Secure a kernel of corn and cut it in halves (Fig. 277) and with the naked eye you will be able to see there the young plant pressed close to its stored up food, which, though largely composed of starch, also has in it proteids and oil. You will see that this food is dry and thus cannot be used by the young plant, for plants, whether young or old, must take their nourishment in a fluid condition. Soak the seed and see how soon the young plant passes on the moisture to soften the food so that it may imbibe it and grow. Fill a tumbler with earth and plant a grain of corn next to the glass so that you may be able to see how it grows. CORN STALKS, LEAVES AND ROOTS. 1. Which appears first, root parts or leaf? 2. How does the leaf look when it first comes up? 3. How old is the corn when the blossom stalks begin to show above the leaves? 4. Does the stalk break more easily at the joints than elsewhere? Measure the distances between the joints in a stalk of young corn and two weeks later measure these distances again, and compare your figures. From these measurements tell whether the plant grows only at the top, or has it several growing places? 5. Are the joints nearer each other at the bottom or at the top? 6. Where do the bases of the leaves clasp the stalks? 7. Tell why this arrangement gives strength to the stalk. 8. Do you see a little growth at the base of the leaf that prevents the rain from flowing down between the stalk and the clasping leaf? This is called the rain-guard. How might it damage the plant if the water should get in between the leaf and stem? 9. What is the structure of the leaf and direction of the ribs? 10. How does this structure keep the long leaf from being torn to pieces by the wind? 11. Note the ruffled edge of the leaf. Lay such a leaf flat on a table and bend it this way and that, and note how this fullness allows it to bend without breaking the edges. What advantage is this to the plant? 12. Study the roots of a corn plant. How far do they extend into the ground? Describe them. 13. Study the brace roots that come off the stalk an inch or more above the ground. Of what utility are these to the plant? 14. Bend down a stalk of growing corn and place a stone on it near its base so as to hold it down, and note how it acts. Does it commence to lift itself up straight from the joint, or from a place between the joints? 15. Cut off the water supply from a plant, or watch the corn during a drought and tell how the leaves behave. 16. Do they offer as much surface to the air for evaporation when they are curled? Is this the way the plant protects itself by retaining this moisture during a dry time? 17. Do the stalks or leaves grow after the ears begin to form? 18. Do you find "suckers" growing; if so what is the variety? FLOWERS.