The Idaho Republican., 1912-01-05
WINTER STUDY FOR BOYS ON
THE FARM
(By Mrs. L. Grimes in Transmits
souri, Farmer and Ranchman.

l
From fall till spring seems like a
long time to boy, especially If he
has a choice lot of seeds that he IL
anxious to put into the ground. But
there is a great deal to be done dur
ing the time of waiting.
The boy who does not mean to
waste his time ,and labor, must learn
something about what his plants will
need before he is even ready to pre-
pare his ground.
The first thing needful is to un-
derstand something about the make
up of the seed itself. AS seeds are
quite similar in general characteris-
tics, studying one closely will give a
fair understanding of others.
The common white bean is easy
to get, and to study, so we Will take
it as an example.
Soak few beans in water over
night. Then take one and cut the
tough outer covering around the
edge with the point of pin. The
halves can then be easily spread
apart, and the tiny plant discovered.
1t lies snugly Graded in one end of
the bean. You will see that it has
two parts, a small waxen point, and
a tiny, yellowish, folded leaf. The
point is the root, and a tender, deli
cate thing it il.
| This little root must work it's way
down into the ground, both to feed
and to hold in place the little plant.
If the ground is not well prepared,
if it is too hard and cloddy, the lit
tie root may become SO broken and
bruised as to hinder or perhaps en-
tirely check, it's growth.
The tiny leaf too, which must
push upward, needs a soil that is
soft and loose, if it is not to be in
jured.
Plant few seeds in bed of wet
sawdust, and you will soon see
branching out from the main root,
many little rootlets. A little later,
set of fine hairs, called root-hairs,
will appear on the rootlets.
1t is through these that the plant
gets it's nourishment from the soil.
They take up all the elements that
the plant needs, and send them up
through little veins to the stems and
leaves, as your food is taken through
your body by the veins, in the shape
of blood.
The plants blood is called sap
The tiny mouths can only use the
food in the soil when it is sin
solution" that is to say, when it is
thoroughly dissolved You can see
that it will need considerable mois-
ture to do this. If the ground is
too light and loose, the water will
all drain and dry away, and no mat
ted how rich the soil may be, the
plant will die for want of food
So an important thing to keep in
mind, when preparing the seed-bsd
is that the top soil, to the depth of
several inches, should be worked up
lightly and loosely enough so that
the root can readily push through,
and still be pressed firmly enough
so that the moisture cannot all es-
cape.
All over the stem and leaves are
little openings, called "pores." 1t
takes microscope of quite high
power to detect them. These are
the plants lungs. Through them it
gets the air it needs to live on.
If you cover plant so tightly
that it cannot get air, it will smoth.
er just as surely as you would with
blanket over your head. That is
what will happen if you get your
seeds in too deep or if you let the
ground get hard above them before
they come up.
If you wish to be sure just how
deep to plant your seeds, try this
little experiment.
Take a tall glass tumbler, or a
pint fruit-jar, and fill it with earth.
Press down into it, next the glass
three seeds of any kind you wish to
test.
Press the first clear to the bottom.
the second about half way to the bot
tom, and the third leave within an
inch of the top. Do not put them di-
rectly over one another. Wrap a |
heavy paper around the glass to keep
out the light, and keep the earth in
1t moist and warm.
Every day slip off the paper, and
note how the seeds are doing. Which,
ever one thrives the best is the one
you want to take as your guide in
the matter of depth. What do you |
think will happen to the one at the
bottom?
n