subsoil below. 
 
 189. How a Lack of Phosphorus affects Clovers. — 
 
 In many parts of the eastern states, as well as in some 
 sections of the Middle West, the soil is deficient in phos- 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 255 
 
 phorus. Moreover, in practically all parts of the United 
 States which are given over chiefly to grain and stock 
 farming, the supply of phosphorus in the soil is being 
 gradually reduced. 
 
 Just as clovers will not succeed in an acid soil, so they 
 will not thrive in a soil deficient in phosphorus. When 
 any given farm or agricultural section has reached the 
 stage at which phosphorus is lacking in the soil the suc- 
 cessful growing of clovers has because of this fact become 
 impossible until this element of plant food is restored in 
 some form to the soil whether as barnyard manure or 
 commercial fertiUzers. 
 
 190. How a Lack of Humus affects Clovers. — Con- 
 trary to the popular behef, legumes, and particularly 
 clovers, with the exception of sweet clover, are not crops for 
 soils lacking in organic matter. It is a difficult task to 
 get clover established on such soils; and good farmers 
 often tell us to add manure or otherwise increase the 
 humus content of the ground before sowing clover or 
 alfalfa. 
 
 A motto which might well be painted on the grain 
 drill is, '' Legumes are to be used on this farm to main- 
 tain fertility, not as a remedy for abused or ill-treated 
 soil." 
 
 191. How Absence of Friendly Bacteria afiEects the 
 Clovers. — The cardinal virtue of the legumes is that 
 they leave more nitrogen in the soil than they find. This 
 they can not do, however, unless the necessary friendly 
 bacteria make their homes in the root nodules as explained 
 in Section 180. 
 
 Unless the soil already contains the particular kind 
 of bacteria needed by a given legume, the bacteria must 
 
256 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 be placed in the ground by the farmer before the legume 
 can be successfully grown. This is known as inoculation. 
 
 192. How the Nurse Crop may affect Clovers. — We 
 
 should keep in mind the fact that clovers are commonly 
 sown in the rotation with a small grain, after the removal 
 of which they take possession of the ground as stated in 
 Section 140. This nurse crop of small grain is not, as its 
 name might be taken to indicate, a help to the young 
 clover plants, but is often very much a hindrance instead. 
 
 While there are many good reasons for this practice, 
 it is still true that it is open to some serious objections. 
 
 Thus we have found that the small grains, which are 
 shallow-rooted, demand a seed bed that is firm and com- 
 pact save near the surface. This is not true of the clovers 
 generally, since, owing to their long tap roots, a seed bed 
 that is loose and mellow to considerable depth is better 
 suited to their needs. 
 
 Aside from this, it is known that if oats are used as a 
 nurse crop, as is frequently the case, they almost com- 
 pletely exclude the sunlight from the young clover plants, 
 making healthy, vigorous growth impossible, and moreover 
 they take nearly all the moisture and available plant 
 food from the seed bed. It follows that when the nurse 
 crop is finally harvested and the dehcate plants, which 
 have made top growth at the expense of root growth, are 
 suddenly exposed, without a proper supply of moisture, 
 to the direct rays of the hot midsummer sun, they must 
 suffer severely if, indeed, they do not succumb. 
 
 The same result must follow in case any other small 
 grain is used as a nurse crop if the stand is too dense. 
 
 193. How the Method of Seeding may affect Clovers. — 
 It is a rather common practice to sow clover seed on the 
 surface of the ground and to harrow or to disc it in. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 257 
 
 The inevitable result is that some of the seeds are covered 
 very deeply while others are hardly covered at all. 
 
 Some, of course, will be covered to a proper depth, 
 and these may be expected to grow normally. Not so, 
 however, with the others. The seeds which are on or 
 very near the surface usually fail to germinate because 
 of lack of moisture, while those which are too deeply 
 covered fail to reach the surface because of an insufficient 
 store of food in the small seeds. 
 
 194. How Drouth may affect Young Clovers. Just 
 how hardy the normal, healthy young clover plant really 
 is as regards its abihty to endure drouth and the heat 
 of the sun in midsummer, — or even the severe freezing 
 of winter — is an important question that has not been 
 satisfactorily settled. Many regard the Uttle clover 
 plants as exceptionally weak and delicate, and hence 
 unable to withstand such adverse conditions as those 
 named. Others maintain, and with a show of reason, 
 that the young clover is in truth sufficiently hardy to 
 survive and estabhsh itself under these severe conditions 
 if other conditions are right; i.e., if the seed has been 
 properly sown in a soil which is not acid, which contains 
 enough humus and enough phosphorus to permit healthy 
 growth, and which contains the particular kind of bacteria 
 that are necessary to the development of the plant. 
 
 While we can not say that the loss of young clover 
 from drouth or other unfavorable weather condition is 
 actually preventable simply by making other conditions 
 right, it is unquestionably true that such losses may be 
 largely prevented in this way, especially in those sections 
 where drouths are of comparatively short duration. 
 
 Losses may be ascribed to unfavorable weather con- 
 ditions only after all other conditions have been made favorable, 
 
 3 
 
258 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 195. How to succeed with Clovers. — The farmer who 
 would succeed in growing these virtuous crops, which 
 maintain the fertihty of his lands and at the same time 
 yield nutritious forage for his animals, must see to it 
 that the causes of failure are, in so far as it is within his 
 power to do so, removed. It follows that : 
 
 (1) If the soil is acid, the acidity must be corrected. 
 
 (2) If it is deficient in phosphorus or humus, these 
 must be added to it. 
 
 (3) If the necessary bacteria are absent from the soil, 
 it must be inoculated. 
 
 (4) A suitable nurse crop must be used. 
 
 (5) The seed must be planted at the proper depth in a 
 well-prepared seed bed and uniformly covered. 
 
 Fig. 114. — Applying limestone to the land. 
 
 196. How to correct an Acid SoiL — An acid soil 
 may be corrected by the addition of crushed limestone 
 to it. 
 
 This is one of the most abundant rocks found in Nature. 
 It is used not only for making hme, but very commonly 
 for foundations of houses, cellar walls, etc. 
 
 When this rock is used to correct the acidity of the soil, 
 at least half of it should be in the form of fine powder, or 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 259 
 
 dust. It may be applied with a special machine made 
 for this purpose, or with a manure spreader, the crushed 
 stone being put on top of a layer of manure. 
 
 If the soil is only slightly acid, from two to three tons 
 per acre are appHed ; if it is strongly acid, the application 
 should be increased to five or six tons, or even more, as 
 no harm results from using more than is necessary. The 
 only rehable way to determine the amount required is 
 to make trial of the different rates of apphcation. It 
 should be disced or harrowed into the surface soil but not 
 plowed under. 
 
 If crushed Umestone can not be procured, Ume of any 
 kind may be used. In such case, the application may be 
 not more than half as great as if Umestone were used; 
 and, except in the case of air slaked Ume, it should not 
 be allowed to come into contact with plants, as injury may 
 result. 
 
 197. How to add Humus and Phosphorus to the Soil. — 
 
 In soils that have long been cultivated without a careful 
 system of rotation, humus is deficient ; and unless phos- 
 phorus has been apphed to the soil, it is probably lacking 
 also. Humus may be added to the land by plowing under 
 green crops ; or both humus and phosphorus may be 
 added to it by the apphcation of barnyard manure. If the 
 latter is used, it is advisable to apply with it pulverized 
 rock phosphate, or floats. 
 
 At least ten tons of manure should be apphed to each acre 
 and not less than five hundred pounds per acre of floats. 
 
 198. How Bacteria are added to the SoiL — The soil 
 from a field in which any clover is established and thriving, 
 contains very many of the bacteria which are necessary 
 to that crop. 
 
260 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 By taking some of the soil found in such a field at a 
 depth of from two to six inches and scattering it uniformly 
 at the rate of about three hundred pounds per acre over 
 another field in which we wish to raise the same crop, we 
 may easily introduce the bacteria needed by the clover 
 that we expect to grow. 
 
 Since these bacteria die quickly when exposed to direct 
 sunlight, it is necessary to scatter the soil containing them 
 on a cloudy day or in the evening, and it should be har- 
 rowed or disced in immediately. 
 
 This inoculation is not necessary as a rule in growing 
 certain clovers because the particular bacteria needed 
 are already in the soil. However, in the case of alfalfa 
 east of the Missouri River, it is very frequently a matter 
 of the utmost importance. 
 
 199. The most Suitable Nurse Crops for Clovers. — 
 
 As was shown in Section 192, oats are not a suitable nurse 
 crop for clovers. 
 
 Winter wheat and rye are perhaps the most desirable 
 small grain crops to use for this purpose since they do 
 not wholly exclude the sunhght and are removed from the 
 ground early in the season. Spring wheat and barley 
 are more objectionable, but these crops are still to be 
 preferred to oats. 
 
 The rate of seeding of the nurse crop should not be in any 
 case more than two thirds of what it would be if the 
 clover were not sown ; and it is better yet if only a half 
 the usual amount of seed is used, as the thinner stand will 
 admit more sunlight to the young clover plants. 
 
 If it is found necessary to use oats as a nurse crop, the 
 stand should not only be very thin, but the oats should 
 be cut for hay as soon as the kernels are in the milk 
 stage. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 261 
 
 200. How the Seed should be planted. — The seed 
 bed in which clover is to be sown should be disced and 
 harrowed repeatedly until the surface soil is finely pul- 
 verized. It is a serious mistake to sow clover seed in 
 cornstalk ground, which has been disced but once, or 
 even twice, if it has been left in a rough and cloddy 
 condition. 
 
 It is apparent that the seed should not only be planted 
 at a proper depth but at a uniform depth as well. This 
 can be accomphshed only by means of the drill. As in the 
 case of other seeds, clover seed should be planted as 
 shallow as the conditions which govern germination will 
 permit. 
 
 201. Seed Selection and Analysis. — Before we take 
 up a more or less detailed study of how to grow the various 
 legumes, let us consider briefly the importance of seed 
 selection and analysis. 
 
 Comparatively few of the many noxious weeds which 
 infest our grain fields, meadows and pastures, are natives 
 of America. Instead they have come into our country 
 for the most part in agricultural seeds, as explained in 
 Section 37. 
 
 State and national laws require certain standards of 
 purity, that is, it is required that not more than a given 
 percentage of certain specified weed seeds may be present 
 in agricultural seeds sold within the state. 
 
 Just how pure a sample of seeds is in this respect may 
 be determined in a very simple manner, the process being 
 known as seed analysis. This work may be done at home. 
 It avoids the necessity of sending seed away to be ex- 
 amined, and often detects impurities which might not 
 otherwise be brought to the attention of farmers or of 
 the authorities. 
 
262 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 EXERCISE 50 
 
 Object. — To determine the percentage of good seeds, 
 of weed seeds, and of other impurities in a sample of clover 
 or alfalfa seed. 
 
 Procedure. — Procure a handful of seed from the top 
 of a sack or other large sample of clover or alfalfa seed, 
 another from the middle of the sack, and still another 
 
 Fig. 115. — Detecting the weed seeds. 
 
 from the bottom. Mix the three handfuls thoroughly 
 and then dip out a rounding teaspoonful. Spread this 
 out on a sheet of white paper, and with the aid of a hand 
 lens, separate the good seed into one pile and the impuri- 
 ties into another. Now separate the weed seeds, each 
 kind being placed in a small pile, and the shriveled clover 
 seed, the dirt and the chaff together in another pile. 
 Identify each kind of weed seed, referring if necessary 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 263 
 
 to, your collection made as required in Section 38 ; or the 
 illustrations in Figure 116 may help you in this work. 
 
 By referring to the table which follows, you can de- 
 termine the percentage of each particular weed seed in 
 your sample. For example, suppose you find thirty seeds 
 
 '4 ^ 
 
 Fig. 116. — Seeds of some of the common weeds (many times en- 
 larged) . 
 
 1, Bracted plantain; 2, black seeded plantain; 3, ragweed; 4, ox- 
 eye daisy; 5, red clover; 6, catmint; 7, crab grass; 8, field dodder; 
 5, sorrel; 10, dog fennel; 11, chickweed ; 12, lamb's quarter; 13, green 
 foxtail; 14, prickly sida ; 15, vervain; 16, madder; 17, yellow foxtail ; 
 18, clover dodder ; 19, heal-all ; 20, yellow trefoil ; ^i, spurge ; 22, curled 
 dock ; 23, lady's thumb ; 24 and 29, buckhorn, showing two faces ; 25, 
 mustard ; 26, alsike ; 27, ox-tongue ; 28, pigweed ; 29, buckhorn ; 30, 
 Canada thistle ; 5^, campion; 3^, wild geranium ; 55, peppergrass ; 34, 
 camomile ; 35, mallow. 
 
 of buckhorn. According to the table, fifty-seven seeds 
 of this weed make one per cent of a teaspoonful of clover 
 or alfalfa seed. Therefore you have thirty fifty-sevenths, 
 or .526 of one per cent of buckhorn in your sample. If 
 any particular weed seed found in your sample does not 
 
264 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 appear in the table, compare it with one as nearly the 
 same size as possible, estimating the number that should 
 be equal to one per cent. 
 
 Determine in this way the percentage of each kind of 
 weed seed, and estimate the percentage of dirt and chaff. 
 
 It is necessary next to make a germination test of the 
 sample. Procure two pie plates or dinner plates and a piece 
 of clean, boiled muslin four or five inches wide and about 
 eighteen inches long. Dip the muslin in water and wring 
 it out. Then double it once, lay one end in one of the 
 plates, scatter one hundred average seeds on it, fold over 
 the muslin again so as to cover the seeds. Lay the other 
 plate upside down on this one. The muslin should not 
 protrude from between them ; and they should fit as 
 closely as possible so that little moisture will escape. 
 
 The plates should now be set away while the seeds 
 germinate. However, the upper one should be lifted off 
 every day or two to make sure that the muslin has not 
 become dry. If it has done so, add water drop by drop 
 until it is well moistened but not saturated. 
 
 At the end of a week, open the cloth and examine the 
 seeds. You will doubtless find that most of them have 
 germinated, but that some which look perfectly sound and 
 good have not done so, while still others are shriveled or 
 discolored, showing that they are incapable of germina- 
 tion. The second class, those which appear good but have 
 not germinated, are known as hard seeds. It is generally 
 considered that one half of them would probably ger- 
 minate in the soil, but that the remainder would not do 
 so. In determining, then, the percentage of germinable, 
 or viable, seeds, we count those that have actually ger- 
 minated and add to this number one half of the hard seeds, 
 and the remaining seeds are regarded as non-germinable. 
 
 Conclusion. — Make a copy of the following form in 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 265 
 
 your notebook and place there a record of the analysis of 
 your sample by substituting the right names and numbers : 
 
 Record of Seed Analysis 
 
 Kind of seed Red Clover 
 
 Secured from John Jones 
 
 Percentage of pure seed 95.237 
 
 Percentage of weed seeds 3.133 
 
 Percentage of dirt and inert matter L630 
 
 Weed seed present : 
 
 Buckhorn 0.526 
 
 Curled dock L3 
 
 Pigweed 0.2 
 
 Peppergrass 0.05 
 
 Foxtail 1.054 
 
 Crab grass 0.003 
 
 Total 3.133 
 
 Percentage of germinable seeds 91 
 
 Percentage of non-germinable seeds . . 9 
 
 Date of Analysis William Brown, Analyst. 
 
 202. Table of Weed Seed Weights. — In the first 
 column of numbers below is given the number of seeds of 
 each of the common weeds, required to make one per cent 
 of a rounded teaspoonf ul of clover or alfalfa seed ; in the 
 second column are the numbers of seeds of the respective 
 weeds required to make one per cent of a sample of the 
 same size of timothy or millet seed : 
 
 Velvet leaf 5 4 
 
 Quack grass 20 16 
 
 Tumbleweed 135 110 
 
 Small ragweed 20 16 
 
 Wild mustard 24 19 
 
 Black mustard 62 48 
 
 Lambsquarter 72 57 
 
 Canada thistle 45 36 
 
 Wild carrot 63 50 
 
 Smooth crab grass 192 155 
 
266 ^OILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Crab grass 185 142 
 
 Barnyard grass 62 48 
 
 Morning glory 2 1.6 
 
 Peppergrass 125 100 
 
 Tickle grass 125 100 
 
 Bracted plantain 36 28 
 
 Buckhorn 57 46 
 
 Plantain Ill 89 
 
 Black bindweed 11 9 
 
 Pennsylvania smartweed 10 8 
 
 Sheep sorrel 10 8 
 
 Curled dock 36 29 
 
 Russian thistle 65 53 
 
 Yellow foxtail 39 32 
 
 Green foxtail 63 52 
 
 Vervain 24 20^ 
 
 203. Methods of Culture of Legumes. — Red Clover. — 
 Most of the soils of the Corn Belt where red clover has 
 been long and successfully grown contain the bacteria re- 
 quired by it so that inoculation is not often necessary. 
 Aside from this, all the requirements named in Section 195 
 must be most carefully complied with if one would grow 
 this legume successfully. Acidity of the soil, the supply 
 of phosphorus, the methods of seeding and the use of a 
 suitable nurse crop are matters requiring special attention. 
 
 Most of the red clover grown in the United States is 
 mixed with timothy. It is advisable, however, that the 
 clover seed be sown in the spring while the timothy is 
 often sown in the fall. If mixed in this way, about six 
 pounds of clover seed and ten pounds of timothy per acre 
 are used. The growth the first season after the nurse 
 crop is harvested is good — and it is mostly clover. The 
 second year, however, the growth should be heavy with 
 timothy predominating. Two cuttings of hay are usually 
 
 iThis table is taken from Dr. L. H. Pammel's excellent book, "Weeds 
 of the Farm and Garden." It also appears in Iowa Bulletin 115. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 267 
 
 secured, after which, if the timothy is not greatly desired, 
 and a regular rotation is being practiced, the ground is 
 prepared for corn the following year. 
 
 If red clover is grown alone, about ten pounds of seed 
 per acre are used. The second season, a cutting of hay 
 may be taken off in early summer, and the succeeding 
 growth of clover may be cut for hay, allowed to form seed, 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Fig. 117. — Making alfalfa hay. 
 
 or be plowed under. Since the plant is a biennial, it dies in 
 the fall of the second year. 
 
 Alfalfa. — There is no requirement named in Section 
 195 that may be safely disregarded in growing alfalfa east 
 of the Missouri River. Furthermore it is necessary that 
 the land be perfectly drained and that the weeds be kept 
 in check. 
 
 West of the Missouri, it is only rarely that soil acidity 
 is found or that the land is lacking in phosphorus. More- 
 over, the soil usually contains those bacteria which alfalfa 
 requires so that inoculation is generally unnecessary. 
 
268 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 In the older states, inoculation is a highly important 
 matter as a rule. Soil for this purpose may be procured 
 either from another alfalfa field, or from a field of sweet 
 clover, or even from a patch of this plant along the road- 
 side, since the two kinds of plants require the same bac- 
 teria. 
 
 The majority of growers in these states prefer not to 
 sow alfalfa with a nurse crop at all. Instead, they sow 
 
 it alone in the late 
 summer either in land 
 that has yielded a crop 
 of small grain or in 
 land that has borne no 
 crop but has been kept 
 idle or summer fallowed. 
 If stubble ground is 
 used for alfalfa, it 
 should be disced and 
 plowed as soon as the 
 small grain crop has 
 been removed. After 
 this, it should be disced 
 and harrowed every 
 few days until later 
 summer. In this way, 
 weed and other seeds are induced to germinate and are 
 subsequently killed ; and at the same time moisture from 
 midsummer showers is stored and conserved. 
 
 In late summer, then, the seed is drilled in at the rate 
 of fifteen or twenty pounds per acre. This should be 
 done early enough so that the young plants will have 
 become established before winter. In many sections, 
 alfalfa is sown in the spring with a nurse crop, just as is 
 red clover. 
 
 Fig. 118. — Putting alfalfa in the mow. 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 269 
 
 The crop is commonly cultivated at least once each 
 season, a spring tooth harrow or a disc being used after the 
 second cutting. In this way, the growth of weeds, in- 
 cluding blue grass, which is a particular enemy of alfalfa, 
 may be partly or wholly controlled. 
 
 Alfalfa should be cut for hay just after the new shoots 
 appear at the crowns near the surface of the ground and 
 before these shoots become so long that their tips will 
 be clipped off by the mower. 
 
 Sweet Clover. — There are three classes of sweet clovers; 
 viz., the white flowering biennial, the yellow flowering 
 biennial and the yellow flowering annual. The last one 
 has little or no value from an agricultural standpoint, while 
 of the other two, the first is regarded as the superior plant. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that this plant, which com- 
 monly grows along roadsides, has long been regarded as 
 a noxious weed, its value as a feed for live stock is nearly 
 or quite equal to that of alfalfa when once animals have 
 become accustomed to it, it is second only to alfalfa in its 
 ability to restore nitrogen and humus to the soil, and it is 
 no more difficult to eradicate from a cultivated field than 
 is red clover. 
 
 Since it is a biennial, its cultural methods are similar 
 to those of red clover except that about twenty pounds 
 of hulled seed per acre are sown, as sweet clover contains 
 an unusually high percentage of hard seeds which do not 
 grow the first year. It will fiot succeed in an acid soil 
 nor in one that does not contain the necessary bacteria. 
 Thus limestone and inoculation are frequently necessary. 
 Sweet clover differs from other legumes, however, in that 
 it will thrive in a soil exceedingly low in humus, as in clay 
 banks and in abandoned fields, provided there is a suffi- 
 cient supply of lime in the ground. This gives it a value 
 as a restorer of worn-out soils possessed by no other plant. 
 
270 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Owing to the high percentage of hard seeds, a germina- 
 tion test, such as was made in Exercise 50, should in every 
 case be made before the seed is either purchased or used. 
 At least 30 to 40 per cent should prove germinable. 
 
 Sweet clover is cut for hay when about twenty to twenty- 
 four inches in height. If allowed to grow longer, the hay 
 becomes coarse and woody. In mowing it, a stubble from 
 four to six inches high is usually left, as otherwise many 
 young shoots will be cut off and later growth retarded, or 
 the plants may even be killed outright. 
 
 Alsike. — Alsike clover may be used either for pasture 
 or as a hay crop. It succeeds better than red clover in 
 poorly drained soils or in those deficient in lime, and for 
 this reason, it is often grown in fields in which it is known 
 that red clover can not thrive. 
 
 Often 'it is mixed with timothy and red clover because 
 it matures at about the same time, about four or five 
 pounds of alsike seed per acre being used in addition to 
 the usual amounts of the other seeds. In this case, it 
 becomes a sort of substitute for the red clover, that is, in 
 those spots or places, where the red clover fails, the alsike 
 usually establishes itself. 
 
 White Clover. — The little white clover is the standard 
 pasture plant among the clovers just as is blue grass 
 among the grasses. 
 
 This clover is not usually seeded, but, like the blue grass, 
 finds its way into pastures that are suited to it. The seed 
 will lie in the ground for several years and will germinate 
 when conditions become right. It may be sown in pasture 
 mixtures, in which case, from two to five pounds of the seed 
 per acre may be used. 
 
 Japan Clover. — This is an annual clover which is 
 commonly used in the southern states for pastures 
 though on fertile soils it sometimes grows to a height of 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 
 
 271 
 
 twenty-four to thirty inches and may be cut for hay. 
 Each year a new crop grows from the seed which fell 
 to the ground from the preceding year's plants so that 
 the land may seem to remain in the same crop per- 
 manently. 
 
 Japan clover may be mixed with Bermuda grass, making 
 an excellent pasture, corresponding in a way to the white 
 clover and blue grass pastures of the North. Its growth 
 is checked by the heat 
 of midsummer and it 
 is killed by the frosts 
 of winter. It follows 
 that its chief value 
 is for spring and fall 
 pasture. 
 
 Cowpeas and Soy 
 Beans. — These crops 
 are adapted to the 
 warmer parts of the 
 Corn Belt, though soy 
 beans will succeed 
 somewhat farther 
 north than will cow- 
 peas. Both are grown 
 quite extensively in 
 the South. 
 
 They may be sown broadcast in corn at the last cultiva- 
 tion or drilled between the rows afterwards ; or they may 
 be planted in stubble ground after the small grain is re- 
 moved. They require a well-prepared seed bed, should be 
 covered as a rule to a depth of about two inches, and can 
 not be sown until the soil has become thoroughly warmed 
 up in the late spring. If sown broadcast, from six to 
 eight pecks of seed per acre are used ; but if they are 
 
 Fig. 119. 
 
 Courtesy loua State College. 
 Soy beans in field. 
 
272 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 drilled in, less seed is sufficient. They should not be put 
 into the ground until danger of frost is past. Inoculation 
 is often necessary in soils in which these crops have not 
 previously grown. 
 
 Field peas, or Canadian field peas, are grown in the 
 cooler parts of the Corn Belt and northward, often with 
 oats as a pasture for hogs or for hay. They are more 
 hardy with respect to cold than are cowpeas or soy beans. 
 However, the cultural methods of the three crops are 
 similar. 
 
 The Vetches. — Two kinds of vetch, the common, and 
 the hairy, or winter vetch, are rather extensively grown 
 especially in sandy soils. 
 
 They may be sown broadcast in corn or cotton at the 
 last cultivation. The winter vetch may be planted in 
 late summer or early autumn. 
 
 Inoculation is usually necessary the first time the crop 
 is grown. The soil in which garden peas are growing may 
 be used for this purpose. 
 
 Vetch may be used for hay, but it is preeminently a 
 green manure crop ; that is, it is plowed under to add 
 humus to the soil. 
 
 204. Securing the Maximum Benefits from Legumes. — 
 
 If the soil is to acquire all the nitrogen which any given 
 leguminous crop takes from the air, it is, of course, necessary 
 that the latter be plowed under. This, however, is or- 
 dinarily not done. Rather the hay is fed to animals and 
 the manure returned to the land. A considerable loss of 
 nitrogen results from this in most cases ; but the profit 
 derived from the feeding of the hay more than offsets 
 this. 
 
 On the other hand, it is not advisable in any case, if we 
 consider the effect upon the fertility of the soil, to remove 
 
CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES 273 
 
 and sell the hay, retaining only the roots in the land. If 
 this is done, the store of nitrogen in the soil is not increased 
 at all as a. rule, while that of other essential elements is 
 actually diminished. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Name six ways in which legumes benefit the farmer. 
 
 2. How do legumes add nitrogen to the soil? 
 
 3. State seven reasons why clovers frequently fail. 
 
 4. How would you test a field for acidity? 
 
 5. Rank the small grains according to their suitability as 
 nurse crops for clovers. 
 
 6. What is the objection to sowing clover seed broadcast 
 and harrowing it in ? 
 
 7. LTnder what conditions may we attribute clover failures 
 to drouth or winterkilling? 
 
 8. Name five rules to follow in order to succeed with clovers 
 and other legumes. 
 
 9. How would you correct soil acidity? 
 
 10. How would you inoculate a field for alfalfa ? 
 
 11. State in detail how you would make a seed analysis. 
 
 12. Why is a germination test particularly necessary before 
 sowing sweet clover ? 
 
 13. Why is sweet clover superior to any other plant for re- 
 storing wornout soils ? 
 
 14. What is the standard pasture plant among the clovers? 
 
 15. Why should not the hay from legumes be sold from the 
 farm? 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 THE FIBER CROPS 
 
 205. Three Crops yielding Valuable Fibers. — The 
 
 plants that yield the supply of material from which 
 certain kinds of cloth, thread, rope, twine and similar 
 products are made, are called fiber crops. There are 
 between thirty and forty plants in the world, which yield 
 materials of this kind. Only three such crops, however, 
 are grown extensively in the United States; viz., cotton, 
 flax and hemp. 
 
 In Section 82 we learned that it is a portion of the stem 
 of the flax and of the hemp which is used in the manu- 
 facture of linen, rope, and other important products. In 
 the case of cotton, it is the lint which grows on the seeds 
 that furnishes the material for cloth, thread and twine. 
 
 These vegetable fibers are not only used alone but they 
 are often mixed with animal fibers, such as wool ; or they 
 are sometimes used as a substitute for the latter. It is 
 not difficult to distinguish one from the other, however, as 
 vegetable fibers leave a white ash when burned while animal 
 fibers leave a dark coal. 
 
 206. Valuable Products Other than Fiber. — The value 
 of these crops lies not alone in the cloth and cordage 
 material which they yield but also in the rich oils and 
 protein feeds for animals which come from their seeds. 
 
 Cottonseed meal and oil are staple articles of commerce. 
 Flax seed meal, or linseed meal, as it is usually called, is 
 extensively used in stock feeding while the oil from the 
 
 274 
 
THE FIBER CROPS 
 
 275 
 
 seed is used in all paints and varnishes of good quality. 
 Hemp seed oil is used in cooking and in the manufacture 
 of paints, varnishes and soap. 
 
 Cotton 
 
 207. The Importance of Cotton. — Cotton has often 
 been called the king of crops because it is our leading article 
 of export. More farm 
 land in the United 
 States is planted each 
 year, however, to corn, 
 oats or wheat than to 
 cotton. 
 
 The great value of 
 cotton hes in the fact 
 that it furnishes the 
 greater part of the 
 clothing of the people 
 of the earth. The 
 magnitude of the cot- 
 ton-growing industry 
 has increased to such 
 an extent that the 
 whole economic world 
 is unsettled when war 
 or any other disaster interferes with its movement in the 
 raw or manufactured state to and fro between countries. 
 Our exports of cotton in a single year ordinarily amount to 
 more than three hundred million dollars, from which we 
 may readily see how serious a matter it is to our people 
 if the ports of the world become closed against it. 
 
 208. Where Cotton is grown in the United States. 
 The states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- 
 
 FiG. 120. — An opened cotton boll. 
 
276 . SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 sippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas constitute what is 
 known as the Cotton Belt. There are a number of reasons 
 why this part of the country has become the leading cotton- 
 producing section of the world : 
 
 (1) The cotton plant thrives best in a climate where the 
 temperature is uniformly high for four or five months after 
 the seed is planted, followed by two or three months of 
 cooler weather. These temperature conditions prevail 
 in the Cotton Belt. 
 
 (2) The cotton plant thrives on clay and silt loam 
 soils, which are the predominating types in this region. 
 
 (3) The cotton plant makes its best yield when the 
 rainfall is comparatively heavy and well distributed during 
 the growing season, followed by rather dry weather during 
 the picking season. The weather records show that the 
 Cotton Belt receives its rainfall in about this way. 
 
 (4) A cotton crop requires a great deal of haiid labor. 
 Cheap and efficient help can be secured in this region. 
 
 (5) Owing to the fact that it is so largely exported, 
 the crop requires adequate facilities for transportation. 
 Railroads and steamships quickly move the enormous 
 number of bales grown in the cotton states from the 
 various points of shipment. 
 
 209. The Cotton Plant. — For those persons who live 
 where cotton grows, no description of the plant is necessary, 
 while for others it may be compared with another familiar 
 plant, a noxious weed, which belongs to the same family. 
 The Indian mallow, butter print, or velvet leaf, as it is 
 variously called, belongs to the mallow family, to which 
 also the cotton belongs. 
 
 Both plants have a strong, deep tap root with finer 
 lateral ones spreading in all directions, often to a distance 
 of three or four feet from the main root. Both have 
 
THE FIBER CROPS 
 
 277 
 
 ' stout, erect stems from one to five feet tall with wide, 
 spreading branches, the longest ones being nearest the 
 ground and the shortest ones at the top. The flowers of 
 both are regular, with five petals which are creamy white 
 or yellow in color. The butter print flower remains open 
 but a short time while 
 the flowers of many 
 varieties of cotton 
 open in the early 
 morning, showing a 
 creamy yellow color, 
 turn pink or red dur- 
 ing the day and at 
 nightfall close never 
 to open again. The 
 pistil of the flower of 
 either butter print or 
 cotton develops into a 
 boll. When ripe, 
 these bolls open, ex- 
 posing dark-colored 
 seeds. Those of the 
 butter print show a 
 
 trace of lint when examined under the hand lens, while 
 the lint on the cotton seed is pearly white and from one- 
 half to two and one half inches long. 
 
 210. Growing the Cotton Crop. — i^oto^ion. — The 
 chief criticism offered to the methods practiced by cotton 
 growers is that they raise this crop in the same fields too 
 many years in succession, selling the fiber and seed and 
 returning nothing to the land. 
 
 The yield of the crop is in proportion to the fertility of 
 the soil. To maintain this fertility, a rotation of at least 
 
 Fig. 121. — Cotton seeds with lint. 
 
278 . SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 two or three years is essential, as, for example, cotton 
 followed by crimson clover the first year ; corn, the second 
 year; and wheat followed by cowpeas the third year. 
 
 It is unnecessary that the field occasionally '' lay out," that 
 is, be left idle to grow up to weeds for two or three years. 
 
 A rotation, moreover, tends to hold in check that 
 dreaded enemy of the cotton grower, the boll weevil. 
 
 Fertilizers. — There is probably no general crop grown 
 in this country upon which commercial fertiUzers are so 
 extensively and profitably used as upon cotton. The 
 Georgia Station has found after fourteen years of experi- 
 mental work that upland, worn soils should receive nitro- 
 gen, phosphorus and potassium in the ratio of three, ten 
 and three. 
 
 On many of the prairie soils containing plenty of lime, 
 the use of commercial fertihzers is not profitable, while 
 even on soils where their use now brings returns, a careful 
 rotation will greatly lessen the need of them. 
 
 Seed Bed and Seeding. — Land which is to be planted 
 to cotton should not be left bare during the winter. Crim- 
 son clover, bur clover or winter vetch, sown in the fall and 
 plowed under not later than February first, will make a 
 loose, fertile seed bed. 
 
 If a fertilizer is to be used, it is often placed in a furrow, 
 opened by a lister, or ^' middle buster," as it is called. 
 The soil is then thrown back over the fertilizer with a small 
 plow ; and the seed is planted over it with a shght furrow 
 left between the rows. 
 
 Another method used is to open the furrows with a 
 lister, or middle buster, from three to four feet apart, and 
 to plant the seed on the ridges with a single row planter, 
 adding fertiHzer with the seed as desired. 
 
 The practice has been to plant from one to three bushels 
 of seed per acre, which means from 100,000 to 600,000 
 
THE FIBER CROPS 
 
 279 
 
 Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. 
 Fig. 122. — Negroes picking cotton. 
 
280 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 seeds. When the plants have pushed their way up out 
 of the ground, most of them are cut out, leaving those 
 not destroyed about eighteen inches apart in the row. 
 
 It is an excellent practice to use only large, plump seeds, 
 planting fewer of them per acre and applying cottonseed 
 meal as a fertilizer for the growing crop. 
 
 Cultivation. — ■ A sweep cultivator which stirs the ground* 
 two or three inches deep is commonly used. It leaves a 
 loose mulch on top, conserves the moisture, helps to make 
 plant food available, destroys weeds and brings about 
 that continuous, rapid growth so essential to a satisfactory 
 yield of cotton. 
 
 211. Harvesting the Crop. — One of the characteristic 
 scenes of the South is that of cotton picking. No machine 
 has ever been invented to gather cotton satisfactorily, 
 for the bolls ripen successively, which means that the 
 field must be gone over several times. 
 
 Picking usually begins in late August and continues 
 until the first of November. Fitted over the shoulders 
 of the pickers and trailing out to a distance of perhaps 
 ten or twelve feet behind them, are the picking sacks, 
 in which the seed cotton is placed. From these sacks it 
 is transferred to deep-boxed wagons and hauled to the gin. 
 
 212. Ginning the Cotton. — From the wagons the 
 cotton is unloaded or drawn by suction into the hoppers 
 where revolving saws remove the lint from the seed. 
 The lint is removed from the saws by revolving cylinders 
 and drawn by suction into a condenser, from which it 
 passes on to the press. The fiber comes out from these 
 power or screw presses in bales of five hundred pounds. 
 
 As the seeds are separated from the fiber by the saws, 
 they drop through "^openings and those which are not 
 
THE FIBER CROPS 
 
 281 
 
 saved for planting are reginned to remove the clinging 
 lint. Their hulls are then removed and the embryos, or 
 '' meats," of the seeds cooked for about fifteen minutes 
 to drive off the water and melt the oil. Pressure is then 
 apphed to extract the oil, which goes to the refinery. 
 
 Copyright by Underwouu a- u nutr wood. 
 Fig 123. — Bales of cotton ready for shipment. 
 
 The remainder is dried, cooked once more and ground 
 into cottonseed meal. 
 
 213. Proportion and Value of Seed and Lint. — It takes 
 about fifteen hundred pounds of cotton as it comes from 
 the field to make a five-hundred-pound bale. 
 
282 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 The value of the lint lies in its cheapness, flexibility, 
 uniformity and wearing qualities. It is spun and woven 
 with ease into nearly all kinds of fabrics. 
 
 The hulls of the seeds are used for fuel, as a fertihzer, 
 
 as a feed for cattle, and for paper stock, while the oil is 
 
 used in the manufacture of oleomargarine, as a substitute 
 
 for oHve oil, in lard compounds and for other cuhnary 
 
 purposes. The cake left after the oil is extracted, or 
 
 the meal made from it, is used as a feed for stock and 
 
 as a fertilizer. 
 
 Flax 
 
 214. How and where Flax is grown. — The production 
 of flax has moved westward and northward as the newer 
 parts of the Mississippi 
 Valley have been set- 
 tled. The pioneers 
 have broken up the 
 prairie sod, and while 
 they were waiting for 
 it to decay sufficiently 
 for wheat to grow, they 
 have raised a crop of 
 flax. This new land 
 has hitherto been 
 abundant enough to 
 supply the amount of 
 flax required in this 
 country. 
 
 Flax thrives and is 
 raised principally in 
 northern Europe, 
 where a cool, moist 
 atmosphere exists. This explains in part why the states 
 of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota produce 
 the greater part of the crop raised in this country. 
 
 Fig. 124. — Flax plant and fiber. 
 
THE FIBER CROPS 283 
 
 Flax seed is sown in the spring, the average depth at 
 which it is planted being about one inch. Like wheat, 
 the crop requires no cultivation after being sown. If 
 seed is desired, the stand should be somewhat thin in 
 order that the plants may branch well. On the other 
 hand, if fiber is wanted, the seed is sown thickly to 
 make the plants grow tall and straight. When sown 
 for seed, from one to three pecks per acre are used 
 while nearly four times this amount of seed is sown 
 for a fiber crop. 
 
 Flax is cut with an ordinary self-binder, and is considered 
 one of the most pleasant crops to handle. It has long 
 been regarded as one of the most exhaustive crops 
 grown on any soil. A disease, known as flax wilt, develops 
 when the crop is raised a second or third year in succession 
 in the same field ; and many growers beheve that it is 
 this disease, rather than the gross feeding habit of the 
 plant, that has given it so bad a reputation. 
 
 215. Methods of Handling and Value of the Fiber and 
 Seed. — After the crop has been cut with the binder, or 
 pulled by hand as is sometimes done, it is placed in shocks 
 and allowed to stand for two or three weeks. If the fiber 
 is desired, the seed is then removed by passing the heads 
 between rapidly revolving cylinders or rollers, which 
 crush the seed pods. The straw is bound into bundles, 
 and later, usually in October or November, it is spread 
 out on the ground to " ret," or rot. During this process 
 the portions of the stems, other than the bast (Section 82), 
 decay, or become sufficiently softened to permit an easy 
 separation of the parts. The long, straight fibers, from 
 one to three feet in length, are called long hnt while the 
 short and tangled ones are called tow. From the former, 
 fine laces, hnens, dress goods and thread are made, while 
 
284 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 bagging, upholstering material and twine are made from 
 the tow. 
 
 Flax fiber has been called '' the fiber of luxury," while 
 cotton has been called " the fiber of the masses." 
 
 If the crop is not raised for the fiber, but only for the 
 seed, it is threshed with an ordinary threshing machine. 
 The seed secured is eventually crushed, after which it is 
 heated to about 165 degrees Fahrenheit, placed between 
 layers of coarse cloth and the oil extracted by pressure. 
 The soHdified mass remaining is known as oil cake. This 
 cake may be ground, in which case it is called '^ old pro- 
 cess linseed meal." If the oil is extracted, not by pressure 
 but by the use of petroleum naphtha, the remaining meal 
 is known as " new process linseed meal." 
 
 Oil cake and linseed meal are among the most valuable 
 protein feeds for live stock known. Linseed oil is used in 
 making paints and varnishes, printing ink, linoleum, soap 
 and artificial India rubber. 
 
 Hemp 
 
 This plant is a coarse annual, growing from eight to 
 twelve feet tall and yielding a rather coarse fiber which 
 is used in making cordage and warp for carpets. The 
 crop demands a somewhat warmer climate than does 
 flax and in this country is raised principally in the blue 
 grass regions of Kentucky and Tennessee. The crop does 
 not exhaust the soil so quickly as flax ; and if the waste is 
 returned to the field, it may be grown several years in 
 succession on the same land. 
 
 The hemp crop is cut with a heavy mower or with a self- 
 rake reaper, or it may be cut by hand. 
 
 The fallen plants are allowed to lie on the ground until 
 the dews and rains have " retted," or rotted, the stems. 
 
THE FIBER CROPS 
 
 285 
 
 Then it is stacked and later the fiber is separated by 
 machinery. The seed is not so eagerly sought by paint 
 manufacturers as is that of flax, although considerable 
 
 Fig. 125. — A Kentucky hemp field. 
 
 use is made of it as an ingredient of oil colors and var- 
 nishes. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Name the three principal fiber crops of America and tell 
 where each is grown. 
 
 2. What two portions, or parts, of these fiber plants are 
 used and why is each valuable? 
 
 3. Name five reasons why the southern part of the United 
 States is adapted to the culture of cotton. 
 
 4. Give a good crop rotation for a cotton plantation and 
 tell why such a rotation is important. 
 
 5. State briefly how to prepare and plant a field of cotton. 
 
 6. Tell briefly how cotton is picked and how the seed is 
 separated from the lint. 
 
286 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 7. Why is cotton lint, or fiber, so extensively used by the 
 " masses"? 
 
 8. In what kind of soil is flax usually grown ? 
 
 9. What is the principal use of flax seed, and for what is the 
 fiber used ? 
 
 10. Describe the hemp plant and tell how it is harvested and 
 for what the fiber is chiefly used. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 FRUIT GROWING 
 
 216. Horticulture and Agriculture. — In ancient times, 
 the people lived together within walled cities for protection 
 and cultivated " intensively " the small plots of land within 
 the inclosures. The larger fields were outside and could 
 not be so carefully attended as those within. 
 
 The Latin word hortus means a garden, or inclosure; 
 ager, a field ; and cultura, cultivation or culture. Thus the 
 word horticulture has come down to us meaning the care, 
 or culture, of those crops which were grown within the 
 walled cities; viz., fruits, vegetables and flowers, while 
 agriculture signifies the cultivation of grain crops, grasses 
 and other crops grown in the large fields outside. 
 
 The older a country becomes and the denser its popula- 
 tion, the fewer are the field crops grown, while fruit and 
 vegetable crops tend to increase. 
 
 217. Where our Fruits originated. — If we were to 
 travel from New York to Seattle, passing through Chicago, 
 Omaha, Denver and Salt Lake City on our way, we should 
 find apple orchards, large or small, in most places along 
 our route where the land is capable of cultivation. Then 
 if we were to journey down the Pacific coast, we should 
 find prune, peach, orange and lemon orchards and the 
 vineyards which yield our supply of raisins, as well as large 
 red or white soHd-fleshed grapes. In the southern part 
 of Cahfornia and in Arizona, the date flourishes ; and in 
 
 287 
 
288 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 this same district and extending eastward into Texas, we 
 should find the fig. In the Cotton Belt and extending 
 slightly north of it, large orchards of peaches grow, 
 and in Florida, the orange, lemon and grapefruit grow 
 in abundance. 
 
 Did all these fruits originate on this continent? Not 
 one. All of them came to us from Europe or Asia, having 
 been introduced into this country by the white man. These 
 fruits have, however, been improved and selected according 
 to adaptation to different soils and climates of the United 
 States. Moreover, the native fruits of other kinds which 
 the first settlers found growing here have been improved. 
 From the wild cranberries, plums, raspberries and grapes, 
 have come thousands of superior varieties worthy of a 
 name and of a place in our gardens a.nd orchards. 
 
 Not many of those varieties of apples, oranges, peaches 
 or other fruits which were originally introduced from 
 foreign lands are now to be found growing in American 
 orchards. They have been replaced by better varieties, 
 the offspring of these foreign parents. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that almost none of these 
 superior varieties have come from known parents. A 
 seed may be dropped on the roadside by a bird or a 
 thoughtless passer-by; a tree springs up, and by one 
 chance in a thousand perhaps, or even less, its fruit proves 
 to be better than any other similar fruit growing in that 
 locality. Buds or twigs are taken from it and united with 
 other plants of the same species, the variety is given a 
 name, and it thus becomes introduced into cultivation. 
 
 218. Developing the Young Tree. — After the budding 
 or grafting has been done as explained in Section 104, 
 the young tree is trained in the nursery for one or more 
 years. It is then taken up with as many roots as can be 
 
FRUIT GROWING 289 
 
 conveniently secured, packed in moist moss and straw 
 and shipped to the person who wishes to plant it. 
 
 219. The Location of the Orchard. — The location of a 
 young orchard should not be chosen hastily or without 
 careful consideration. In the selection of an orchard 
 site, these factors should be kept in mind : 
 
 (1) Convenience to the home and to a desirable market 
 if fruit is to be raised to sell. 
 
 (2) Soil. — Each fruit has a particular type of soil upon 
 which it succeeds best. This can usually be determined 
 by studying different orchards in your own locality. 
 
 (3) Water Drainage. — • There is an old saying that 
 fruit trees do not like wet feet. The gravity water 
 (Section 12) in any orchard site must be removed by 
 drainage before the plants will thrive. 
 
 (4) Air Drainage. — It must be remembered that air 
 drains hke water. The cold air is the heavier and settles 
 into the " pockets," or low places; and if trees or vines 
 are planted there, they are very liable to be injured by 
 the frost. 
 
 220. The Distances between the Trees. — If the 
 location and soil preparation are satisfactory, we must 
 next determine the distances at which the various plants 
 make their best growth. 
 
 The following table of distances between the plants is 
 recommended, though it may be varied shghtly on 
 different soils and with different varieties. 
 
 Apples 36 feet each way 
 
 Pears 20 to 25 feet each way 
 
 Peaches and nectarines .... 20 feet each way 
 
 Plums 20 feet each way 
 
 Apricots ......... 20 feet each way 
 
290 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Cherries 20 feet each way 
 
 Cherries (sweet) ........ 30 feet each way 
 
 Figs 20 to 25 feet each way 
 
 Oranges and lemons 25 to 30 feet each way 
 
 Grapes 6x8 feet to 8 x 10 feet 
 
 Currants 4x6 feet to 6 x 8 feet 
 
 Blackberries 4x7 feet to 6 x 9 feet 
 
 Raspberries 3x6 feet to 5 x 8 feet 
 
 Strawberries 1x3 feet to 1 x 4 feet 
 
 221. Cutting back and Planting the Young Trees or 
 Vines. — Suppose that the trees or vines have been re- 
 
 FiG. 126. — Trees cut back for planting. 
 
 ceived from the nursery. They must be protected from 
 the sun and wind until they are planted; and moreover, 
 only as many should be taken to the orchard at a time as 
 can be protected while the work is going on. 
 
 It is impossible to remove a tree from the nursery row 
 or from the ground elsewhere without cutting away a part 
 of the roots. The top must be cut back then, to offset this 
 loss of roots. It may be given almost as a fixed rule that 
 young trees should be cut back at least one half of the last 
 season's growth and vines and shrubs should be cut back 
 
FRUIT GROWING 291 
 
 to the ground, leaving only two or three buds on the short 
 stems. 
 
 A tree should be planted slightly deeper than it was in 
 the nursery row, the roots well spread out, and the soil 
 packed firmly about them. 
 
 222. Cultivation of the Young Plants. — We are al- 
 ready familiar with the reasons for tilling the soil, but we 
 cannot apply these principles in fruit growing without 
 knowledge of the needs of the roots of our trees and vines. 
 The root systems of fruit-bearing plants have been thor- 
 oughly studied ; and, as will be seen, the cultivation 
 of each one must be governed largely by the character of 
 the underground part of the plant. 
 
 (1) The Strawberry. — This plant has a shallow root 
 system which does not extend far beyond the area covered 
 by the leaves. Strawberries must receive frequent and 
 shallow cultivation or be mulched with straw between 
 the rows to produce the best fruit. 
 
 (2) The Raspberry. — This plant, too, has a shallow 
 root system and can not endure deep cultivation as the 
 heavy main roots will be torn out or cut off. Moisture 
 should be retained with a dust or straw mulch. 
 
 (3) The Grape. — The grape has a deep root system and 
 should therefore receive thorough cultivation, while the 
 plant itself delights in a deep, porous, even gravelly soil 
 where its feeding roots may range deep and wide. 
 
 (4) The Tree Fruits. — Most tree fruits, as the apple, 
 pear and cherry, have deep feeding roots; and in those 
 soils in which the roots are able to penetrate deep and 
 wide, cultivation is used principally to put the soil in a 
 condition to receive and hold moisture. In fact, as the 
 trees become older, the orchard may be planted to some 
 annual or biennial clover. Grasses, however, which are 
 
292 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 likely to rob the trees of their moisture, and those which 
 allow the water to run off instead of soaking into the 
 ground, should not be allowed to take possession of the 
 soil. 
 
 223. The Training of the Young Plants. — The training 
 of the young plants must begin the same season they are 
 set out, as usually the first few seasons determine the 
 form of the tree or vine. Three facts should be kept in 
 mind in pruning, or training any young trees, limbs or 
 vines : 
 
 (1) Each plant should be so placed and trained that all 
 its leaves may receive plenty of sunlight in order that they 
 may manufacture an abundance of food for the plant. 
 
 (2) Except in a very few localities in the United States, 
 the main limbs of a tree should be quite close to the ground. 
 A low-headed, vase-formed tree is less liable to injury 
 from wind and sun, the branches receive plenty of light, 
 and the fruit is much easier to gather. 
 
 (3) Heavy pruning, one year in many, upsets the habits 
 of the plant and results in too much wood growth. On 
 the other hand, those pruned lightly each year maintain 
 a normal, healthy growth. 
 
 224. When and how Fruit Buds form. — When by 
 proper cultivation and pruning we have developed a 
 tree or vine of the type which we desire, we must turn our 
 attention to making it bear fruit. 
 
 Fruit develops from blossoms. Blossoms develop from 
 blossom buds, or fruit buds, as they are called. And these 
 blossom buds develop from slight enlargements, or pro- 
 tuberances, within the protecting leaf buds. 
 
 If we were to take two or three eggs each day from an 
 incubator, break them open and examine them, we could 
 
FRUIT GROWING 293 
 
 trace the development of a chick until it is fully formed. 
 Similarly, by cutting open buds every week from the first 
 of July until the first of the following April, and examining 
 them under a powerful microscope, we can trace the de- 
 velopment of a blossom. 
 
 At some time about the middle of the growing season, — 
 often as early as July first with apples, plums, peaches and 
 cherries in the central parts of the United States — a 
 slight protuberance may be found within the protecting 
 scales at the base of a leaf bud. It is the beginning of a 
 fruit bud ; and as the season advances, the parts of the 
 flower are slowly formed within the bud, — first, the sepals, 
 next, the petals, then the stamens and lastly the pistil. 
 
 When the warm days of spring come on, the protecting 
 scales open and the full flower expands. 
 
 225. Conditions which favor the Formation of Fruit 
 Buds. — While it is not possible for a fruit grower to 
 control all the conditions which surround his plants, it is 
 surprising how many things he can do that favor the for- 
 mation of fruit buds ; and we must remember that an 
 abundance of fruit buds usually means a crop of fruit the 
 following year. 
 
 Two principles must be kept in mind ; and with these to 
 guide him, the fruit grower is able to control in a measure 
 the yield of fruit from his orchard from year to year : 
 
 (1) Fruit buds form when the plants are in a healthy 
 condition and full of reserve food. (Section 70.) 
 
 (2) Fruit buds form when there is a check in the growth 
 of the plants. 
 
 We can readily see how a grower may keep his plants 
 in healthy condition and full of reserve food by cultiva- 
 tion, by pruning, and by the addition of organic matter 
 to the soil if need be ; and how he may favor their 
 
294 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 growth by protecting them against disease (Section 99) 
 and insects. 
 
 But how is he to check their growth? 
 
 The fruit grower in the irrigated country will tell you 
 that it can be done by withholding nearly all water from 
 the trees during the latter part of the growing season. 
 
 The man who cultivates his orchard will tell you that 
 you can check the growth by stopping the cultivation early 
 in July and sowing oats, rape, buckwheat, vetch or some 
 other crop which will take the moisture and plant food 
 from the soil. 
 
 The man who once had a very healthy orchard in the 
 central part of the United States, but all growing perhaps 
 to heavy wood and bearing no fruit, will tell you that he 
 pruned his trees in June and that the next year he had a 
 full crop. 
 
 Your grandfather would probably have told you to 
 drive into the body of the tree rusty nails or small bolts. 
 
 The man who prunes and cultivates, who checks his 
 irrigation stream, or who sows a crop in his orchard at 
 midsummer is thinking about securing a crop of fruit, and 
 at the same time about keeping his trees in healthy con- 
 dition. Grandfather's method produced fruit, but in 
 many cases it shortened the life of the tree. A tree that 
 is injured by rabbits or mice, by storms or by careless 
 treatment is very likely to bear fruit the next year, — and 
 the next year it is apt to die. 
 
 By careful soil management, by proper pruning, by 
 intelligent irrigation, by timely spraying, and by thinning 
 the fruit, we can aid the fruit buds to form and at the same 
 time maintain healthy, long-lived trees. 
 
 226. Age of Wood upon which Fruit Buds appear. — 
 One of the most interesting ways to fix in mind the dif- 
 
FRUIT GROWING 
 
 295 
 
 ference between a leaf bud and a fruit bud is to examine 
 
 them at any time in the winter. You will find then : 
 
 (1) That the fruit buds of the cherry and plum are in 
 
 Fig. 127. — A 
 cherry twig as it 
 looks in winter. 
 
 Fig. 128. — An 
 apple twig in win- 
 ter. 
 
 Fig. 129. — A 
 peach twig as it 
 looks in winter. 
 
 clusters on short spurs while the leaf buds lie close 
 against the twig. 
 
 (2) That the fruit buds of the apple are likewise borne 
 on spurs, but that there is usually only one on each spur 
 while the leaf buds lie against the twig. 
 
296 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 (3) That the buds of the peach are in clusters of three, 
 not on spurs, but lying close against the twig, the middle 
 one of each cluster being a leaf bud while the other two 
 are fruit buds. 
 
 By studying Figures 127-129, or better still the twigs 
 themselves, you will see that not all varieties of fruit buds 
 are borne on wood of the same age. There is always 
 a set of rough rings, or wrinkles, separating each year's 
 growth on a twig from that of the year before ; and by 
 beginning at the tip and counting the sections, or divisions, 
 between these rings, you can easily determine the age of 
 any portion of the twig or branch. 
 
 EXERCISE 51 
 
 Object. — To learn the form and position of fruit buds 
 and the age of the wood upon which they appear. 
 
 Procedure. — Secure a branch or twig three feet or more 
 in length of a cherry, peach, plum, apple, or other fruit tree, 
 and lay it on the desk or table before you. 
 
 Examine it carefully for the rough rings, which separate 
 the wood of different years' growth. Then point out the 
 fruit buds and note that they are usually plumper, as 
 well as grayer or darker in color than the leaf buds, while 
 the leaf buds, which lie along the twig, are usually rather 
 pointed in comparison with the fruit buds. 
 
 Conclusion. — Describe carefully in your notebook the 
 color, form and position of both the fruit buds and the leaf 
 buds, and state the age of the wood upon which the fruit 
 buds appear. 
 
 Make a drawing of the twig to show this. 
 
 Put your twig in a vase or glass of water so that the buds 
 may open. 
 
 The fruit of the grape is borne on wood, or canes, of the 
 same season's growth as the fruit itself, — not on the wood 
 
FRUIT GROWING 297 
 
 of the year before, or the second, third, or fourth year 
 before as is the case with most of the tree fruits. Re- 
 member to examine your grape vines next year to see that 
 this is true. 
 
 We readily see then how closely the questions of fruit 
 buds and pruning are related. 
 
 The clusters of fruit that you will pick from your grape 
 vines next fall will be borne only on the young, new wood 
 formed during the spring and summer ; and because of 
 this fact, the old wood should have been pruned away 
 last fall, save only a very few canes from which the new 
 ones might grow. This would cause the plant to devote 
 its entire strength and vigor to the development of the 
 new fruit-bearing wood as well as to that of the fruit 
 itself. 
 
 The fruit of the blackberry and raspberry, like that of 
 the grape, is borne only on the new twigs, or wood, of the 
 same season's growth as the berries themselves ; and these 
 new twigs branch only from those canes which have grown 
 up from the ground the year before. This means that the 
 twigs from which you will gather berries next summer will 
 be found branching out from canes that came up from the 
 ground last summer, — and these twigs will not begin to 
 grow until spring has come. Therefore you should have 
 cut away all old wood that had borne fruit as soon as the 
 crop was gathered last summer so that the new^ canes could 
 have possession of the ground. 
 
 Peaches are always borne on twigs of the previous season's 
 growth. It follows that pruning should have been done 
 last summer to induce the growth of new twigs from which 
 the next season's crop must come. 
 
 Plums and cherries usually, but not always, are borne 
 on wood that is two years old, and fortunately these trees 
 get along well with very little pruning; 
 
298 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Apples are usually borne on wood older than two years, 
 and frequent use of the pruning saw and knife must be 
 made to induce the fruit spurs on these trees to develop 
 where we want them. 
 
 Fig. 130. — 
 A peach twig 
 as it looks in 
 spring. 
 
 Fig. 131. — A cherry 
 twig as it looks in 
 spring. 
 
 Fig. 132. — An apple twig 
 as it looks in spring. 
 
 227. The Reasons for Pruning. — We have studied 
 about pruning in connection with the training of the 
 
FRUIT GROWING 
 
 299 
 
 young trees or vines and also as a means of inducing the 
 formation of fruit buds. Let us bring together the reasons 
 for this important operation. They are : 
 
 (1) To regulate the size and shape of the tree or vine. 
 
 (2) To remove unnecessary and rubbing twigs or small 
 limbs which prevent the sunlight from reaching the fruit- 
 bearing wood in the inner parts of the tree top. 
 
 (3) To remove any dead or diseased portions of the 
 plant. Many of the diseases of both the limbs and the 
 fruit may be controlled by cutting out and burning the 
 limbs as soon as the blights or cankers appear. 
 
 (4) To increase the vigor and health, and thereby the 
 wood growth of the tree or vine. Plants which have a feeble 
 root system are greatly benefited by pruning, while the 
 rate of growth of healthy trees is increased in the same way 
 if the work is done in the dormant season. 
 
 (5) To incr ease fruitfulness. As has been shown, check- 
 ing the growth of trees and vines tends to stimulate the 
 formation of fruit buds. Pruning in the early summer, 
 unlike that done in the winter, checks the growth of wood 
 and favors that of fruit buds. 
 
 Fig. 133. — Grape vine pruned to a double T. 
 
 228. Methods of Pruning. — With the reasons for 
 pruning clearly in mind, we are ready to take up the 
 methods of performing this important work. These will 
 
300 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 vary somewhat with the age, variety and vigor of the plant, 
 and with the locaUty in which it is grown. 
 
 The Grape. — Many methods are used in pruning the 
 grape vine, but only one will be given here : 
 
 Fig. 134. — Peach trees headed back. 
 
 The young vine is trained up a two-wire trellis and there 
 encouraged to form a letter T with a second letter T im- 
 mediately above it. The erect stems of the two letters, 
 then, are of wood, usually as old as the vine itself, while 
 the spreading " arms " are of wood of the previous season's 
 
FRUIT GROWING 
 
 301 
 
 growth. From the buds, which may be readily found on 
 these arms, are to come the branches that will bear the 
 
 fruit. 
 
 The grape should be pruned in the late winter, when 
 all the wood should be cut away save the old stems 
 and four new branches, less than one year old, which 
 will form the arms of 
 the two T's. 
 
 Raspberries and 
 Blackberries. — Soon 
 after these berries 
 have been picked, the 
 canes which bore them 
 die, and beside them, 
 growing up from the 
 same root, are found 
 new canes. 
 
 The old canes should 
 be removed as soon as 
 the fruit has been 
 gathered,, and early 
 the following spring 
 the new canes should 
 have their very tips 
 pruned off as this 
 favors the development of the lateral twigs, or branches, 
 which are to bear the fruit. 
 
 Cherries and Plums. — Cherry and plum trees need little 
 pruning, save to remove the dead, diseased or broken 
 limbs, or those which densely shade the inner parts of the 
 
 tree top. 
 
 Peaches. — Peach trees tend to grow tall. Their buds 
 are sometimes killed in the winter by the severe cold. 
 We can tell when this has happened by cutting through the 
 
 Fig. 135. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa Stale College. 
 Apple tree before pruning. 
 
302 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 buds in the late winter with a sharp knife. If the middles 
 are black instead of a healthy green, we need expect no 
 peaches. This, then, will be the year to '' head in " our 
 peach trees; that is, the main branches are cut back a 
 part of their length. New twigs will grow vigorously 
 from them to form buds for the next season's crop. 
 
 Apples. — The best 
 form of an apple tree 
 is one which has a 
 low, vase-shaped, open 
 head, or top. In de- 
 veloping a young tree, 
 it is not difficult to 
 produce this vase-Uke 
 form. Two branches 
 will be found growing 
 from the same Hmb, 
 one tending to grow 
 upright and the other 
 to spread. The up- 
 right one should be re- 
 moved, and thus the 
 spreading vaselike 
 forms will be de- 
 veloped. 
 
 Even after the tree has reached its full size, the 
 pruning must be continued in about the manner ex- 
 plained below : 
 
 First. — Remove all water sprouts, — those long, slen- 
 der, switchhke branches, which bear no fruit. If, how- 
 ever, a part of the tree top is found vacant, one or more of 
 these water sprouts should be encouraged to grow in that 
 direction. By cutting them back later, we can induce 
 them to bear fruit. 
 
 Fig. 136. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa Slate College. 
 Apple tree after pruning. 
 
FRUIT GROWING 
 
 303 
 
 Second. — Remove all dead limbs, all limbs which rub 
 or injure others, and those which make the inner parts of 
 the tree dark and damp. 
 
 In pruning apple trees, it is better to begin at the top of 
 the tree and work downward, opening the outer branches 
 so as to let the sunUght in and give the tree the desirable 
 vase-like form, than to begin at the bottom and simply 
 remove some of the large hmbs. 
 
 Strawberries. — We do not ordinarily regard pruning 
 as necessary or desirable for strawberries; yet there 
 are few plants which 
 really need it more, 
 at least while they 
 are very young. 
 
 When a strawberry 
 plant is set out in the 
 spring, all its vigor 
 and strength should 
 go to the develop- 
 ment of a strong root 
 system. The runners 
 which it sends out 
 and the blossoms which it puts forth should be cut 
 away. 
 
 About the middle of the growing season, however, the 
 runners may be distributed along the row as they appear 
 and allowed to take root. After this, the space between 
 the rows should be kept cultivated or mulched, and the 
 runners should be kept out of them. 
 
 If after two or three years the rows become matted, 
 the runners may be allowed to take possession of the 
 space between them, and the old rows may be plowed or 
 hoed out. In this way, we can virtually secure a new bed 
 with Httle effort. 
 
 •B^SW'-*'' 
 
 Fig. 137. — Strawberries. 
 
304 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 229. Precautions to be taken in Pruning. — Care must 
 be exercised not to remove the fruit spurs, which we should 
 be able by this time to recognize, nor to remove so much 
 wood in a single season that the roots and top of the tree 
 will be thrown out of '' balance." 
 
 We should bear in mind that pruning for vigor; i.e., 
 
 for wood growth, is 
 usually done while the 
 plants are dormant, — 
 usually in the late win- 
 ter ; but pruning as a 
 means of checking the 
 growth of the tree is 
 done during the grow- 
 ing season. Pruning 
 for wood growth is usu- 
 ally a severer opera- 
 tion than that which 
 is intended to check 
 the growth and induce 
 the formation of fruit 
 buds. Indeed, the 
 latter may consist 
 only of pinching the 
 terminal buds from 
 the branches. This 
 summer pruning of 
 trees and vines must 
 be done with caution, for a plant which is already 
 somewhat weakened may be injured by pruning at this 
 time. The most important end to be gained in pruning 
 is the filling of the tree with reserve food, and this is ac- 
 complished by pruning for wood growth. 
 
 In pruning off either large Hmbs or small ones, the cuts 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Fig. 138. — Improper pruning. 
 
FRUIT GROWING 305 
 
 should be made close to the Hmbs or trunks which support 
 them, for a long stub like those shown in Figure 138 
 eventually decays, leaving a hole in the tree into which 
 enter in regular order first moisture, then spores of decay, 
 and finally the decayed wood itself, which may extend 
 far into the trunk or hmb. On the other hand, a cut made 
 close to the tree heals over in a very few years. As a meas- 
 ure of safety, however, the stubs of large hmbs, even 
 when cut off close to the tree, should be painted with 
 white lead and unboiled hnseed oil to exclude the mois- 
 ture and spores of decay which might otherwise enter. 
 
 230. Protecting Fruit-Bearing Plants from their Ene- 
 mies. — 
 
 Mice and Rabbits. — During the winter months, dam- 
 age is often done, particularly to young trees, by mice 
 and rabbits. They gnaw away the bark and cambium 
 layer from about the trunk, thus stopping the downward 
 current of food and causing the roots to starve, as explained 
 in Section 79. 
 
 If the trees, bushes or vines are covered with Hme-sul- 
 fur spray mixture, which may be purchased at any drug 
 store, the mice and rabbits will be repelled. It may be 
 necessary to paint the solution on the trunks of the trees 
 with a brush, especially if the rabbits are. numerous and 
 the ground covered with snow so that they have trouble 
 in finding other food. 
 
 Frost. — The first way — and a very important one — 
 of securing protection against frost is to choose a proper 
 location for the orchard. A body of water, a belt of timber, 
 a windbreak, and always good air drainage will help in pre- 
 venting injury by frost. However, in even the best of 
 locations, frosts will sometimes occur. 
 
 Low growing plants like the strawberry may some- 
 times be covered with straw or hay. 
 
306 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 A blanket of smoke from burning litter will prevent 
 the escape of heat from the soil and in this way will often 
 prevent frost. Among the interesting sights to be seen 
 at times in some commercial orchards are the long lines of 
 pots of burning oil or coal, which make a dense smoke and 
 
 Fig. 139. 
 
 Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Keeping Jack Frost away., 
 
 at the same time generate heat enough to keep the tem- 
 perature of the orchard above the danger point. 
 
 Sunscald. — Undue exposure of the trunks of young 
 trees to heat and cold may destroy a part of the bark, 
 producing what is known as sunscald. Binding a layer 
 of cornstalks, wood veneer or burlap about the trunks 
 will protect them in the winter and early spring. These 
 
FRUIT GROWING 
 
 307 
 
 should, however, be removed during the growing season. 
 As the tree becomes older, the low, vase-shaped top will 
 protect the trunk. 
 
 Insects. — Injurious insects are divided into two classes ; 
 viz., those that chew, or eat the tissues of the plant, and 
 those that suck the juices from it. 
 
 In the first class, we find such insects as the apple worm, 
 or codhng moth, the canker worm, the strawberry leaf 
 eater and the po- 
 tato bug. These 
 insects devour the 
 leaves or fruit, 
 leaving nothing 
 but the mere skele- 
 ton of the leaf or 
 perhaps a fruit 
 filled with long 
 tunnels to show 
 where they have 
 eaten their way 
 through. 
 
 Inasmuch as 
 these insects de- 
 vour the parts of 
 the plant, they may be destroyed by applying a mist, or 
 spray, containing some deadly poison, such as Paris green or 
 lead arsenate. The latter is usually the more satisfactory 
 because it stays on the leaves better and never burns them 
 as the Paris green sometimes does. If two pounds of lead 
 arsenate are dissolved in fifty gallons of water, the solution 
 will destroy almost any chewing insects. It is used as a 
 spray as they appear. 
 
 In combating strawberry worms or cabbage worms, it 
 is often unsafe to use either of the poisons named above. 
 
 Fig. 140. — Codling moth and its work. 
 
308 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 In these cases, hellebore or pyrethrum (insect powder), 
 may be substituted. 
 
 Those insects which suck, as the plant hce, or aphids, 
 and the melon bugs, push their '' beaks " down into the 
 tissue of the leaf or fruit and take out the juices, destroying 
 the plant or a part of it in this way. No poison, applied 
 to the surface of the leaf, will affect them. A spray of 
 
 Fig. 141. 
 
 , Courtesy Iowa State College. 
 Spraying an orchard. 
 
 tobacco decoction, lime-sulfur, or kerosene and soap, 
 appHed to the plants, comes in contact with the bodies 
 of the insects and destroys them. The tobacco decoction, 
 which is called nicotine sulfate, or Black Leaf 40, and the 
 lime-sulfur preparation may be purchased at most drug 
 stores. Directions for dilution and application accompany 
 the mixtures. The kerosene and soap mixture, called 
 kerosene emulsion, is made as follows : 
 
FRUIT GROWING ^ 309 
 
 Dissolve a half pound of laundry soap in one gallon 
 of boiling rain water. Remove from the fire and add 
 two gallons of kerosene. Churn, or mix violently, until 
 you have a hght, creamy mixture. Dilute this mixture 
 with from twenty to twenty-five times as much water for 
 
 plants in full leaf. 
 
 Fungous Diseases. — We have already studied at some 
 length in Section 98 how the spores of disease are spread 
 and how they may be controlled. With nearly all fruits, 
 it is best to apply a spray of Bordeaux mixture or lime- 
 sulfur just before the leaves expand. Another apphca- 
 tion, with lead arsenate added, should be made just after 
 the petals have fallen from the blossoms. One or more 
 appUcations of this spray may be necessary during the 
 growing season if insects or diseases are feared. 
 
 One ought not to try to remember all of the sprays and 
 when to apply them, but to keep in the bookcase instead, 
 one of the government or state bulletins, which gives the 
 whole spraying schedule. These bulletins can be had for 
 the asking. 
 
 231. Gathering and Storing the Fruit. — Now that we 
 have assisted in the formation of fruit buds, have kept 
 away the rabbits and mice during the winter, have pro- 
 tected the developing blossoms and fruit from the danger 
 of spring frosts, and have brought them unharmed past 
 the strongholds of their enemies, insects and diseases, we 
 have a right to expect as our reward luscious, mellow, fra- 
 grant fruit; and whether we expect to eat it soon after 
 gathering, or to store it away to eat in the long winter 
 evenings as we are gathered about the fire, we must 
 exercise care in harvesting it. 
 
 Three rules, which need no explanation, should be ob- 
 served at picking time : 
 
310 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 (1) Pick in the cool of the morning. 
 
 (2) Handle the fruit as few times as possible. 
 
 (3) Avoid bruising it as much as possible. 
 
 Fig. 142. — Boxes of apples. 
 
 Fruits which are to be stored away, such as apples and 
 pears, should be picked while they are firm, wrapped in 
 papers, and packed away in boxes in a cool cellar where the 
 dry, hot air from a furnace room can not reach them. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. What is meant by the term horticulture. 
 
 2. Name three important fruits which originated in America 
 and three which originated in foreign countries. 
 
 3. Name four points to be considered in locating an orchard. 
 
 4. Why do we cut back young trees and vines at the time of 
 transplanting ? 
 
 5. Under what two conditions do fruit buds form ? 
 
 6. Upon wood of what age is the fruit of the grape, the peach 
 and the apple borne? 
 
 7. Give five reasons for pruning. 
 
 8. Name three rules to follow in picking fruit. 
 
 9. Name two classes of insects, telling means of control. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 VEGETABLE GROWING 
 
 Those plants, known as vegetables, which are grown for 
 their roots, stems, leaves, or fruits, may be roughly divided 
 into cool season crops and warm season crops. There are 
 some plants, which must be started in the cool season, but 
 which continue to grow throughout the summer. Plants 
 of this kind ^vill be considered here among the cool season 
 crops. 
 
 232. Cool Season Crops. — Almost all of the vegetables 
 which are grown for their roots,' stems or leaves, fall into this 
 class. 
 
 The seed of those which are grown for their roots, such 
 as the radish, carrot, parsnip and beet, will germinate 
 while the soil is yet quite cool and make their best growth 
 before the heat of summer comes on. In order to succeed 
 well, all of the root crops require a deep, rich, loose, mellow, 
 cool soil, plenty of surface cultivation and enough moisture 
 and cool weather to keep them growing rapidly. 
 
 The potato, which may also be regarded as a root crop, 
 though the tuber is really an underground stem, likewise 
 dehghts in a cool chmate and a rich, deep, cool soil, which 
 contains enough humus to give it a large moisture-holding 
 capacity. 
 
 Onions, together with a number of less common vege- 
 tables, such as the shallot, leek, garhc and chive, are known 
 as bulb crops, for they all grow from, and produce a bud 
 in the middle of a cluster of, shortened, thickened leaves, 
 
 311 
 
312 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 known as a bulb. These plants thrive in a cool, moist, 
 well tilled soil, rich in available plant food. 
 
 Those vegetables, which are grown for their edible 
 leaves, such as the cabbage, lettuce, spinach and others, 
 are all cool season crops. 
 
 233. Warm Season Crops. — Almost all of the vege- 
 tables which are raised for their seed or fruits grow best 
 in the warm part of the season. 
 
 This rule has an important exception in the case of the 
 pea. The smooth pea is among the first vegetables to be 
 sown in the open ground. Wrinkled peas demand a 
 shghtly warmer soil, though they may still be regarded 
 as cool season plants. 
 
 Beans, on the other hand, are very sensitive to cold 
 and can not be safely planted until the soil is warm and 
 " the oaks are in leaf." 
 
 Sweet corn, like field corn, must not be planted until 
 the ground is warm and the danger of frost is past. 
 
 The tomato, egg plant and peppers, all related by the 
 way, are warm, or even hot, season plants, and are easily 
 cut down by the frosts of either spring or fall. 
 
 The vine crops, such as the muskmelon, cucumber, 
 pumpkin, squash and water-melon, are all sensitive to 
 frost and require therefore a warm season and sunny 
 weather. 
 
 The sweet potato, which is a true root, succeeds best in 
 a loose, warm, sandy soil and in a warm, sunny climate. 
 
 234. Getting ahead of the Season. — Since many of 
 the garden crops can not be planted in the open ground 
 until late spring, — often not until nearly June in the 
 northern part of the United States — • it is highly desir- 
 able to start the plants in some favorable and protected 
 place, from which they may be transplanted later to the 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 
 
 313 
 
 open ground. The place where plants are usually started 
 in this way is called a hotbed. 
 
 Cabbage and lettuce may be started in these beds while 
 the ground is yet frozen. Radishes and lettuce may be 
 grown to maturity in them. Tomatoes may grow in these 
 beds to be several in-ches tall before the ground outside 
 is warm enough even to receive the seed. Muskmelons 
 and water melons may be started in inverted pieces of sod 
 in the hotbed and then transplanted when favorable 
 
 
 Fig. 143. — A hotbed. 
 
 weather comes on. In this way we can secure melons 
 several weeks earlier than we could otherwise. 
 
 EXERCISE 52 
 
 Object. — To learn how to make and manage a hotbed. 
 
 Procedure. — Select some place on or near the school 
 ground where the soil is well drained. A south slope is 
 preferable, and a gravelly or sandy soil drains better than 
 one of heavy clay. 
 
 Dig a pit two feet deep and as long and as wide as the 
 window frame which you can secure to cover the hotbed. 
 Build a frame out of lumber to hold your window sash, 
 allowing it to slope as shown in Figure 143. 
 ' Secure a load of fresh, horse barn litter, of which about 
 one half is bedding. Place this in a long, narrow pile three 
 or four feet wide and about the same height. This manure 
 
314 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 should be moist, but not wet. It should be forked over^ 
 every few days and kept moist by the addition of water as 
 necessary, as this treatment will cause it to begin heating. 
 When the pile has begun to steam uniformly, which usu- 
 ally takes place after about two weeks, it may be placed in 
 the pit which you have dug. This should be done by put- 
 ting in a shallow layer, tramping or packing it down well, 
 then- adding another layer, and so on until you have from 
 twelve to eighteen inches of well packed manure in the 
 bottom of the pit. This material will probably heat up 
 quickly, cool down in a few days, and then begin gradually 
 to heat again. When it begins to warm up the second 
 time, it should be thoroughly tramped and then covered 
 with about six inches of rich, mellow, sandy soil. 
 
 A thermometer should be placed in the soil ; and when 
 the temperature has again fallen below ninety degrees 
 Fahrenheit, the seeds may be safely planted. We should 
 keep in mind at this time that the cool season plants re- 
 quire a lower temperature than the warm season crops. 
 
 Plant some radishes, lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes in 
 rows, and some melons in little squares of inverted sod. 
 The rows should be far enough apart to prevent crowding. 
 
 After the httle plants come up, it is necessary to watch 
 the hotbed to see that they receive ventilation. The sash 
 should be raised, or taken off entirely, on warm days, and 
 closed down, or even covered over with old blankets during 
 cold nights and days. Then, too, the watering must be 
 done carefully. Apply enough with a watering pot to 
 keep the soil moist, but not wet. Perhaps the best time to 
 do this is about four o'clock in the afternoon. One good 
 watering every other day, or even less frequently, is better 
 than watering lightly, more often. 
 
 1 For small hotbeds the manure may be taken from the barn 
 and placed directly in the hotbed. 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 315 
 
 The soil should be kept stirred to keep down the weeds 
 and to prevent baking. If the little plants are crowded, 
 some of them should be removed. 
 
 A cold frame is made in exactly the same way as a 
 hotbed, o'nly that the pit, containing the heated manure, 
 is omitted. 
 
 From the hotbed, the plants may be taken to the cold 
 frame to be " hardened " before they are finally trans- 
 planted into the garden. 
 
 Conclusion. — • Write a brief account in your notebook 
 of the method of making a hotbed, the time required by 
 the various seeds to germinate and reach the surface, 
 and the management of it until the young plants are trans- 
 planted or otherwise disposed of. 
 
 235. In the Garden Proper. — Now that we have at- 
 tended to those vegetables which may be grown, or at 
 least started in the hotbed, let us turn our attention to the 
 garden itself. 
 
 The ground should have been fall plowed, or spaded, 
 and during the winter it should have had an appHcation 
 of well rotted barnyard manure to provide plant food 
 and to make the soil more mellow when worked into the 
 ground. 
 
 Our next task is to make a plan of the garden in order 
 that we may know just where each vegetable is to be 
 planted. In making this plan, we must bear in mind that 
 good gardeners no longer use the old-fashioned beds, for 
 they are hard to weed and moreover cultivation must be 
 done largely by hand. Long, straight rows give a garden 
 a very neat appearance and permit the use of that great 
 labor saver, the wheel hoe. 
 
 Prepare in your notebook a plat of your home garden. 
 Make the scale such that one inch on the paper represents 
 twenty feet in the garden. The size should depend upon 
 
316 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 the number of people that are to be suppHed by it with fresh 
 and winter vegetables. A well managed garden one 
 hundred by one hundred fifty feet should supply five per- 
 
 sons. 
 
 The following diagram will assist you in making your 
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VEGETABLE GROWING 317 
 
 236. The First Planting. — There are several of the cool 
 season crops that we shall want to plant at once. Among 
 
 them are : 
 
 ^gg^s _ Hardly any other vegetables are more easily 
 raised than beets. If you plant the rows eighteen inches 
 apart in a loose, cool soil, and cultivate with the wheel 
 or hand hoe frequently to conserve the moisture and to 
 keep down the weeds, you will soon have a row of vigor- 
 ously growing young beet plants. You should pull out 
 enough of them to allow the remainder to stand six or eight 
 inches apart. The tops of the young beets which you re- 
 move will make excellent greens. 
 
 Later sowings may be made every two weeks into the 
 early summer. In the South, they are frequently used 
 even as a fall crop. 
 
 Cahhage. — li we have succeeded in raising stocky, 
 thrifty young cabbage plants in the hotbed, and have 
 transplanted them into a cold frame or perhaps a frame 
 covered with cloth so as to expose them to weather condi- 
 tions down nearly to freezing to make them hardy, we are 
 almost certain of very early, crisp cabbages. 
 
 At this time, the plants may be set in the open ground, 
 for they will endure considerable frost without injury. 
 The transplanting, however, should be done with care. 
 Near the close of the day, begin by opening the rich, 
 mellow soil with the hands or with a small garden shovel. 
 Place a plant in each hole, draw only enough dirt loosely 
 about it to hold it in place, and then pour in about half 
 a pint of water. The following morning, hoe the dirt 
 carefully about them, making the surface of the soil level. 
 This same method of transplanting should be followed 
 with tomatoes or any other plants which we may set out. 
 Cabbages should be set about two feet apart each way. 
 They should be cultivated very frequently to conserve the 
 
318 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 moisture and should be dusted if necessary with hellebore 
 to destroy the cabbage worms. 
 
 Late cabbage may be sown in open beds and trans- 
 planted to the fields as late as the middle of June. The 
 early cabbages should be used as soon as ripe or the heads 
 will tend to burst open. 
 
 Carrots. — These may be sown as soon as the soil is in 
 suitable condition in the spring. The earth must be 
 finely pulverized as the seeds germinate slowly. Inas- 
 much as the young plants are somewhat delicate, they are 
 easily overcome by weeds. 
 
 Perhaps we should mark the carrot rows, which are to be 
 eighteen inches apart, by sowing a few radish seeds in them. 
 These will germinate quickly, breaking the crust over the 
 carrot seeds. Our task after this is simply to thin out the 
 young carrot plants until they stand from three to five 
 inches apart and to cultivate them with the wheel hoe to 
 keep out the weeds and to keep a mulch on the surface of 
 the ground. 
 
 Lettuce. — Few vegetables are appreciated any more 
 in the spring and early summer than fresh, crisp lettuce, 
 and, moreover, it is easily grown. 
 
 The plants may be started in the hotbed and trans- 
 planted into the garden if we wish " to get ahead of the 
 season " ; or the seeds may be sown directly into mellow, 
 rich soil. Frequent cultivation should be given to hasten 
 the growth of the crop. 
 
 Lettuce belongs to that group of plants called " salad 
 crops," and a good salad depends upon the crispness of the 
 material used. It may be sown at intervals of two or three 
 weeks in any space available in the garden until the heat 
 of summer comes on. It may be sown again as a fall crop. 
 
 Onions. — Both the seeds and the sets of these vege- 
 tables may be planted. The latter produce the young. 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 319 
 
 green table onions so desirable in the early part of the 
 season, while the seed is used to grow the main crop for 
 fall and winter use. Onions from sets are easily and 
 quickly grown, but the crop grown from the seeds requires 
 special attention. 
 
 They are sown thickly in the row ; and as soon as the 
 little plants have pushed above the soil far enough to be 
 seen, they should be thinned out. As beginners, it will 
 perhaps be well for us to confine our efforts to raising 
 onions from sets. Only by strict attention to the soil, 
 which must be loose, rich and cool, by much tedious labor 
 in thinning, and by close and frequent cultivation, may 
 we expect to raise a crop of onions from the seed. 
 
 Parsnips. — These vegetables also revel in a cool, loose, 
 deep soil, in which their long, tapering roots may develop 
 without branching. The seed may be sown as soon as the 
 soil is warm in the spring and will occupy the ground 
 throughout the entire summer. In fact, most parsnips 
 are allowed to remain in the ground all winter as freezing 
 does not injure them. However, if one wants parsnips 
 for winter use, they must be dug in the fall and stored, 
 preferably in moist sand in a cool cellar. In planting 
 parsnips, as in the case of carrots, it is advisable to mark 
 the row by planting a few radish seeds in it. The distances 
 between the rows and between the plants in the row are 
 the same as those between carrots. 
 
 Potatoes. — You will notice by the home garden plan 
 shown in Figure 144, that only early potatoes were included, 
 and these were to be removed as soon as they were large 
 enough to be eaten, after which the space was to be de- 
 voted to celery. If enough potatoes are to be raised to 
 supply the entire family throughout the year, they should 
 usually be planted in a space outside the garden where they 
 may be cultivated by horse power. 
 
320 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Early potatoes may be started in the hotbed or in a box 
 of sandy soil in a window. If this is done, the best results 
 are obtained by planting whole potatoes of medium size 
 and removing all of the sprouts as they appear except 
 the strongest one. In three or four weeks, the plant will 
 have made thrifty growth. It may then be transplanted 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 Bhb^' ^^ ftl^K ^^fflfc \ iii^B^fci "* "^nitf mm 
 
 ifti 
 
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 ^li^^H^^^I 
 
 
 
 Fig. 145. — Harvesting potatoes. 
 
 to the garden and new potatoes gathered from it several 
 days or even weeks before those which were planted as 
 dormant tubers on the same date in the open ground. 
 
 New potatoes begin to appear in the markets of the 
 northern cities in February and March. These are grown 
 in Florida. During the months from February to July, 
 northern markets are suppHed by gardens in succession 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 
 
 321 
 
 from Florida northward. In July, these markets are sup- 
 pHed by home gardeners. 
 
 No matter where the grower Uves, he knows that the 
 potato dehghts in a cool, rich, moist sandy loam. The 
 Florida man found his soil cool in January, the Wisconsin 
 man, in June. Each planted his tubers perhaps a little 
 more than three inches 
 deep, gave the plants 
 frequent, shallow till- 
 age, sprayed them 
 with Bordeaux mix- 
 ture (Exercise 37) to 
 keep the spores of dis- 
 ease from germinating, 
 and with lead arsenate 
 (Section 230) to kill 
 the insects. 
 
 The movement of 
 the potato harvest 
 from south to north 
 shows that the plant 
 thrives best in a cool 
 soil and accounts for 
 the fact that most of 
 our potatoes for win- 
 ter use are grown in 
 Maine, New York, 
 Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. 
 
 Radishes. — Radish seeds have already been used to 
 mark the rows of carrots and parsnips, and these will 
 probably furnish enough radishes for early table use. If 
 not, more seed may be sown in nearly any place in the gar- 
 den. It will germinate quickly and the crop will thrive. 
 
 Tender, crisp radishes can be produced only when the 
 
 Fig. 146. — Bunch of radishes. 
 
322 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 growth of the plants is rapid and continuous, and for this 
 reason, mellow, rich land is best. Successive plantings 
 of radish seed should be made at intervals of about ten 
 days until the hot weather comes on. A continuous 
 supply of these vegetables can easily be secured if the 
 season is at all favorable. 
 
 Spinach. — One of the most popular plants for greens 
 is spinach. We may sow the seed very early in the spring, 
 and in the cool, moist weather, the plants grow rapidly, 
 producing an abundant supply of fresh, green leaves. 
 
 Turnips. — The turnip is as easy to grow as the radish, 
 and the soil, season and cultural methods of the two plants 
 are the same. 
 
 Early turnips are sown as soon as the soil is warm enough 
 to receive them. The young vegetables are eaten fresh. 
 A fall crop, the main crop, is sown in the latter part of July, 
 or even later farther south, matures during the cool weather 
 of fall and is harvested before the temperature fahs to 
 freezing. 
 
 A turnip or radish which grows and matures quickly is 
 crisp and sweet; one which grows slowly is woody and 
 bitter. 
 
 Peas. — Two types of peas should be recognized : those 
 with smooth seed coats and those whose seed coats are 
 wrinkled. 
 
 The smooth-seeded varieties, such as the " Alaska " 
 or " First and Best," may be planted with the earliest of 
 the cool season crops, while the wrinkled varieties, such as 
 " Nott's Excelsior," should not be planted until two weeks 
 later, or even more, as the seed will rot if cold, wet weather 
 comes on. 
 
 The early varieties are usually rather low growing and 
 require no support for their pods, while the late varieties 
 tend to form vines and produce the best pods when sup- 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 
 
 323 
 
 ported by brush or wire netting. These tall varieties are 
 sown in rows three or four feet apart, while the "dwarf" 
 varieties may be planted as near together as eighteen 
 inches. The seeds of both kinds are planted about two 
 inches apart in the row and covered about two and one 
 half inches deep. 
 
 237. When the Danger of Frost is past. — In making our 
 plans for the warm season crops, we may study ^rs^, those 
 plants which were started in 
 the hotbed, and second, those 
 whose seeds are planted di- 
 rectly in the warm, open soil. 
 
 Tomatoes. — These plants 
 need a long, warm growing 
 season and therefore thrive 
 best in the South. By start- 
 ing the plants under glass, 
 however, and transplanting 
 them to cold frames later, 
 stocky, vigorous plants may 
 be produced, which are well on 
 their way by the time warm 
 weather arrives. In this way, 
 tomatoes are grown even 
 north of the Canadian line. 
 
 In any locality, the best to- 
 matoes are grown on a rich, 
 moist soil. In addition to 
 this, some means must be pro- 
 vided of keeping the vines up 
 
 out of the dirt. A Avooden or wire frame may be placed 
 under the vines to hold them up, or they may be pruned to 
 a single stem and tied up to a stake, or lath. In fact, some 
 
 U. S. Dcpt. of Agriculture. 
 
 Fig. 147. — Pruned tomato 
 vines. 
 
324 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 of the finest tomatoes are raised by the latter method. The 
 pruning checks the growth, which induces earlier fruiting 
 and permits the growth of more vines in a row of given 
 length. If the vines are not pruned and they are found 
 making plant growth at the expense of fruit growth, the 
 terminal buds should be pinched out. 
 
 Sweet Potatoes. — In the South, 
 sweet potatoes are called potatoes, 
 while other potatoes are called 
 Irish potatoes. This goes to 
 show that the sweet potato is 
 really most at home in the warm, 
 sandy soil south of the Ohio and 
 Missouri rivers. 
 
 Young plants may be secured 
 by planting the sweet potatoes, 
 either whole or split once length- 
 wise, in the hotbed and covering 
 them with four or five inches of 
 sand. When the plants have 
 attained some size, and the soil is 
 warm, they may be transplanted 
 to ridges in the open ground. 
 These ridges are usually made 
 three feet apart, and the plants 
 on the ridges are set from one to 
 two feet apart. Special cultiva- 
 tors, or the hand hoe, are used to keep the soil free from 
 weeds. 
 
 Celery. — One of the most unsatisfactory crops to at- 
 tempt to grow is celery. 
 
 The seeds start very slowly in the hotbed, — the plants 
 are delicate, can not endure hot, dry winds, and they 
 demand a cool, very rich, and very moist soil. Moreover, 
 
 Fig. 148. — A roasting ear. 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 
 
 325 
 
 after careful tillage, the plants must still be blanched by 
 banking earth or leaning boards against the stems. 
 
 If by careful preparation of the soil, by transplanting 
 the small plants to level ground or to the bottom of a fur- 
 row, by painstaking cultivation and banking, you succeed 
 in raising celery, you will 
 often find the home- 
 grown product superior 
 to that purchased at the 
 market. 
 
 Celery is grown in im- 
 mense fields of reclaimed 
 muck or swamp land in 
 Michigan and California. 
 
 Sweet Corn. — Like 
 other corn, this is a 
 warm season crop, de- 
 manding a great deal of 
 sunlight, moisture and 
 available plant food. 
 
 Sweet corn, or sugar 
 corn, in common with 
 other vegetables grown 
 for their seeds, is never 
 transplanted. We 
 should remember, how- 
 ever, that some varie- 
 ties mature more quickly 
 than others and endure a 
 little more cold weather. 
 Our first planting, which 
 should not be made until 
 the soil is fairly warm, should be of the small-stalked 
 varieties, such as the ^' Early Minnesota," the ''Golden 
 
 Fig. 149. — Lima beans. 
 
326 
 
 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 Bantam," or the " Peep-o'-Day." A week or two after 
 the first planting, some such variety as the ^' Country 
 Gentleman" may be planted. Late plantings should be 
 of the large-stalked, large-yielding, sweeter varieties of the 
 type of " Stowell's Evergreen." The cultivation of sweet 
 corn is similar to that of field corn. 
 
 Beans. — These are divided into two classes, string 
 beans and Lima beans. While both are warm season 
 
 ,&N ^' 
 
 tf^ /v^V 
 
 
 
 -5>v^'^->i.^'-^-"^"iJ^> 
 
 Fig. 150. — Young melon plants are this much ahead of the season if 
 started in overturned sods or boxes. 
 
 crops, and can not be planted until the danger of frost is 
 past, the Lima beans require even a higher temperature 
 than the others. In fact, it is best to delay the planting 
 of the Limas until fully two weeks after it is deemed safe 
 to plant the string beans. 
 
 Of the string beans, there are two classes, the green and 
 the wax beans. Both are easily grown, requiring only 
 good tillage, and if the '' vining " varieties are raised, 
 a support, such as is provided for tall peas. 
 
 Dwarf Lima beans are now grown, although less than 
 thirty years ago only the pole Limas were known. The 
 dwarf, small-seeded varieties are rather to be preferred 
 for a home garden, though an Indian '^ wigwam " built 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 
 
 327 
 
 of slender poles, or even a single pole, driven into the 
 ground, will support the large Limas which grow from 
 .eight to ten feet tall and produce heavy crops of seed. 
 
 Vine Crops. — Cucumbers, watermelons, muskmelons, 
 pumpkins and squashes, which are known as vine crops, 
 may all be considered together, for in their manner of 
 growth, as well as in their soil and moisture requirements, 
 they are very much alike. 
 
 
 
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 Fig. 151. 
 
 Copyright The Gerlach-Barklow Co. 
 Ready for the table. 
 
 Pumpkins and squashes are usually planted in the open 
 ground after the danger of frost is past. We are not usu- 
 ally concerned as to when they will ripen, for we think of 
 them in connection wdth the autumn frosts. 
 
 On the other hand, we are anxious to have watermelons 
 and muskmelons mature as early in the season as possible. 
 In starting either melons or cucumbers, our hotbed again 
 comes into use. By making paper boxes of heavy cardboard, 
 by using w^ooden strawberry boxes and filling them with rich 
 
328 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 earth, or even by making use of small squares of sod, turned 
 upside down, a seed bed is secured. Here the plants may 
 grow for several weeks ; and when the ground has become 
 warm enough, they may be taken to the field and trans- 
 planted, care being taken to avoid disturbing the roots. 
 The precautions to be taken in growing vine crops are : 
 
 (1) Provide well drained, rich soil ; and for watermelons, 
 choose a sandy one if possible. 
 
 (2) Plant the seed in hills far enough apart to allow the 
 vines to spread. The distances should vary from four by 
 four feet for cucumbers to eight by eight feet or more for 
 watermelons. 
 
 (3) Thin out the plants in each hill, leaving only three 
 or four of the strongest ones. 
 
 (4) Remove the first plants that show melon bugs or 
 lice. If this does not check them, spray with Black Leaf 
 40. (Section 230.) 
 
 (5) If the striped beetles appear, cover the vines with 
 small frames of mosquito netting, spray with dilute Bor- 
 deaux mixture and lead arsenate, or dust lightly once or 
 twice a day with sifted ashes, gypsum or other fine powder. 
 
 (6) Cultivate between the rows frequently until the 
 vines become too long. Then use the hoe. 
 
 QUESTIONS 
 
 1. Divide vegetable crops into two groups according to the 
 season in which the seed is planted. Name five vegetables of 
 each group. 
 
 2. Tell fully how to make and manage a hotbed. 
 
 3. What is a cold frame and how is it made? 
 
 4. Tell briefly how to plant cabbages in the hotbed, harden 
 them in the cold frame and transplant them into the garden. 
 
 5. Divide peas into two classes and tell when each should be 
 sown. 
 
 6. Are onion seeds rather to be chosen than sets for the home 
 garden ? Why ? 
 
VEGETABLE GROWING 329 
 
 7. How may you secure ''extra early" potatoes? Where 
 is most of our winter supply of potatoes grown? Why? 
 
 8. What two classes of beans do we have and when should 
 each be sown? 
 
 9. Tell briefly how to grow tomatoes in the hotbed, how to 
 transplant them, and how to prune them to a single vine. 
 
 10. Name five rules to follow in growing vine crops. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 
 
 The land in the United States of America has been called 
 the " floor space of the nation." The work for three hun- 
 dred years has been to occupy this floor space. Forests 
 have been cut down, swamps have been drained, and 
 streams have been spread out to furnish moisture for fields 
 in places where little came from the clouds. 
 
 So long as there was new land to occupy, — rich fields 
 awaiting the plow, — there was food in plenty and to spare. 
 Now, however, there is little new land to occupy, and the 
 number of mouths that must be fed continues to increase. 
 
 Land can no longer be abused and then thrown back 
 upon a generous Nature to repair the waste of man. 
 
 The soil has been compared to money in the savings 
 bank, upon which the interest only may be drawn each 
 year. If more than this is wanted, we begin to draw upon 
 the principal. That is to say, a certain amount of plant 
 food — nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc. — is un- 
 locked each year by the rain, the frost and the unseen or- 
 ganisms of the soil. 
 
 Certain plants take out more of a given element than 
 do others. While clover, for example, is taking out a 
 great deal of potash, the store of nitrogen in the soil is 
 increasing ; and when corn later begins to draw upon the 
 nitrogen, the drain upon the potassium is lessened. 
 
 It is definitely known just how much of each element 
 is taken out of the soil by each crop. It therefore 
 
 330 
 
PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 331 
 
 becomes a matter of good farming to restore to the land 
 in some way that which is removed from it by the crops 
 
 grown in it. 
 
 We may, it is true, increase our crop yields by the selec- 
 tion of better seed, by the selection of superior varieties, 
 by improved methods of cultivation, or otherwise ; but a 
 permanent agriculture, upon which the future prosperity 
 of the nation depends, rests finally upon the maintenance 
 of fertility oi the soil. 
 
 238. The Result of selling Crops from the Land. — The 
 
 fertility of the soil is very largely, though not altogether, 
 a matter of the presence in it of those elements which 
 plants must have in order to make healthy growth, — par- 
 ticularly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. (Section 7.) 
 Let us suppose that an acre of ground produces a crop 
 of fifty bushels of ear corn. This amount of corn contains 
 approximately fifty pounds of nitrogen, nine pounds of 
 phosphorus and fifteen pounds of potassium ; and if the 
 crop is sold, these three elements will be lost from the farm 
 in the amounts named. 
 
 The small grains do not remove so much fertihty from 
 the soil as does corn, since the amount of food material 
 which they produce is actually much less. Thus a crop 
 of twenty bushels of wheat per acre takes twenty-four 
 pounds of nitrogen and about fi.ve pounds each of phos- 
 phorus and potassium from the land, while a fifty-bushel 
 crop of oats removes from the soil approximately thirty- 
 two pounds of nitrogen, six pounds of phosphorus and 
 eight pounds of potassium. 
 
 Timothy may remove even more of the elements of 
 fertihty from the soil than do the small grains. A crop 
 yielding one and one half tons of hay per acre, takes 
 about thirty-seven pounds of nitrogen, seven pounds of 
 
332 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 phosphorus and twenty-five pounds of potassium from the 
 land. 
 
 In a very true sense, then, the farmer who sells his crop 
 to others is really selhng the fertihty of his soil ; or we 
 may say that, little by little, he is selling the land itself. 
 To continue such a practice year after year must inevitably 
 result in the gradual exhaustion of the soil. It is chiefly 
 due to this fact that much of the land of the older sections 
 of the country has become, as we say, '^ worn out," by 
 which we mean that it has reached the stage at which it 
 will not produce crops that will yield a profit above the 
 actual cost of care and cultivation. 
 
 239. How the Three Important Elements of Fertility 
 may be restored to the Soil. — 
 
 Nitrogen. — The store of nitrogen in the soil may be in- 
 creased in three ways : 
 
 (1) By growing legumes. 
 
 (2) By the application of barnyard manure. 
 
 (3) By the application of commercial fertilizers. 
 
 How the bacteria which live on the roots of legumes take 
 nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form that 
 plants can use was explained in Section 180. The actual 
 amount of nitrogen that is received from the air in this 
 way by the legumes varies with the different plants. A 
 crop of red clover, sweet clover or crimson clover, yielding 
 one and one half tons of hay per acre, receives from the 
 air as a rule between sixty and seventy pounds of nitrogen ; 
 a cutting of alfalfa or cowpeas, yielding the same amount 
 of hay per acre, contains usually from seventy to eighty 
 pounds of nitrogen which has been taken from the air ; 
 and it follows that if a crop of any one of these plants which 
 would yield a ton and a half of hay per acre were plowed 
 under, nitrogen would be added to each acre of the soil 
 
PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 333 
 
 in the amount named. To cut the hay and sell it from the 
 farm however, would give a far different result. In this 
 a^'little or n^ nitrogen would be added to the sojl by the 
 legume since the amount contained m the roots and tubble 
 is usually about the same as that which these plants have 
 actually drawn from the soil itself ; but on the other hand 
 the land would lose heavily in phosphorus and potassium, 
 owing to the fact that legumes take large amounts of these 
 
 elements from the soil. . , -t 
 
 By the application of barnyard manure, ««* only nitro- 
 gen but also phosphorus and potassium may be added to 
 the soil A ton of ordinary barnyard manure contains 
 about ten pounds of nitrogen, two pounds of phosphorus 
 and eight pounds of potassium. If we compare these 
 figures with the amounts of the same elements removed 
 from an acre of ground by a fifty-bushel crop of corn, we 
 see that it would require the application of about hve 
 tons of manure per acre to replace the nitrogen removed 
 
 by a single corn crop. •. „ 
 
 The use of commercial fertilizers to restore mtrogen 
 to the soil is much more general in the older sections of 
 our country than in the newer parts where the virgin 
 fertility has not been altogether exhausted and where the 
 clovers may be more easily grown. The fertilizers which 
 are commonly used to add mtrogen to the soil are as fol- 
 
 ^°Xdmm nUrale, called also Chile saltpeter^ Each 
 hundred pounds of this product contains from Mteen i^ 
 ,ixt^n pounds of nitrogen. It should be apphed tojje 
 land after plants have begun to grow, as it dissolves read, y 
 and is soon leached or washed out of the soil. It should 
 be mixed with three or four times its weight of soil, as 
 otherwise it may injure the growing plants. The amoun 
 used varies from one hundred to two hundred pounds 
 
334 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 per acre ; and to secure the best results, this is not all 
 applied at one time but two or three applications in smaller 
 amounts are made during the growing season. 
 
 Ammonium sulfate, which contains about twenty-one 
 per cent of nitrogen, is often used. It is quite effective ; 
 but a rather serious objection to it is found in the fact 
 that it apparently tends to leave the soil acid. 
 
 Calcium nitrate, which is manufactured chiefly in 
 Norway, and which contains about twelve per cent of 
 nitrogen, is a highly satisfactory fertilizer save for the 
 fact that the nitrogen in it is rather more expensive than 
 that in the products named above. 
 
 Fish fertilizers, consisting usually of the dried, ground 
 bodies of the menhaden, are often used with excellent 
 results. They contain from eight to eleven per cent of 
 nitrogen as a rule and also from one to two per cent of 
 phosphorus. 
 
 Phosphorus. — Unlike nitrogen, this element can not 
 be restored to the soil by growing legumes or any other 
 special crops. Rather it can be added only in the form 
 of barnyard manure, as already stated, or in the form of 
 commercial fertilizers. 
 
 The commercial fertilizers commonly used for this 
 purpose are : 
 
 Ground phosphate rock, or floats. This rock is quarried 
 in Florida, the Carolinas, Tennessee and some of the 
 western states. It is also called rock phosphate or in- 
 soluble phosphate of lime. It contains from eleven to 
 thirteen per cent of phosphorus. It is insoluble in water 
 and for this reason could not be used as a fertilizer at all 
 but for the fact that it is very gradually dissolved by the 
 acids which are formed by the decay of the humus in the 
 soil. It is usually applied with barnyard manure. Its 
 effects are not quickly seen as a rule but extend over a 
 
PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 335 
 
 period of several years, increasing during the first three or 
 four years. 
 
 Calcium acid phosphate, called also simply acid phos- 
 phate, soluble phosphate of lime, one lime phosphate, 
 superphosphate, etc. It is soluble in water and hence 
 gives quick results though the effects are not seen so long 
 as in the case of floats. An average sample contains 
 about seven per cent of phosphorus. 
 
 Ground or steamed hone, which is chemically nearly the 
 same as floats, and which contains from ten to eleven per 
 cent of phosphorus in addition to about two and a half 
 per cent of nitrogen. 
 
 Basic slag, a by-product of the manufacture of steel, 
 is considerably used as a source of phosphorus. It con- 
 tains from six to nine per cent of this element. It dis- 
 solves very slowly and hence should be finely ground. 
 
 Potassium. — Most new soils contain enough potassium 
 to supply the needs of plants for a very long time. How- 
 ever, sandy soils, or newly drained swamp land, may be 
 deficient in this element as well as those soils which 
 have been long under cultivation. It may be restored 
 only in the form of barnyard manure or commercial 
 fertilizers. 
 
 The chief commercial fertilizers containing potassium 
 are : 
 
 Potassiuin chloride, called also muriate of potash. 
 It gives satisfactory results for ordinary crops ; but pota- 
 toes, tobacco, sugar beets and other plants which use 
 much potassium appear to be injured by the chlorine 
 present. 
 
 Potassium sulfate, which is of special value for those 
 crops which are injured by the chloride. 
 
 Kainite, which contains from ten to twelve per cent of 
 potassium in the form of both chloride and sulfate. 
 
336 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 
 
 240. The Care and Importance of Barnyard Manure. — 
 About eighty per cent of the essential elements contained in 
 the grain and hay fed to live stock is returned in the excre- 
 ment. If the manure, both solid and liquid, is carefully 
 preserved and returned to the soil without loss, only 
 about twenty per cent of the fertility contained in the crops 
 fed is lost from the land. Usually, however, the manure 
 is not properly handled ; and as a result, about one third 
 of the fertility which it contains is lost. In this case, 
 but little more than half of the fertility taken from the 
 soil in the crops gets back to it again. 
 
 It follows that no farm can maintain its fertility indefi- 
 nitely simply by feeding the crops which it produces to 
 live stock and returning the manure to the land. If the 
 fertility is to be maintained by means of barnyard manure, 
 it is necessary either to secure some from an outside source 
 to be added to that which the farm produces or to purchase 
 supplementary feeds or grain from others and feed them 
 on the farm. 
 
 The chief losses of fertilizing elements from manure 
 occur in three ways : 
 
 (1) The manure is not protected from rains, and much 
 of the fertility which it contains is leached, or washed out 
 of it. This may be prevented by protecting it by a suit- 
 able roof or by applying it at once to the fields. 
 
 (2) The hquid manure is allowed to escape. Pound 
 for pound, it is more valuable than the solid manure, owing 
 to the large amount of nitrogen and potassium which it 
 contains. Sufficient bedding should be used to absorb 
 all of it, or it should be drained into a cistern to be ap- 
 plied later to the land. 
 
 (3) Much loss results from fermentation, by which 
 nitrogen escapes in the form of ammonia. This fermenta- 
 tion may be detected by the heating and steaming of the 
 
PERMANENT AGRICULTURE 
 
 337 
 
 manure heap or even by the odor of ammonia about the 
 barnyard. It is due to bacteria which can exist only in 
 the presence of air ; and if the manure heap is kept com- 
 pact and moist, it may be easily prevented. 
 
 Notwithstanding the necessity of supplementing barn- 
 yard manure with legumes or with other fertilizers, it is 
 still true that it is by far the most valuable fertilizing 
 agent known. The farm, on which all crops produced 
 are fed to live stock and the manure carefully preserved 
 and returned to the land, will continue profitable produc- 
 tion from three times to five times as long as will one 
 from which all crops are sold. It is for this reason that 
 '^ stock " farms are almost invariably found to be more 
 productive than adjoining '' grain " farms. It follows 
 of course that there should be enough live stock on every 
 farm to consume all, or practically all, the grain and forage 
 which it produces. 
 
EQUIPMENT 
 
 A list of apparatus, which will assist the student in per- 
 forming the exercises outlined in the foregoing lessons, is 
 given below : ^ 
 
 20 12-oz. Gas Bottles, or Wide-mouthed Preserve Jars. 
 6 Small Steel or Iron Frying Pans. 
 1 Trip Scale with Rider. 
 1 Set Avoirdupois Weights, 1 lb. to ^ oz. 
 
 1 Set Metric Weights, 1 Kg. to 5 g. 
 
 20 Tin Cans, No. 3, with hds and bottoms removable. 
 20 circular pieces Screen Wire, slightly larger than lids of cans 
 above. 
 
 2 Thermometers, Soil or Dairy preferred. 
 20 Test Tubes, 6 x f ", with corks to fit. 
 
 1 Glass Graduate, 100 c.c. 
 20 One-hole Rubber Stoppers to fit test tubes above. 
 20 Glass Tubes, 2" in diameter and 15" long ; or ordinary lamp 
 chimneys may be used. 
 
 5 Racks to hold tubes above. 
 
 10 Wire Baskets, factory- or home-made of screen wire, 6" in 
 diameter and 6" deep. 
 
 6 Books Blue Litmus Paper. 
 6 Books Red Litmus Paper. 
 
 4 Medium Size Alcohol Stoves. 
 
 1 Galvanized Iron Pail with Vertical Sides, capacity 3 gals. 
 6 Granite or Agate Pans, capacity 2 qts. 
 12 Hand Lenses. 
 1 gal. Denatured Alcohol. 
 8 oz. Saturated Iodine Solution. 
 4 lbs. Paraffin. 
 
 ^ This list includes enough apparatus for twenty students, working in groups of 
 four. 
 
 338 
 
EQUIPMENT 339 
 
 1 lb. 40 % Formalin. 
 
 5 lbs. Blue Vitriol, or Copper Sulfate. 
 
 5 lbs. Fresh Unslaked Lime, to be kept in fruit jars, or other- 
 
 wise protected from the air. 
 1 lb. Beeswax. 
 ^ lb. Raw Linseed Oil. 
 
 6 Small Muslin Sacks for holding soil samples. 
 
 Seeds of Rough Rice, Teparie Beans, Wax Beans, Corn, 
 Wheat, and Oats. 
 J lb. Absorbent Cotton. 
 24 pieces No. 14 Wire, 8" long. 
 6 Safety Razor Blades. 
 
PUBLICATIONS 
 
 No list of bulletins is here suggested, inasmuch as the 
 ones now available may be out of print at any time ; and 
 moreover, new ones are being continually added to the 
 list. 
 
 The list of available publications from any station 
 may be secured at any time ; and it is suggested that 
 if bulletins are needed, such a list be secured from the 
 station or stations as desired. 
 
 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 Bureau of Publications 
 
 Alabama. — College Station : Auburn. 
 
 Canebrake Station : Uniontown. 
 
 Tuskegee Station : Tuskegee Institute. 
 Alaska. — Sitka. 
 Arizona. — Tucson. 
 Arkansas. — Fayetteville. 
 California. — Berkeley. 
 Colorado. — Fort Collins. 
 Connecticut. — State Station : New Haven. 
 
 Storrs Station : Storrs. 
 Delaware. — Newark. 
 Florida. — Gainesville. 
 Georgia. — Experiment. 
 Guam. — Island of Guam. 
 Hawaii. — Federal Station : Honolulu. 
 
 Sugar Planters' Station : Honolulu. 
 Idaho. — Moscow. 
 Illinois. — Urbana. 
 Indiana. — ■ La Fayette. 
 Iowa. — Ames. 
 Kansas. — Manhattan. 
 Kentucky. — Lexington. 
 Louisiana. — State Station : Baton Rouge. 
 
 340 
 
PUBLICATIONS 341 
 
 Louisiana. — Sugar Station : Audubon Park, New Orleans. 
 
 North Louisiana Station : Calhoun. 
 Maine. — Orono. 
 Maryland. — College Park. 
 Massachusetts. — Amherst. 
 Michigan. — East Lansing. 
 Minnesota. — University Farm : St. Paul. 
 Mississippi. — Agricultural College. 
 Missouri. — College Station : Columbia. 
 
 Fruit Station : Mountain Grove. 
 Montana. — Bozeman. 
 Nebraska. — Lincoln. 
 Nevada. — Reno. 
 New Hampshire. — Durham. 
 New Jersey. — New Brunswick. 
 New Mexico. — State College. 
 New York. — State Station : Geneva. 
 Cornell Station : Ithaca. 
 North Carolina. — College Station : West Raleigh. 
 
 State Station : Raleigh. 
 North Dakota. — Agricultural College. 
 Ohio. — Wooster. 
 Oklahoma. — Stillwater. 
 Oregon. — Corvallis. 
 Pennsylvania. — State College. 
 
 State College : Institute of Animal Nutrition. 
 PoRTO Rico. — Federal Station : Mayaguez. 
 
 Insular Station : Rio Piedras. 
 Rhode Island. — Kingston. 
 South Carolina. — Clemson College. 
 South Dakota. — Brookings. 
 Tennessee. — Knoxville. 
 Texas. — College Station. 
 Utah. — Logan. 
 Vermont. — Burlington. 
 Virginia. — Blackburg. 
 
 Norfolk : Truck Station. 
 Washington. — Pullman. 
 West Virginia. — Morgantown, 
 Wisconsin. — Madison. 
 Wyoming. — Laramie. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Acid soil, 252. 
 
 effect on clovers, 252. 
 
 litmus test for, 254. 
 
 how corrected, 258. 
 Agriculture defined, 287. 
 Air, amount in soil, 25. 
 
 in soil, effect upon temperature, 
 31. 
 
 space in soil, how increased, 25. 
 
 why necessary in soil, 25. 
 Alfalfa, 246. 
 
 methods of culture, 267. 
 
 range of, 246. 
 Alsike, 249. 
 
 methods of culture, 270. 
 
 range of, 249. 
 Anthers defined, 108. 
 Apple, age of bearing wood, 298, 
 295. 
 
 how pruned, 302. 
 
 Bacteria, how added to the soil, 
 260. 
 
 necessary to clovers, 255. 
 Barley, climatic range, 221. 
 
 preparation of seed bed for, 221. 
 
 uses of, 221. 
 Barnyard manure, care of, 336. 
 
 composition of, 333. 
 
 how fertility is lost from, 336. 
 
 value of, 333, 337. 
 Bast fibers, 105. 
 Beans, how grown, 326. 
 Beets, how grown, 317. 
 Bermuda grass, 234. 
 
 advantages of, 234. 
 
 disadvantages of, 234. 
 
 how propagated, 234. 
 
 range and character of, 234. 
 Blackberry, age of bearing wood, 
 297. 
 
 how pruned, 297, 301. 
 
 Blue grass, 230. 
 
 advantages of, 232. 
 
 character and value, 230. 
 
 disadvantages of, 232. 
 
 seeding of, 231. 
 Bordeaux mixture, how made, 131. 
 
 how used, 131, 309. 
 
 strength for stone fruits, 132. 
 Bread mold, 126. 
 Brome grass, 233. 
 
 advantages of, 233. 
 
 disadvantages of, 233. 
 
 value of, 233. 
 
 Cabbage, how grown, 317. 
 Calyx defined, 108. 
 Cambium layer defined, 104. 
 Carbon, 10. 
 Carbon dioxide, 69. 
 
 given off by germinating seeds, 
 69. 
 
 test for, 69. 
 Carrots, how grown, 318. 
 Celery, how grown, 324. 
 Cereals defined, 203. 
 
 leading in various countries, 203. 
 Chaffiness defined, 156. 
 Cherry, pruning of, 301. 
 
 age of bearing wood, 295. 
 Cloddy fields, cause of, 39. 
 Clover, crimson, 245. 
 
 range of, 245. 
 
 Japan, methods of culture, 270. 
 
 Japan, range of, 242. 
 
 red, methods of culture, 266. 
 
 red, range of, 248. 
 
 sweet, methods of culture, 269. 
 
 sweet, range of, 248. 
 
 white, methods of culture, 270. 
 Clovers, causes of failure, 250. 
 
 effect of acid soils, 252. 
 
 effect of careless seeding, 256. 
 
 343 
 
344 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Clovers (continued). 
 
 effect of drouths, 257. 
 
 effect of friendly bacteria, 255. 
 
 effect of lack of humus, 255. 
 
 effect of lack of phosphorus, 254. 
 
 effect of nurse crop, 256. 
 
 hard seeds of, 264. 
 
 methods of seeding, 261. 
 
 how to succeed with, 258. 
 
 why sown with grasses, 236. 
 Cold frame, how made, 315. 
 Color of soil, effect on temperature, 
 
 34. 
 Corm defined, 229. 
 Corn, acreage in United States, 149. 
 
 Belt, how pushed northward, 54. 
 
 climatic requirements of, 152. 
 
 cultivation of, 191. 
 
 depth of cultivation, 193. 
 
 desirable characters of ear, 157. 
 
 desirable characters of kernel, 162. 
 
 desirable characters of stalk, 53. 
 
 desirable butt described, 160. 
 
 desirable shape of ear, 159. 
 
 desirable size of ear, 158. 
 
 desirable size of kernels, 163. 
 
 desirable shape of kernels, 163. 
 
 desirable tip described, 161. 
 
 detasseling of, 116. 
 
 distribution of, 150. 
 
 effect of climate on type, 151. 
 
 seed, how dried, 172. 
 
 seed, how graded, 179. 
 
 seed, how stored, 173. 
 
 seed, how tested, 174. 
 
 seed, selection in field, 169. 
 
 frequency of cultivation, 195. 
 
 harvesting of, 196. 
 
 ideal seed bed for, 181. 
 
 immaturity in, how recognized, 
 155. 
 
 listed, cultivation of, 200. 
 
 moisture requirements, 152. 
 
 planting, depth of, 188. 
 
 planting, distance between rows, 
 189. 
 
 planting, methods of, 185. 
 
 planting, number kernels in hill, 
 189. 
 
 planting, time of, 187. 
 
 seed bed in cornstalk ground, 184. 
 
 seed bed in sod ground, 182. 
 
 seed bed in stubble ground, 185. 
 
 replanting, 190. 
 
 sensitiveness to climatic changes, 
 152. 
 
 soil requirements of, 154. 
 
 substitute crops for, 198. 
 
 sweet, how grown, 324. 
 
 unsoundness in. how recognized, 
 155. 
 
 uses of, 149. 
 
 why barren stalks are avoided, 55. 
 
 why stalks with suckers are 
 avoided, 55. 
 Corolla defined, 108. 
 Cotton, how ginned, 280. 
 
 how harvested, 280. 
 
 importance of, 275. 
 
 methods of culture, 277. 
 
 plant described, 276. 
 
 range of, 275. 
 Cottonseed meal, 282. 
 Cotyledon defined, 62. 
 
 effect of removing, 74. 
 Cowpeas, methods of culture, 271. 
 
 range of, 245. 
 Cross-fertilization by hand, 113. 
 Cross-fertilization defined, 113. 
 Cucumbers, how grown, 327. 
 Cultivation of corn, depth of, 193. 
 Cultivation of corn, frequency of, 
 
 195. 
 Cultivation of listed corn, 200. 
 Cuttings, 138. 
 
 Decay, cause of, 126. 
 Dicotyledon defined, 62. 
 Dicotyledons, flowers of, 108. 
 
 roots of, 84. 
 
 seeds of, 63. 
 Diseases, cause of, 126. 
 
 how prevented, 128. 
 Drouths, effects on clovers, 257. 
 Drying seed corn, 172. 
 Dura, 198. 
 
 Earthworms, work done by, 9. 
 Elements, essential, 10. 
 Embryo, 62. 
 
 enemies of, 46. 
 
 how protected, 46. 
 
INDEX 
 
 345 
 
 Endosperm, 63. 
 
 effect of removing, 73. 
 
 Fertilization, cross-, 113. 
 
 defined, 113. 
 
 self-, 113. 
 Feterita, 198. 
 Fiber crops, leading, 274. 
 Fibro-vascular bundles, 101. 
 Filament, 108. 
 Flax, methods of culture, 282. 
 
 methods of handling, 283. 
 
 range of, 282. 
 
 value of products, 284. 
 Flowers of dicotyledons, 108. 
 
 of legumes, 238. 
 
 of monocotyledons, 109. 
 
 pistillate, 110. 
 
 staminate, 110. 
 
 fertilized by insects, 111. 
 
 fertilized by wind, 111. 
 Food, stored in leaves, 96. 
 
 stored in roots, 87. 
 
 stored in seed, 92. 
 
 stored in stems, 137, 229. 
 
 made from starch, 92. 
 
 source of all, 92. 
 
 travels how from leaves to roots, 
 103. 
 Formalin, use of, for oat smut, 128. 
 
 use of, for potato scab, 130. 
 Frost, prevention of injury by, 305. 
 Fruit buds, age of wood bearing, 
 
 295. 
 Fruit buds, conditions favoring 
 formation of, 293. 
 
 how and when formed, 292. 
 Fruit, gathering and storing, 309. 
 Fruits, places of origin, 287. 
 Fruit trees, cultivation of, 291. 
 
 distances between, 289. 
 
 how developed when young, 288. 
 
 training of, 292. 
 
 how planted, 290. 
 
 Garden, plan of, 316. 
 Germ defined, 46, 62. 
 Germination, conditions of, 64. 
 
 optimum temperatures for, 67. 
 Girdling trees, effect of, 103. 
 Glacier defined, 1. 
 
 Glumes, 109. 
 
 Grading of seed corn, 179, 
 Grafting wax, 139. 
 Graft, cleft, 142. 
 
 whip, 140. 
 Grape, age of bearing wood, 296. 
 
 cultivation of, 291. 
 
 method of planting, 291. 
 
 method of pruning, 300. 
 Grasses, characteristics of, 224. 
 
 leading cultivated, 227. 
 
 habit of growth, 226. 
 
 range of each, 236. 
 
 Heat from germinating seeds, 71. 
 Hemp, how handled, 284. 
 
 range of, 284. 
 Hessian fly,' 2 10. 
 Horticulture defined, 287. 
 Hotbed, 313. 
 Humus defined, 5. 
 
 effect on air space in soil, 29. 
 
 effect on soil structure, 37. 
 
 effect on water-holding capacity, 
 15. 
 
 how added to soil, 259. 
 
 necessary to clovers, 255. 
 Hydrogen, 11. 
 Hypocotyl, 62. 
 
 Inoculation, defined, 260. 
 
 method of, 260. 
 Insects on vine crops, how com- 
 bated, 328. 
 
 prevention of injury by, 307. 
 
 Kafir corn, 198. 
 
 cultivation of, 200. 
 planting of, 200. 
 
 Leaf likened to a mill, 90. 
 Leaves, functions and uses, 89. 
 
 storage of food in, 96. 
 Legumes, as nitrogen gatherers, 240. 
 
 benefits of, 239. 
 
 characteristics of, 238. 
 
 flowers of, 238. 
 
 range of, 242. 
 
 securing maximum benefits from, 
 272. 
 Lettuce, how grown, 318. 
 
346 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Limestone, how applied to soil, 259. 
 
 uses of, 258. 
 Linseed meal, 284. 
 Linseed oil, 284. 
 Loam soil defined, 4. 
 
 Manure, effect on air space, 29. 
 Mice, prevention of injury by, 305. 
 Milo maize, 198. 
 Moisture, film or capillary, 19. 
 
 hygroscopic, 19. 
 
 in soil, effect on temperature, 33. 
 
 necessary for germination, 65. 
 
 requirements of corn, 152. 
 
 why injurious to stored seeds, 
 133, 173. 
 Monocotyledon, defined, 62. 
 
 seeds of, 63. 
 
 flowers of, 109. 
 
 leaves of, 225. 
 
 roots of, 83. 
 
 stems of, 101. 
 Mulch, dust, 42. 
 
 use of, 23. 
 Muskmelons, how grown, 327. 
 
 Nitrogen, 11. 
 
 amount in barnyard manure, 333. 
 
 amount in corn, 331. 
 
 amount in oats, 331. 
 
 amount in timothy, 331. 
 
 amount in wheat, 331. 
 
 commercial fertilizers contain- 
 ing, 332. 
 
 how added to soil by legumes, 
 240. 
 
 how restored to soil, 332. 
 
 how lost in process of burning, 92. 
 Nodules on roots, 240. 
 Nurse crop, defined, 256. 
 
 influence on clovers, 256. 
 
 crops suitable for clovers, 260. 
 
 Oatmeal, 219. 
 
 Oats, character of crop, 213. 
 
 advantages of stacking, 219. 
 
 how planted, 215. 
 
 how shocked, 218. 
 
 loose smut of, 127. 
 Oats, seed, desirable characters of, 
 216. 
 
 seed bed for, 215. 
 
 seed, selection of, 216. 
 
 spring, 214. 
 
 used for hay, when cut, 218. 
 
 uses of, 219. 
 
 varieties of, 214. 
 
 when harvested, 218. - 
 
 winter, 214. 
 Onions, how grown, 318. 
 Orchard, location of, 289. 
 Osmose, defined, 78. 
 
 law of, 78. 
 Ovule defined, 113. 
 Oxygen, 11. 
 
 necessary for germination, 65. 
 
 Palea defined, 109. 
 Parsnips, how grown, 319. 
 Peach, age of bearing wood, 296. 
 
 development of young tree, 144. 
 
 how pruned, 301. 
 Peas, how grown, 322. 
 Petals defined, 108. 
 Phosphorus, 11. 
 
 amount in barnyard manure, 333. 
 
 amount in corn, 331. 
 
 amount in oats, 331. 
 
 amount in timothy, 331. 
 
 amount in wheat, 331. 
 
 commercial fertilizers contain- 
 ing, 334. 
 
 necessary to clovers, 254. 
 Photosynthesis defined, 89. 
 Pistil defined, 108. 
 Planting corn, methods of, 185. 
 
 time of, 187. 
 
 depth of, 188. 
 Plants, classes according to useful 
 parts, 144. 
 
 how propagated, 124. 
 
 life cycle of, 44. 
 
 two great classes of, 62. 
 Plowing under stubble and clods, 21. 
 Plum, age of bearing wood, 295. 
 
 pruning of, 301. 
 Plumule defined, 62. 
 Pollen, defined, 108. 
 
 how carried from plant to plant, 
 111. 
 Pollination defined, 111. 
 Potassium, 12. 
 
INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 Potassium (continued). 
 
 amount in barnyard manure, 333. 
 
 amount in corn, 331. 
 
 amount in oats, 331. 
 
 amount in timothy, 331. 
 
 amount in wheat, 331. 
 
 commercial fertilizers contain- 
 ing, 335. 
 
 how restored to soil, 335. 
 Potatoes, how grown, 319. 
 
 sweet, how grown, 324. 
 Propagation, by budding, 142. 
 
 by bulbs, 136. 
 
 by grafting, 139. 
 
 by layers, 135. 
 
 by runners, 134. 
 
 by seeds, 133. 
 
 by spores, 124. 
 
 by suckers, 135. 
 
 by tip layers, 135. 
 Protein, in leguines, 242. 
 
 effect of feeding, 120. 
 Pruning, methods of, 299. 
 
 why necessary, 298. 
 
 precautions necessary, 304. 
 Pumpkins, how grown, 327. 
 
 Rabbits, prevention of injury by, 
 
 305. 
 Radicle defined, 62. 
 Radishes, how grown, 321. 
 Raspberry, age of bearing wood, 297. 
 
 how pruned, 301. 
 
 methods of cultivation, 291. 
 Redtop, advantages of, 233. 
 
 disadvantages of, 233. 
 
 range and character of, 232. 
 Rice, how cared for, 223. 
 
 how harvested, 223. 
 
 how planted, 223. 
 
 how prepared for use, 223. 
 
 production of, in U. S., 222. 
 
 seed bed for, 222. 
 
 soil requirements of, 222. 
 
 uses of, 224. 
 Root hairs, origin of, 81. 
 Roots, absorbing, 80. 
 
 anchorage, 80. 
 
 anchorage, origin of, 81. 
 
 benefits of, 88. 
 
 functions of, 77. 
 
 food stored by, 87. 
 
 how minerals are dissolved by, 79. 
 
 how tips are protected, 82. 
 
 of dicotyledons, 84. 
 
 of monocotyledons, 83. 
 
 rapidity of growth in early 
 stages, 76. 
 
 region of growth, 82. 
 
 why moisture enters, 77. 
 Rotation, benefits of, 29, 85. 
 
 defined, 206. 
 
 that is often recommended, 206. 
 Rye, soil requirements of, 221. 
 
 uses of, 221. 
 
 Sands, shifting of, 85. 
 Sappiness defined, 156. 
 Seed analysis, 261. 
 Seed bed for barley, 221. 
 
 for corn, 181. 
 
 for corn, how prepared, 182. 
 
 for oats, 215. 
 
 for rice, 222. 
 
 for wheat, 207. 
 
 for wheat, how prepared, 206. 
 Seed collection, how made, 50. 
 
 defined, 62. 
 
 functions of, 46. 
 Seedling, defined, 75. 
 
 vigor of, how determined, 74, 76. 
 Seeds, effect of moisture upon, 59. 
 
 enemies of, 46. 
 
 explosive or creeping, 48. 
 
 first factors determining vitality 
 of, 60. 
 
 how scattered by man, 49. 
 
 how scattered by nature, 46. 
 
 how "scattered by animals, 48. 
 
 how scattered by water, 47. 
 
 how scattered by wind, 47. 
 
 selection of, by man, 52. 
 
 selection of, by nature, 52. 
 
 size of, effect on seedlings, 73. 
 
 storage of, by man, 58. 
 Self-fertilization defined, 113. 
 Sepals defined, 108. 
 Shocking oats, methods of, 218. 
 Sieve tubes, 103. 
 Silt, 4. 
 Soil acidity, effect on clovers, 252. 
 
 test for, 254. 
 
348 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Soil binders, 85. 
 
 Soil, how water is lost from, 13. 
 
 how made, 1. 
 
 how mixed and laid down, 2. 
 Soil making, role of animarls in, 8. 
 
 role of plants in, 7. 
 Soil material, two sources of, 5. 
 Soil names, 4. 
 Soil requirements, of corn, 154. 
 
 structure defined, 36. 
 
 texture defined, 36. 
 Soil, what it is, 1. 
 Sorghums, characteristics of, 199. 
 Soy beans, 249. 
 
 methods of culture, 271. 
 Spinach, how grown, 322. 
 Spores causing disease or decay, 
 126. 
 
 how entrance is favored, 133. 
 
 how spread, 127. 
 
 how prevented from spreading, 
 128. 
 
 summer, 130. 
 
 winter, 130. 
 Spring defined, 17. 
 Squashes, how grown, 327. 
 Stacking grain, when advisable, 219. 
 Stamens defined, 108. 
 Starch, manufacture of, 89. 
 Starchiness defined, 156. 
 Stems, climbing, 99. 
 
 erect, 99. 
 
 forms of, 98. 
 
 functions of, 98. 
 
 prostrate, 98. 
 Stigma defined, 108. 
 Stomata defined, 93. 
 Strawberries, how grown, 291. 
 
 pruning of, 303. 
 Structure of soil, crumb, 37. 
 
 how affected by freezing, 37. 
 
 how affected by humus, 38. 
 
 of soil, puddled, 37. 
 
 puddled, how caused, 37. 
 Style defined, 109. 
 Sulfur, 11. 
 Sunscald, injury by, 306. 
 
 Temperature of soil, how governed, 
 30. 
 optimum for germination, 30, 68. 
 
 Tile drains, effect on air space, 29. 
 
 how water enters, 18. 
 
 why used, 18. 
 Tillage, effect on air space, 28. 
 
 why necessary, 36. 
 
 when soil is wet, 39. 
 Timothy, advantages of, 228. 
 
 time of cutting, 229. 
 
 use of, 227. 
 
 where grown, 227. 
 Tomatoes, how grown, 323. 
 Trampling soils when wet, 39. 
 Transpiration defined, 89. 
 Tree, how to tell age of, 102. 
 Tuber defined, 137. 
 Turnips, how grown, 322. 
 
 Vegetables, cool season, 311. 
 
 warm season, 312. 
 Vetches, methods of culture, 272. 
 
 range of, 249. 
 Vitality of seeds, how determined, 60. 
 
 Water, amount given off by leaves, 
 94. 
 
 film, or capillary, 19. 
 
 free, or gravity, 19. 
 Water-holding capacity, how af- 
 fected by humus, 15. 
 Water-holding capacity of differ- 
 ent soils, 16. 
 Water, how lost from soil, 13. 
 
 hygroscopic, 19. 
 
 travels how from root to leaf, 101. 
 Watermelons, how grown, 327. 
 Weed seeds, weights of, 265. 
 Weeds, when most easily destroyed, 
 
 42. 
 Wheat, climatic conditions re- 
 quired, 205. 
 
 harvesting of, 211. 
 
 planting of, 210. 
 
 seed bed for, 207. 
 
 seed bed for, how prepared, 206. 
 
 seed, desirable characters of, 208. 
 
 selection of seed, 207. 
 
 spring, 205. 
 
 time of planting, 210. 
 
 uses of, 212. 
 
 why extensively grown, 203. 
 
 winter, or fall, 205. 
 
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