The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-12-02

Inc mOcking btrd!' cried Joe. Its
the sweetest music in the world. for It
Is the best Of the songs Of all the other
birds. improved by the hooking bird
himself!'
The joyous rascal seemed to hover
above them in the enchanted silvery
radiance, for as the wagon rolled In the
gate at home the liquid notes Of the
sweetest songster of the south followed
family. as if In echo to the memoir of
a perfect day.
Joe's four acre farm" was now n
of the show places Of the neighborhood.
The county road ran by it. and al
most any time of day could be seer a
wagon. a man on horseback or some one
afoot under the shade of the big oak on
the other side. which extended it's
branches almost across the highway.
well. did you eve see such corn?'
"Why. that cOrn's SO green till it's al
most black-and stalk as big as nv
wrist now"
But. man alive, look at that cotton
Jaw. shucks. don't tell me that boy
II Tom Wcston's growed all that stuff
hisself. believe some of them govern
mint fellers is a-doin' it,"
what you reckon he's done to that
ground in the little field? Looks diff
runt from that outside"
rs ditfrunt. i granny; that outside
won't hardly grow ragweeds.. Just look
how poor it is"
"Hey, sonny the man who said the
government was doing the work called
to Joe. what you fertilizin' with?"
"Brains!' called Joe as he resumed.
The corn was now higher than Joe's
head. n as he worked in it. effectual-
~ concealed from view, he heard many
self and the crop
He noticed that the corn was throw
Ing out a circle of short blunt points.
or stems, each about as large around
as a slate pencil, from the two joints
just above the surface Of the ground.
o did not understand what they were.
He looked through his book about
agriculture, his government reports.
the state bulletins. Nowhere did he
find a word about corn throwing out a
radiating circle Of blunt spikes from
the lower joints. He vas afraid to let
the subject drop for fear the corn was
not doing properly. He never remem-
bered seeing anything Of the sort be-
fore, but then he reflected that he had
v noticed corn very closely before.
He walked down the path leading to
a distant field where his father was
working to ask him if he knew any
thing about it. There were q few corn.
stalks standing in the edge Of last
years cornfield. He parted the rank
tangle of weeds about them in the hope
OF finding something there that would
enlighten him.
The old cOrnStalks had the same
things on them. only much longer, q
double ring Of them. but each spike
had curved downward and entered the
soil. Carefully Joe dug some Of the
dirt away with his knife blade-and be
had the secret!
Those rings of spikes were additional
main roots. which when they made
connection with the ground sent out {:
network of smaller feeders to gather
what the plant needed. At the end OF
each of those spikes was Il fibrous
mass OF smaller roots. each spike being
the main artery. or pipe. by which was
conveyed all the sustenance the small
er roots at the end gathered from the
soil in the form of sap to the maiI
stem of the cornstalk and thence dis
tributed to leaves and other parts of
the plant. Joe sat flat upon the ground
his mind busy with a problem.
why should the corn be sending out
those additional rOots?" he asked him
self.
ut must be hungryr' his mind an,
swered.
YES. that's true. But why is it
hungry now? Why didn't it do that
way befOre?"
ut is alrlost through making stalk"
reason answered. by the time those
! extra Dot touch the ground the stalks
will begin to put on the %rudimentary
ears. and nature is preparing for the
extra drain upon the strength of the
plant. 1t must have more food to ma
ture the ears Of corn"
Continued Nexf Woe