This
pollen, when shed, falls upon the silk, and each grain sends a tiny tube
down inside the silk to the delicate ovules on the cob, fertilizing them
and starting them to develop. The silk then withers. The wind carries
this pollen.

Find out how the silk is fitted for catching the pollen. What is the
need for the great quantity of pollen that the plant produces?

Strip off the husks and compare the tough, hard husks that are found on
the outside with the soft paper-like husks found close to the cob. Show
how each kind is fitted for its particular work.

Pupils make experiments in the corn plot to find:

1. Whether the corn grows faster:

(1) When the soil is kept mellow or when the soil is hard;

(2) When the days are warm or when they are cool;

(3) When the nights are cool or when they are warm.

2. The effect of growing black corn and golden corn in the same or in
adjoining plots. Account for the result.

CORRELATIONS

Art: Clay-modelling and drawing exercises on the whole plant, and also
upon the ear.

Literature: Interpretation and reading of "Blessing the Corn-fields",
from _Hiawatha_.

History: The name Indian corn originated in the early colonial days of
the Eastern and Central States, when the pioneers obtained corn from the
Indians. The Indians showed the settlers how to kill the trees by
girdling and how to plant the corn among the standing trunks, and thus
have corn ready for roasting by August, and for grinding into meal or
for boiling to make hominy by September.

SEED DISPERSAL

The lessons on seed dispersal which were begun in Form I should be
continued in this Form.

I. LESSON

Select a few weeds belonging to species which produce large numbers of
seeds, such as wild mustard, white cockle, false-flax, etc. Distribute
the seed pods among the pupils of the class and require them to estimate
the number of seeds produced by each plant.

By references to observations made in the garden, help the pupils to
recall the bad results, both to parent plants and to young seedlings, of
improper scattering of seeds, namely:

1. The excessive crowding and shading, which causes the plants to become
weak.

2. Insufficient food and moisture for the large number of plants, which
causes the plants to be small and worthless.

Discuss how the crowding of cultivated plants is prevented and, in a
general way, how nature provides for the scattering of seeds.

The great work of the plant is the pr