Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-02-06
WHY STUDY FARMING?

the state Normal school represent the
newest thought ana the most acucai
tendencies Of the modern social idea OF
elementary education.
We venture the observation that aa-
cording to our judgment, school sub
jeets have rarely, If ever, taken better
form than that which these lessons
portray. For we suspect that icy
Will ultimately begin TO educate the
practical farmer as well as the stu
dent teacher, the parent as well as the
child. ana reform the home as well as
the school room.
Consider the subject presented ac-
cOrdlng - our rcroft ia Tuesdays pa
per--the cereals, or grains, as they are
grown in the west, under our arid OF
semi-arld conditions Would either the
farmer or the teacher, the practical
man or the student. ask for more OF
beauty. interest. reality, and possible
profit also, than that which the one
lesson on the cereals alone indicates?
why study the farm crops? Briefly
to leern how they grow-to find out
the conditions Of climate, soil, water,
and cultivation under which they best
succeed But when we consider that 1t
is indispensable to know how to vary
the composition of the so by the use OF
fertilizers; how to improve its physical
condition by culture; how to regulate
the warmth of its seed bed by mulch
ing and manuring; how to control its
moisture BY irrigation and plowlns'
how to insure its complete develop
ment by good husbandry in its pro-
lection and harvesting; how to cure
and to care for the crop after it is taxi
en- from the field; when to hold and
when to sell what a field is here Tor
learning. profit and all round develop
mentl
Consider the corn. Botanically 1t is
one OF the grasses, with jointed, cane
like bamboo stalk of shining surface
and hinty outside texture once Wild
grass--a much-branched plant that
"stooled" or Uttered" at the roots in
form resembling its own flower clus-
ters-today It has been cultivated is..o
a single-stemmed wonder that supplies
the main portion of the food of ma
lions The fruitful ear has been evolV-
ed from what must have been branches
in its primeva estate: thu. shank repre-
sents several consolidated stems, the
husks that cover the ear are simply
modified leaves, the flowers are trans
formed branches, their separation into
male and female clusters a device for
better results by the division Of labor
..the differentiation of function as 1t
is termed by the scientists. The female
flowers form cluster at the end OF
a lateral branch; the male, tassel at
the top of the stalk.
AS 10 the ear, it is a collection of
plants in embryo, each one perfect, and
ready to grow into a completely fur
nished Individual yielding its fruit IAN
hundred fold" The very kernel Is u
living, structural miracle: outside is the
seed coat, dim, trans. aren't skin; next
comes the first layer of the grain pro-
per, rich IN protein and made up of a
single layer of rather large, cubical
cells. then occurs the white starch,
chiefly at the upper part, with the hard
starch forming the hinty portion, at
the sides: at the center nearest 10 the
tip of the ear lies the germ, creamy in
color, and with "A high content of oil;
the tip cap completes the equipment
by attaching the kernel to the cob.
AS to the wonderful process Of ger
mination it is all slumbeFlng with n
the embryo and the little, single seed
leaf within the kernel, called the coty-
ledon ready to burst forth in growth
with heat and moisture, the embryo.
First 1t sends shoot through the rup-
tured tip dnner end of the sced--a
shoot that unerringly goes downward
10 form the root and from the outer end
a branch that rises To the sunshine,
forming the stem, The young plant at
nrst thrlyes on the food contained In
the seed; later its developing roots,
covered with fine hairs, drink in its
food dissolved ia the soil moisture.
Then comes the building of the plant
out or carbon and oxygen from tn air
ana the hydrogen and nitrogen n m the
soil. Combined by the living plant -
as to form the carbohydrates, in The
germ, and starch. sugar aud cellulose
in the leaves. these with certain min
erals tthe ASH make up The plant body
The final activity, the ripening OF the
fruit requires that the silk plstils OF
the ear shall be fertillzel by the pollen
grains from the staminale flowers of tn,
tassels above them. They open togeth'
er and the pollen falls upon the silks
small. delicate tubes from the poller
dust penetrate 10 the heart of thl
oyule on young seed, which then be-
gins TO grow until by various othe'
complicated steps, the seed Is matured