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LIFE ON THE FARM 
 
 Or, SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE SIMPLIFIED 
 
 A READING BOOK 
 FOR GRAMMAR AND HIGH SCHOOLS 
 
 BY 
 
 HIRAM H. SHEPARD 
 
 Science Instructor in the Chicago Normal School 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 CHICAGO 
 A. FLANAGAN CO. 
 
Thf library of 
 congress, 
 
 TWO Coi-<£S KeCEn/ED 
 
 DEC. 16 1901 
 
 COPVRIOHT 6NTRV 
 
 CLASS C^XXc. No. 
 
 oop? a 
 
 COPYRIGHT, IQOI 
 BY A. FLANAGAN CO 
 
 
 a c C 
 * * • • 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Life on the farm now is not what it used to be. 
 The general development of the age accounts for 
 this. Each year adds something new to the agri- 
 cultural field, and not infrequently are these new 
 things so complex in their nature that the broadest 
 scientific knowledge is required for their interpre- 
 tation and use. There is probably no other indus- 
 try in which so many branches of science enter as 
 farming; nearly the whole list can be used in some 
 way or other. 
 
 This volume is designed, primarily, as a reader, 
 or text-book, in rural schools of agricultural re- 
 gions; but we think it could be used with profit in 
 both village and city schools. Pupils can learn to 
 read by reading about real things which are in 
 close touch with their daily lives, and which they 
 wish to remember, as well by reading about remote, 
 fictitious things which they can not and do not care 
 to remember. First-hand knowledge should be 
 learned before any other. The things to be studied 
 on a farm are full of interest, beauty, and utility. 
 Where is a field more varied and vital than the one 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 which includes soil, air, light, heat, plants, germs, 
 insects, birds, and domestic animals? 
 
 Our aim has been to treat the subjects scien- 
 tifically, but with as few needless technicalities as 
 possible. 
 
 Acknowledgment is due to Prof. Lewis W. Col- 
 well, principal of the Linne Grammar School, Chi- 
 cago, Illinois, for his suggestions in the first reading 
 of the manuscript; to Prof. Alden S. Rinker, for the 
 use of three photographs; and to Mr. C. W. Mogg, 
 for the use of three photographs. Much help has 
 also been derived from the farmers in and around 
 Linn, Illinois, with whom we spend two or three 
 months each summer. They have been untiring 
 in their efforts to explain and demonstrate prac- 
 tical farm work. Especial gratitude is due to Mr. 
 William F. Corrie, a boy companion in farm life 
 and work, and who still is ever ready to explain 
 how wealth can be secured from wornout land, 
 and how a successful, happy life can be found on 
 a farm. 
 
 If this volume helps, only in a small way, to 
 explain some of the general principles of agricul- 
 ture, to lend an interest to the appreciation and the 
 enjoyment of nature, and to elevate the dignity 
 and nobility of farm life, we shall feel well repaid 
 for the labor of its preparation. 
 
 Hiram H. Shepard. 
 
 Chicago Normal School, 
 October, 1901. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface 
 
 CHAPTER I— THE SOIL. 
 
 How Soil is Formed 
 
 Water Transports Soil .... 
 Effects of Soil Erosion on the Surface of 
 
 the Earth 
 
 Surface Tension, Evaporation, Gravity . 
 How Water in the Soil Feeds Plants . 
 When and How Plowing Benefits Soil . 
 The Use of Soil Air . ' . ... 
 
 Why Cultivation Benefits Crops 
 Sources and Uses of Soil Heat 
 Chemical Composition and Kinds of Soil 
 Work of Crayfish, Ants, Rodents, Angle 
 
 worms, etc. . 
 
 12- 
 
 I4-I8 
 ig-20 
 21-22 
 
 23 
 26 
 27 
 29 
 
 34 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER II— PLANTS. 
 
 Soil the Ideal Home for Plants ... 4 2 
 
 How Plants are Distributed over the Earth 43~44 
 
 The Struggle of Plants for Existence . . 45 
 
 Simple and Complex Plants . . . . 47 
 
 Organs and Functions of Plants ... 51 
 
 Why Plants Have so Many Roots and Leaves 53 
 
 Some Interesting Facts about Leaves . . 55~S9 
 
 5 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Where Leaves Get Their Material 
 Arrangement, Number, and Forms of Leaves 
 What Plants do with Their Food . 
 The Importance of Perfect Seeds . 
 Individual Plants, Their Growth and Uses 
 (Indian Corn, Potatoes, Beans, Peas) 
 
 60 
 
 62-67 
 
 68 
 
 70 
 
 73-84 
 
 CHAPTER III— TREES. 
 
 The Study of Trees of Great Importance . 85 
 
 How Trees Benefit Life .... 87 
 
 Planting and Cultivating Groves ... 88 
 
 Trees Afford Beauty and Shelter Birds . 89 
 
 Characteristics and Uses of Individual Trees 92-103 
 (Elm, Maple, Oak, Cottonwood, Poplar, Hickory) 
 
 CHAPTER IV— INSECTS. 
 
 The Four Periods in Insect Life 
 
 What Insects Eat During These Stages . 
 
 Intelligence Displayed by Insects in Secur 
 
 ing Food, etc. 
 How Insects Aid in Plant Life 
 Insect Enemies .... 
 Means for Destroying Insects 
 Some Common Insect Pests 
 Life-History of the House Fly 
 Weevils, How and Where They Work 
 Granary Weevil, Grain Moth, Indian Meal 
 
 Moth 
 
 Operations of the Hessian Fly 
 Bugs in General, the Squash Bug 
 How to Keep Out Insects 
 
 104 
 105-107 
 
 108-115 
 
 109-112 
 
 112 
 
 "5 
 
 117 
 
 117-119 
 
 120 
 
 122-123 
 124 
 126 
 
 123-128 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER V— BIRDS. 
 
 Purposes of Birds in the Cycle of Life . . 130 
 
 What Birds Feed upon I 3 I 
 
 Relation of the Food of Birds to Farming 
 
 and Gardening J 34 
 
 Why Birds Should be Protected . . 134 136-133 
 Pleasure from the Beauty and the Cheerful 
 
 Songs of Birds l 3% 
 
 Individual Birds— The Useful Woodpecker . 139 
 Why the Swallow Should be Protected . 141-143 
 The Meadow Lark, Its Food, Its Cheerful 
 
 Song J 44 
 
 Unwise Destruction of Quails and Sparrows 147 
 The Owl, the House Wren, Robins Blue- 
 birds, Bobolinks . . . . I33> x 48, 15° 
 ^ CHAPTER VI— BACTERIA. 
 
 What Bacteria Are l S l 
 
 The Three Classes — Useful, Harmful, 
 
 neither Useful nor Harmful . . . 151 
 
 Shapes of Bacteria, How They Grow . . 152 
 
 Conditions of Life and Active Existence / 154 
 How Bacteria Preserve Life and Make Soils 
 
 Fertile J S5 
 
 Why Heat and Moisture Injure Grain and 
 
 Hay l 5% 
 
 Causes of Decay in Fruits, Vegetables and 
 
 Meats *5 8 
 
 How Food may be Preserved .... 160 
 Sources of Milk Contamination ... 161 
 Bacteria Beneficial in Butter and Cheese- 
 Making l &4 
 
 How Bacteria Change Cider to Vinegar . 165 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 A Beautiful Farm Scene Fron. 
 
 Soil-Building in the Forest 10 
 
 Soil-Building in the Swamp 12 
 
 Soil -Wearing Along the Roadside 15 
 
 Soil-Wearing Along the Brook 17 
 
 Where the Soil is Well Cultivated 30 
 
 Red Clover, Timothy, Oats and Wheat 45 
 
 An Autumn Corn Field . . . .46 
 
 Hay Cutting and Stacking . . . 4S 
 
 Hay Stacks 51 
 
 In the Wheat Field 57 
 
 Leaves and Blossoms 64 
 
 Threshing Wheat 67 
 
 Measuring Wheat at the Thrasher 71 
 
 Corn Growing 74 
 
 Cutting Corn with a Machine 76 
 
 Southern Pines 86 
 
 Cottonwood Tree 90 
 
 The Elm and the Box Elder . 93 
 
 Cabbage Butterfly, Caterpillar and Chrysalis .... 105 
 
 Cecropia Moth 107 
 
 How Insects Carry Pollen in 
 
 The Dragon Fly . ...... . .- . . . 114 
 
 Woolly Aphis of the Apple 121 
 
 Squash vine Borer 127 
 
 The Kingfisher 130 
 
 The Woodpecker ......... 132 
 
 The Screech Owl . .- . 135 
 
 The Bobolink 137 
 
 The Swallow ........... 141 
 
 The Bluebird 144 
 
 The Robin 149 
 
 Bacteria . . „ 152 
 
 8 
 
T JFE ON THE FARM 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE SOIL. 
 
 How soil is formed. Relation of water to soil. Water both destruc- 
 tive and useful. Movement of water in the soil. Where the 
 water goes. Retention of soil water. When plowing benefits 
 soil. Soil air. Why cultivation is beneficial. Effect of air 
 pressure. Soil temperature. Relation of heat to soil. Chemical 
 composition and kinds of soil. Elements composing the soil. 
 Relation of earthworms and other small animals to soil fertility. 
 
 The soil is the source from which many useful 
 things come. Wheat, from which bread is made, 
 comes directly from the soil; and most of the meat 
 we eat was once in the form of grain or hay, and 
 this grows directly from the soil. The same may 
 be said of the different kinds of cloth, leather, 
 carpets, lumber, and a host of other useful things. 
 
 Soil is composed of decayed rocks, and of the 
 remains of plants and animals. It has been form- 
 ing for thousands of years, and the same work is 
 going on to-day. 
 
 Roots of plants, from the tiny weed that grows 
 by the roadside to the forest tree, have the power 
 of penetrating the earth in such a way as to break 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 up the rocks and make them fit food for plants. 
 This is done in several ways. Growing roots have 
 great power of expansion, so much so that when 
 they enter the cracks of rocks, or grow between 
 rock layers, they crowd these segments apart and 
 
 SOIL-BUILDING IN THE FOREST. 
 
 break the rocks to pieces. Then again, the roots 
 of plants have little glands in them. These send out 
 acids which have the power of dissolving rocks and 
 small pieces of earth. In this way plants are enabled 
 to take earthy material into the structure of their 
 
THE SOIL. 11 
 
 bodies as food. When they die and decay, this is left 
 as food for other plants. The gray ash left after 
 plants are burned, is the earthy matter. 
 
 As with most things in nature, there is a constant 
 and ceaseless change of activity in the process of 
 soil-building. Plant food, stored in the soil during 
 one season, is partly washed away by rains, partly 
 taken up by plants, and partly left over for future 
 years. This work goes on year in and year out, and 
 must continue to do so as long as we exist upon the 
 earth, for it is the great storehouse from which 
 alone food for plants and animals may be drawn. 
 
 RELATION OF WATER TO SOIL. 
 
 Scattered through the air in all places, and at all 
 times, are countless numbers of very fine dust par- 
 ticles. They are so small that they cannot be seen 
 with the naked eye, yet their presence in the air is 
 probably one of the causes of the blueness of the 
 sky. Every gust of wind catches them up and bears 
 them away high over our heads and over the tops 
 of trees and mountains. The heavier particles fall 
 again when the air becomes still, but the finer and 
 lighter ones float in the air a very long time. This 
 is true not only of fine bits of wood, paper, and 
 such light material, but of rocks, and the heavy 
 metals. When anything is powdered fine enough, 
 each particle has so much surface exposed to the 
 air, compared with its volume, that it will float as 
 lightly as a feather. 
 
12 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 Men who have made a careful study of rain say 
 that these fine dust particles in the air have the 
 power of attracting water vapor. When these little 
 dust particles have gathered a thick film of water 
 around themselves, they become so heavy that they 
 can no longer float, and so fall to the earth as 
 
 SOIL-BUILDING IN THE SWAMP. 
 
 drops of rain. They grow larger and larger as they 
 fall, till, on striking the ground, the surface of a 
 pond, or the leaves of plants, they are no longer 
 fine particles of mist, but drops of water large 
 enough to be seen and felt. 
 
THE SOIL. 13 
 
 Rain, in falling, not only carries down with it these 
 particles of dust around which it clings, but acids, 
 which help to dissolve the rocks. Rock thus dis- 
 solved is caught in the soil to remain as plant food; 
 or is borne away into streams, and thence to the 
 sea. Here some of it is taken up by such animals 
 as oysters and corals. They are thus enabled to 
 secrete the hard outer skeletons of their bodies. 
 Some of it finds its way down through the earth 
 to the permanent water layers, or veins, from 
 whence we get it as the hard water of wells and 
 springs. 
 
 Carbonic acid is brought down by every rain. It 
 is constantly poured into the air from the chimneys 
 of houses and factories, and from the lungs of 
 animals. It has the power, when mixed with water, 
 of dissolving limestone. Many caves in Kentucky 
 and Indiana have been formed by this action. Water 
 bearing this acid in solution has trickled down into 
 the crevices of the limestone deposits of those 
 regions and gradually eaten out cavities so large 
 that people can walk into some of them for 
 miles. 
 
 Rain, then, not only falls upon the earth to make 
 it productive, but it also washes the air clean of its 
 impurities, making it wholesome and pure for us to 
 breathe. The atmosphere of cities has more 
 impurities in it than that of the country. For this 
 reason the free, open country is a more healthful 
 place for dwelling. 
 
14 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 WATER BOTH DESTRUCTIVE AND USEFUL. 
 
 Water is destructive as well as useful. Evidence 
 of this can be seen after every heavy rain in the 
 amount of earth washed down from the steep, 
 unprotected hillsides. Similar action takes place 
 on the more level ground, especially when it is not 
 protected by plant growth, and even then some is 
 washed away. Some of the soil washed away by 
 the water is carried only a few feet, and settles 
 down of its own weight if the water flows slowly or 
 spreads out into shallow pools. Some is carried 
 many rods, sometimes settling down and spreading 
 out in a thin layer over a large piece of low land. 
 The finest soil is carried into the rivers and finally 
 reaches the sea. More than a hundred million tons 
 are thus carried annually by the Mississippi to the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 There is a difference between water wearing 
 land away and dissolving it away. Soil worn away 
 makes water muddy, but the water may hold, in 
 addition, dissolved matter which is not seen. 
 Muddy water soon becomes clear when not in 
 motion; but after it becomes perfectly clear, it 
 nearly always contains other earthy matter which 
 will not settle, regardless of the length of time 
 that it remains quiet. This dissolved matter, 
 however, can be obtained by evaporating the 
 water. 
 
 The washing away of soil by the action of water 
 
THE SOIL. 
 
 15 
 
 can scarcely be overestimated. One can see the 
 effects of it by the roadside, beside the small 
 rivulets and streams, in the garden and yard, 
 and in the fields. It is the force that cuts down 
 the hills and spreads them out into level plains. 
 
 SOIL-WEARING ALONG THE ROADSIDE. 
 
 It takes hold of everything it can grasp and 
 carries it from one place to another. A strip 
 of plowed soil several inches deep may be 
 washed by a heavy rain to a lower level on the 
 opposite side of a wide field, or even into an 
 
1G LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 adjoining field. There is not so much loss, though, 
 if nothing more disturbs it; but when nothing hin- 
 ders, and the swiftly-flowing torrent carries it into 
 the rivers, and thence to the sea, then the loss, so 
 far as the present is concerned, is complete. Those 
 having hilly or rolling land should cultivate it 
 so as to prevent washing away as much as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Stems, roots, branches, and leaves of plants, — 
 especially the roots, — help to hold the soil against 
 the erosive action of water. Grass is especially 
 good on ordinary ground, and trees for steep hills. 
 All hills that wash away so much that they become 
 barren in most places, should be planted with trees 
 so as to stop the wearing. The trees would also be 
 a great benefit in many other ways besides their 
 value as timber (which would result after a number 
 of years). Soil which unavoidably washes from 
 cultivated fields can be caught and held on the 
 lower ground by keeping the lower ground planted 
 in grass of some kind. This not only tends to level 
 up the hilly fields, but the soil thus made is of the 
 best quality, being deep, rich, and in many cases 
 almost inexhaustible. The writer has just visited 
 a large field which is covered with a layer of soil, 
 averaging about two feet in depth, washed down 
 from the higher land above it. The crops of 
 wheat, oats, clover, and corn now growing on it 
 surpass those of any of the adjoining fields. 
 
THE SOIL. 
 
 17 
 
 ONE NIGHT S RAIN-STORM. 
 
 It is both interesting and instructive to walk out 
 after a heavy summer's rain and see the small, 
 muddy rivulets running in almost every direction, 
 following wagon ruts in the open roads, plow-fur- 
 
 SOIL-WEARING ALONG THE BROOK. 
 
 rows in the fields, and mole-tunnels everywhere. 
 Last night's heavy rain washed from about an acre 
 of newly plowed ground fully a ton of soil, which 
 settled by the roadside at the corner of the field, 
 
18 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 It reminds one of the delta of the Nile or the Mis- 
 sissippi. Farther down the road are hundreds of 
 tongues of sediment a few inches wide and several 
 feet long. They have left little gullies from 
 which the earth has been washed. The main 
 ditch, which receives all this water, from both east 
 and west, is about six feet deep and ten feet wide. 
 The muddy water is rushing wildly down its chan- 
 nel this morning, and will be in the Wabash before 
 many hours. In some places the banks are so low 
 that some of the water flowed out into the open 
 fields and there, becoming quiet, left a thin sedi- 
 ment of fine mud. A wide board, which happened 
 to be lying in a pasture close by, was covered with 
 a sediment of soil about half an inch thick. The 
 force of gravity impels the water onward to the 
 larger streams, and draws it down into the earth, 
 but at the same time it is pulling still harder on 
 every particle of the heavier earth and brings it to 
 rest whenever the water slackens its speed. 
 
 Not only is the earth from the cultivated fields 
 and the open roads thus torn loose and carried 
 away, but the banks and beds of the small streams 
 themselves lose their share. During some rainy 
 seasons, this amounts to nearly a foot each month. 
 A small elm tree which stood in firm soil a 
 month ago on the bank of the ditch just men- 
 tioned, was so undermined by the action of last 
 night's freshet that only a few roots on one 
 side are holding it to the soft mud. It is not able 
 
THE SOIL. 19 
 
 to stand erect any longer, but will soon lose its 
 entire hold/and drift down the current to lodge 
 against some neighbor's cross fence. In a similar 
 manner full grown trees have been dug out and 
 can be seen floating down our large rivers in times 
 of high water. 
 
 MOVEMENTS OF WATER IN THE SOIL. 
 
 On dipping a marble, a pebble, or a pencil in 
 water it will be seen, on taking it out, that a thin 
 film of water adheres to it. A dry pebble, touched 
 against the one already wet, will take part of the 
 water film away from the first one; and a third, 
 touched against the second, will do likewise; and so 
 on, each taking a part of the water and holding it 
 to itself. A force within the earth, called gravity, 
 pulls everything downward; but each little grain of 
 soil has a power within itself which acts against 
 gravity, and keeps a part of the rain falling upon 
 the earth from escaping too fast. This power that 
 pebbles, grains of sand, particles of fine earth, and 
 a great many other things have of drawing a film 
 of water around themselves is called surface ten- 
 sion, or capillarity. It is a force just as truly as 
 gravity is, and plays a very important part in agri- 
 culture. 
 
 It will be found, however, that those same things 
 which were covered with this thin film of water, 
 will, if left exposed to free air for a short time, lose 
 the water adhering to them and become perfectly 
 
20 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 dry. It is the air which takes the water away. The 
 air has a power within itself of taking water away 
 from things. This is called evaporation, because 
 the water thus taken by the air can no longer be 
 seen, but takes the form of an invisible vapor. The 
 power of evaporation must, in one sense, be 
 stronger than either surface tension or gravity. 
 Surface tension pulls water away from gravity, yet 
 the vaporizing power of air takes it away from 
 both. These three forces acting together on water 
 in the soil are the main ones with which the 
 farmer has to deal. Surface tension and evapora- 
 tion are not studied or understood so much as they 
 should be in order to get the best results from the 
 cultivation of the soil. 
 
 WHERE THE WATER GOES. 
 
 Water falling upon the earth either flows away 
 or sinks down to be kept in store for plants. If 
 the soil be already filled with water, most of it runs 
 away; but when the earth is dry, and the rain does 
 not fall too fast, nearly all of it is absorbed. Dur- 
 ing the winter season, when little evaporation takes 
 place, on account of the low temperature of the 
 air and the frozen condition of the soil, a great 
 amount of water accumulates. Some of it is kept 
 within a few feet of the surface and some sinks 
 very deep, according to the nature of the soil below 
 the top layer, that is, the subsoil. If the subsoil 
 is of a loose, open nature, like sand or gravel, the 
 
THE SOIL. 21 
 
 water will sink through it very rapidly; but if it is 
 a stiff clay, it will be retained for a very long time, 
 generally till the next season's growth of plants 
 can use it. 
 
 Dry ground which is wet, say four inches 
 deep, by a rain of one day will be found to be 
 wet six or eight inches by the next day. The 
 grains of earth had so much water clinging to them 
 that they could not hold it all firmly; so gravity 
 and the surface tension of the grains below pulled 
 some of it down still further. A limit, however, is 
 soon reached, and that same water starts on an 
 upward course, due to evaporation at the surface. 
 The top layer of soil grains gives up its moisture 
 to the air, while at the same time more is 
 drawn by capillarity from the ones below, till all 
 the water has passed back to the air whence it 
 came. 
 
 Not all of the water held by soil escapes into the 
 air if plants are growing there. They take it up 
 with their roots wonderfully fast. If their roots 
 do not go down to where all the water is, the surface 
 tension of the soil-grains pulls it up to them, and 
 this is the useful office of that wonderful force. A 
 good example of surface tension can be seen along 
 the margins of streams and other bodies of water. 
 When the banks are dry, it will be noticed that the 
 earth is wet several inches above the surface of 
 the water. Posts and trees standing in the water 
 are also moist above the water surface. The 
 
22 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 moisture is drawn upward just as the oil is drawn 
 by a lamp wick. 
 
 Another important fact should be mentioned 
 regarding the capillary movement of water in soil. 
 Water is the greatest of solvents, that is, it dis- 
 solves more substances than any other. So, when 
 water sinks into the earth, it dissolves out many of 
 the ingredients of the soil, especially the plant 
 foods, and these would be permanently lost were 
 there no such power as surface tension to bring it 
 back again in reach of the roots of plants. Every 
 one knows, of course, that warm water has greater 
 dissolving power than cold water; so, when the 
 chilly winter rain fills the earth with stores of 
 water, it does not carry down much dissolved 
 material with it; but when summer comes, with its 
 plants, and its thirsty, warm air to cause evapora- 
 tion, that same water is drawn back to the surface, 
 dissolving as it comes nutritious substances from the 
 deeper soil and leaving them at the place most 
 needed. Then, too, the warm, summer rains 
 which dissolve so many rich substances of the 
 top soil, find it laced and interlaced with the roots of 
 growing plants to catch it before it can get away. 
 
 The soil, in its natural state, such as that of a 
 forest, sees to it that all these forces are equally 
 balanced, and tha't there is little waste; but, in the 
 cultivated state, the conditions are so changed that 
 the soil soon becomes poor if great care and wis- 
 dom are not exercised. 
 
THE SOIL. 23 
 
 RETENTION OF SOIL WATER. 
 
 It is a fact that, during the average year, there is 
 not enough water in the ground for the production 
 of as large crops as it is possible for the soil to 
 yield. It is important for the farmer to cultivate 
 the soil so as to keep as much water as possible in 
 store for plant growth. In many cases, the water 
 is allowed to escape so rapidly that only a partial 
 harvest is the result. It escapes from the soil in 
 three ways: by soaking downward, by evaporation 
 at the surface, and by being absorbed by the roots 
 of plants. The last, however, is the most desira- 
 ble, especially when a useful crop of plants is being 
 grown. It is difficult to prevent the soaking down- 
 ward; for, as has been said, it depends largely upon 
 the nature of the subsoil. During most seasons 
 there is not enough water in the soil for much 
 soaking away to take place. Not all of the water 
 falling upon the ground gets a chance to soak in. 
 Often the field is left for the winter so smooth and 
 compact that the rains and melted snows quickly 
 run away. 
 
 WHEN PLOWING BENEFITS SOIL. 
 
 Experience has proved that plowing the ground 
 late in the fall helps to catch and retain water. 
 The plowing leaves the ground loose, rough, and 
 open, so the winter snows and rains are caught and 
 retained in the many small cavities due to the 
 
24 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 plowing. It is often in a better condition, too, for 
 early spring working than ground not plowed in 
 the fall, and an early and successful crop can be 
 started under more favorable conditions than would 
 otherwise be possible. When it is dry enough to 
 work, a good harrowing generally will reduce it to 
 a smooth mellow condition, giving it the power to 
 retain the largest amount of heat and moisture. 
 
 It is a well known physical fact that the more 
 surface a given quantity of matter presents to the 
 air, the faster it will dry out, or allow evaporation 
 to take place. So, when it is desired to retain as 
 much water as possible in the soil, the surface 
 should be left smooth and level. After the ground 
 is plowed, but before the crop is planted, this is 
 best done by harrowing it down to a moderately 
 fine powder. With crops such as corn and pota- 
 toes, which require cultivation after being planted, 
 cultivators should be used which leave the soil as 
 level as possible. Rows of plants left in ridges, or 
 hilled up, exposing so much surface to the air, 
 thus allowing the moisture to escape by too rapid 
 evaporation, generally suffer from lack of water. 
 Some root crops, if the soil be of a close, heavy 
 nature, require this kind of cultivation in order to get 
 the soil loose enough for them to expand in, but care 
 should be taken to prevent a complete drying out. 
 
 If the store of water which sinks into the ground 
 during the winter is to be relied upon for the sum- 
 mer's crop, it is essential to plant as early as the 
 
THE SOIL. 25 
 
 weather will permit, so that none may be wasted by 
 evaporation, or used up by weeds before the 
 desired crop begins to grow. Early planting is 
 generally best, for the roots of plants not only 
 drink in their full share of water early in the sea- 
 son, but the ground is soon shaded by the growing 
 leaves crowding out the weeds, which would claim a 
 part of the soil nourishment. They also prevent 
 early winds from drying the soil by not allowing 
 them such free access to the surface, from which 
 they take away the moisture very rapidly. All 
 have noticed the drying effect of wind, even when 
 the sun is not shining. It often does its work as 
 rapidly during the night as during the day. A 
 hedge-row, a fence, or even a strip of ground with 
 a higher growth of plants, will so break the force 
 of wind that little loss will result. Winds are 
 beneficial in many ways, but a very mild one may 
 do a vast amount of damage. 
 
 SOIL AIR. 
 
 Surrounding the entire earth is a layer of air 
 many miles high. It is invisible and very light; yet, 
 on account of its great volume, gravity exerts 
 such a pull on it that it presses heavily, about four- 
 teen pounds to the square-inch, everywhere upon 
 the surface of the earth. It presses heaviest, of 
 course, upon the lowest places. Air, which is so 
 essential to plant and animal life, and to the for- 
 mation of mineral compounds, is composed mainly 
 
26 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 of nitrogen and oxygen — about seventy-five per 
 cent of nitrogen and twenty-five per cent of oxy- 
 gen. It also contains small amounts of other ele- 
 ments and compounds which will not be spoken of 
 here. Air is just as essential to soil as water is; 
 and, although it cannot be seen entering and leav- 
 ing, yet the soil breathes just as truly as plants and 
 animals do. That soil does contain air may be 
 found by filling any tall vessel with dry earth and 
 pouring water on it. Bubbles will be seen to 
 escape as the water sinks. The air which filled 
 the spaces between the earth particles was replaced 
 by the heavier water and escaped as bubbles at the 
 surface. 
 
 The roots of most plants require air just as their 
 leaves do; and if in any way they are deprived of 
 the supply, the entire plant will die. When a field, 
 with germinating seeds or a growing crop, is 
 flooded for several days, great injury or total 
 destruction will result. This is due to the water's 
 shutting out the supply of air which is so essential 
 to germinating seeds and growing roots. Seeds 
 contain compounds of such a nature that oxygen 
 is needed for their transformation before they can 
 be used by the growing sprouts, and the air has to 
 supply this needed element. 
 
 WHY CULTIVATION IS BENEFICIAL. 
 
 The rapidity of germination and growth depends 
 to a large extent upon the quantity of air supplied 
 
THE SOIL. 27 
 
 to the soil. A loose, open soil allows air to enter 
 it more freely than does one of a close texture; 
 but most soils tend to pack and become less porous 
 after the crop is planted. Some means, then, must 
 be resorted to so that good soil-breathing may be 
 restored. This is usually done, with crops which 
 admit of it, by cultivation. In plowing the ground 
 between the rows of plants, the broken-up and 
 falling earth catches the air and drags it down into 
 the resulting spaces. If the roots of the crop go 
 deep into the earth, then the deeper the cultivation 
 the better for rapid growth. 
 
 Sometimes a field of corn, or other crop, is not 
 cultivated because the weeds do not affect it; but 
 frequent cultivation should take place for air sup- 
 ply to the roots, and also for the conservation of 
 moisture, even when all weeds have been destroyed. 
 It is not only necessary to supply air to the roots 
 of plants during their early growing condition, but 
 at all times, from germination till fruiting. 
 
 In a compact, water-filled soil, no air can circu- 
 late. Water always contains some air in solution 
 after falling as rain, but the amount is small, and 
 its free oxygen is soon exhausted by the roots of 
 the growing crop. If, however, there is a deep,- 
 porous subsoil into which the rain may quickly 
 sink; or if the field is underdrained well with til- 
 ing, the water runs away quickly, leaving empty 
 spaces into which gravity pulls the air so that the 
 needed oxgyen and nitrogen are supplied. It is 
 
$8 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 quite essential, too, thus to get rid of the surplus 
 water, especially during very wet springs and sum- 
 mers, for, besides opening up a means for the free 
 circulation of the air among the spaces left by the 
 vacated water, the soil is left warmer for early 
 germination and growth. In the discussion further 
 on, it will be shown that water which has to leave 
 the soil by evaporation at the surface makes the 
 ground so cold that the life-activities of plants are 
 retarded. 
 
 EFFECT OF AIR PRESSURE. 
 
 The pressure of the air upon the surface of the 
 earth constantly varies. An instrument called the 
 barometer measures the pressure, and no two days 
 have exactly the same amount; in fact, there is 
 always a slight, and often a great, variation for two 
 hours of the same day. Various causes produce 
 these changes; the main one being the unequal 
 heating of the atmosphere. 
 
 Now, when there is great air pressure, the water 
 in the ground, if there is any near enough the sur- 
 face to be affected, is pressed further down by the 
 added force, its place being taken by air, produc- 
 ing a downward current. When the pressure of 
 the air becomes less., the force of the confined 
 water presses it back, forcing the air with it, and 
 thus is produced an upward current. Not only 
 does this change take place from above, but in 
 many places from beneath through tile drains, and 
 
THE SOIL. 29 
 
 other underground channels; but, from whatever 
 source, there is always some circulation of air in 
 the soil from atmospheric changes. 
 
 Then, too, there is a small circulation in the top 
 few inches during warm, sunshiny days, when the 
 soil is cultivated so that it is not too compact. Air 
 has such great power of expansion that, under the 
 added heat of noonday, some is forced out; but, 
 cooling and contracting during the night, it 
 returns. 
 
 Soils which are open and well drained, may have 
 too much ventilation, from which injurious results 
 may follow. The air which enters the earth goes 
 there for the purpose of supplying the roots of 
 plants with food directly, or it acts upon the min- 
 erals in the ground and changes them into plant 
 food. If the air circulates too freely in the soil, so 
 much food is formed that the plants cannot use it 
 all immediately, and some of it goes to waste. 
 Some is dissolved and washed downward by the 
 next rain beyond recovery, and some is of such 
 a nature that it soon loses its identity, and thus 
 becomes unfit for use. It should be the aim to 
 keep such soils as moist as possible at the surface, 
 and the pores well filled by the right kind of culti- 
 vation. 
 
 SOIL TEMPERATURE. 
 
 The soil receives its heat in three ways: — from 
 the interior of the earth, from decomposition of 
 
THE SOIL. 31 
 
 organic matter, and from the sun. That received 
 from the interior of the earth is so small that it 
 may not be considered here. The greatest 
 amount comes from the sun. This can be easily 
 noticed by observing the difference in temperature 
 between winter and summer, and day and night. 
 Both light and heat reach the earth from the sun, 
 but light rays have little to do with soil conditions; 
 on the other hand, heat rays play a very important 
 part. 
 
 When light or heat falls upon an object it is 
 either reflected away or absorbed, according to the 
 color and other physical conditions of the object 
 upon which it falls. Light-colored objects reflect 
 away the most and dark-colored objects absorb 
 the most. A dark-colored object that absorbs 
 heat is, of course, made warmer thereby. So the 
 darker the color of soil, other things not being 
 considered, the more heat rays will it absorb and 
 consequently the warmer it will be. 
 
 Some things are heated very quickly but give up 
 their heat just as quickly; and those which are slow 
 in being heated, give up their heat slowly in return. 
 Water is a substance which absorbs heat slowly 
 and retains it a long time. The boiling kettle of 
 water remains hot a long time after the fire goes 
 out and the stove becomes cold. So it is with 
 soils; some become very hot during the middle of 
 the day, and cold at night. Those which are 
 heated only moderately during the day, keep a 
 
32 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 considerable amount of the heat over night. 
 Sandy soils are easily heated, but are not on the 
 average the warmest. 
 
 RELATION OF HEAT TO THE SOIL. 
 
 The relation of heat to the soil is important. 
 All living things, both plants and animals, require 
 a certain amount of heat in order to live and grow. 
 With the higher animals, a great amount of heat is 
 necessary. The bodily temperature of man and 
 many other animals must be nearly ioo° F. at all 
 times. If it rises a few degrees higher, or falls a 
 few degrees lower than this, death, or serious 
 results follow. Plants, like some of the lower ani- 
 mals, can endure greater changes of bodily tem- 
 perature; but there is a high and a low limit beyond 
 which they cannot pass and live. If the bodily 
 temperature becomes either too high, or too low, 
 life-activity ceases permanently. 
 
 Seeds germinate better in a warm than in a cold 
 soil. If the ground is too cold, they decay on 
 account of germs that can work at a lower tem- 
 perature. Some seeds sprout best at a temperature 
 of nearly one hundred degrees F. Good results, 
 however, follow with a soil temperature of 50 to 
 
 75° F. 
 
 For germination of seeds, and growth of young 
 plants, it is necessary for the soil to be warm to a 
 depth of a few inches only. As the plants grow 
 larger and send their roots down deeper, then 
 
THE SOIL. 33 
 
 there is a necessity for deeper soil warmth. If 
 the soil were warm to a depth of several feet in 
 early spring, before plants have time to send their 
 roots down, a great amount of valuable plant food 
 would be dissolved on account of the increased 
 temperature of the water, and hence lost. So 
 nature has provided that the soil be warmed down- 
 ward only as fast as the roots of plants can use it. 
 
 Soil in a natural state, such as that of a forest, 
 has a most wonderful means of regulating its own 
 temperature. Covered with a thick layer of leaves 
 each autumn in our latitude, it is protected from 
 sudden changes, both on account of the noncon- 
 ducting property of the leaves themselves, and also 
 of the confined air among them. Early spring 
 plants have learned to grow there, even before the 
 frost is quite all out of the ground, and blossom 
 before the needed light for their full development 
 is shut out by the dense foliage of mid-summer. 
 Trees do not put forth their buds and leaves till the 
 last trace of frost has left the ground and air. 
 The ground is kept cold for their own good. 
 
 Since plants do best in a warm soil, and one that 
 does not admit of too sudden changes of temper- 
 ature, it remains with the farmer to regulate the 
 conditions which govern them. As heat is taken 
 from the soil in evaporating water at its surface, 
 it should be left in such a condition that as little 
 evaporation takes place as possible. Every unit of 
 heat spent in evaporating water leaves the soil just 
 
34 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 so much colder, and a consequent slower plant 
 growth results. 
 
 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND KINDS OF SOIL. 
 
 Geologists inform us that the present crust of 
 the earth has been a long time in the process of 
 formation. Early rock-formations have been 
 broken up and decomposed by later actions. 
 Water, cold, heat, and glacial movements have 
 been the great causes in breaking up the surface 
 rocks and leaving them in a fit condition for the 
 growth of plants. 
 
 Soil, in order to yield its ingredients quickly as 
 food for plants, must have its grains so fine 
 that a great amount of surface is exposed for the 
 combined action of roots and water. A cubic foot 
 of solid stone might contain all the necessary food 
 for plant growth, yet so little of its surface is 
 exposed that only a small per cent, of it could be 
 dissolved for a season's growth. By a very simple 
 mathematical law, it can easily be found that the 
 same cubic foot of stone, when broken into small 
 pieces, will present, instead of six square feet of 
 surface, several hundred; and, if reduced to parti- 
 cles fine enough, such as that of most soils, several 
 thousand square feet. 
 
 This not only allows the roots to penetrate more 
 easily, but the surface tension of the particles gives 
 soil a greater water-holding capacity, one of its 
 most valuable properties. The fineness and coarse- 
 
THE SOIL. 35 
 
 ness, then, of the soil grains is one means of 
 determining different kinds of soils. However, 
 there are other things to be taken into considera- 
 tion. 
 
 Some rocks, such as granites, are so hard that, 
 when ground to pieces, they are not easily reduced 
 to a fine powder, but remain hard and sharp 
 grains of considerable size. Such are sandy soils. 
 Sand grains are not only comparatively large, but 
 of such a nature that they are not readily dissolved; 
 hence, they give up their food very slowly. Other 
 rocks, such as limestone, and the clays, are easily 
 reduced to a fine powder, forming soils of very 
 small grains, with a great water-holding capacity. 
 
 Soils are called sandy when a large per cent, of 
 sand enters into their composition; and clay soils, if 
 they are composed largely of clay. Where sand 
 and clay are mixed, it gives a sandy clay, or a clayey 
 sand according as the sand or the clay predominates. 
 
 "Light" and "heavy" soils are terms applied on ac- 
 count of the ease or difficulty with which they are 
 worked, and not on account of weight. A sandy 
 soil weighs more per cubic foot than a clay soil, but 
 it is called a light soil on account of its loose texture; 
 and a clay soil heavy on account of its stiffness. 
 
 Humus soils are those composed mostly of decay- 
 ing organic matter, the remains of plants and ani- 
 mals. These soils predominate in regions where 
 organic decomposition goes on but slowly. The 
 best examples of humus soils are peat and black 
 
36 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 muck. These soils are such because of the great 
 amount of water they contain, and of their anti- 
 septic nature, shutting out those organisms which 
 cause decomposition. They become very pro- 
 ductive when drained, as this allows air and decom- 
 position germs to enter them. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the humus soils 
 are the most unstable. In the decay of the organic 
 matter of which they are composed, part of the 
 products go back to the earth as ash, and part as 
 gases to the air from whence they came. All 
 organic substances remain but a short time as such, 
 then decompose into their original elements, to be 
 again taken up and passed through the cycle of life. 
 
 ELEMENTS COMPOSING THE SOIL. 
 
 Each rock has its own particular composition, 
 and the elements composing any single kind are 
 so few in number that they are not adequate for 
 the many demands of plants; but there has been 
 such thorough grinding and mixing in the processes 
 of soil-building that many different kinds of ele- 
 ments have been brought together and can be 
 found in almost all places. The elements compos- 
 ing the soil rarely occur in a free state, but are 
 usually combined with other elements to form com- 
 pounds. Some of the most important elements 
 are — oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, silicon, 
 phosphorus, chlorine, calcium, aluminum, iron, 
 sodium, magnesium, and manganese. 
 
THE SOIL. 37 
 
 Oxygen occurs in the soil in a free state, and also 
 combined with nearly all of the other elements. 
 Combined with silicon it forms quartz, of which 
 sand is made and which is so abundant all over the 
 earth. Quartz is so abundant that it is estimated 
 to compose nearly half the rocks of the earth. 
 
 Hydrogen seldom, or never, occurs in a free 
 state in the soil; but, combined with oxygen, forms 
 the familiar compound water, which is absolutely 
 essential at all times, and serves plant growth in 
 many ways. 
 
 Nitrogen, although so abundant in the air, occurs 
 in very small quantities in the crust of the earth. 
 It is a very essential soil ingredient when combined. 
 It is brought and fixed in the soil through decay- 
 ing organic matter, and by germs on the roots of 
 plants of the pea family. It also occurs combined 
 with sodium and potassium as nitrates, and is often 
 applied in a pure state to the ground as a fertilizer. 
 Nitrogen has very little attraction for the other 
 elements and compounds, but the small germs 
 growing on the roots of clover, peas, and beans 
 have the power of extracting it from the air and 
 fixing it as a compound in the soil. There it does 
 a vast amount of good in replenishing the soil with 
 new plant food. 
 
 Carbon occurs in the soil mostly as a part of 
 organic matter. It exists in the air combined with 
 oxygen as the well known gas, carbon dioxide. 
 In this form it is taken up by the leaves of plants, 
 
38 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 built into plant tissue, and passed on to animals. 
 In the process of organic decay, carbon again 
 unites with oxygen and passes back to the air. It 
 also occurs as carbonates with some of the metals, 
 such as calcium and magnesium. 
 
 Iron occurs both in a free state and combined 
 with some of the other elements, especially oxygen 
 and sulphur. It is found widely distributed 
 through all soils in such quantities that it is rarely 
 necessary to apply it as a fertilizer. It does not 
 enter to any great extent into the composition of 
 plant tissue, but is thought by some to aid in the 
 processes of growth. 
 
 The other elements are found in the earth as 
 compounds, and enter into plant structure. When 
 they are lacking to any great extent it is necessary 
 to supply them to the soil in some form or other. 
 
 RELATION OF SOME SMALL ANIMALS TO THE SOIL. 
 
 Besides giving up their bodies in decay to add to 
 its richness, some animals do not a little in improv- 
 ing the texture of the soil, and making it more 
 open for the free circulation of air and water. 
 Such animals are those that live in the ground 
 permanently, or those that burrow into it for shel- 
 ter. 
 
 The crayfish, in many places, has the habit of 
 digging deep holes in the ground, and bringing up 
 the earth from a depth of several feet. This 
 earth, or mud, is generally built into a sort of 
 
THE SOIL. 39 
 
 tower at the entrance of the hole, but in time is 
 knocked over and becomes mixed with the upper 
 layers. Soil thus brought to the surface is fresh 
 and productive, and takes the place of that which 
 has become exhausted. 
 
 The crayfish holes, too, benefit the soil. They 
 permit a free circulation of air to greater depths 
 than would otherwise be possible. The falling-in 
 of their walls produces a loose column of earth 
 down which the roots of plants easily grow for 
 fresh supplies of food and water. 
 
 Ants are very common as earth-mixing animals. 
 A colony of ants will bring to the surface during a 
 single season enough earth to form a mound several 
 inches high, and two or three feet in diameter; — 
 in many cases, they make much larger ones. They 
 carry into their galleries animal and vegetable 
 matter which finally decays and becomes a part of 
 the soil. 
 
 Some rodents, and other small fur-bearing ani- 
 mals, dig in the ground not a little. The mole lives 
 in the ground all the time, and its entire make-up 
 is well suited to the life it leads. It tunnels the 
 ground in every direction, making it loose and 
 open for the free circulation of air and water. 
 Gophers, mice, prairie dogs, and many such ani- 
 mals dig in the ground more or less and do valu- 
 able work in stirring the soil. 
 
 The most valuable of all animals in soil-making 
 is the common earthworm, or angleworm. It is a 
 
40 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 small creature, but such countless numbers are con- 
 stantly at work, when the soil is moist enough and 
 warm enough, that the amount of fresh soil brought 
 to the surface by them annually is enormous. The 
 earthworm burrows through the soil for the organic 
 matter which it is able to get from it. In order to 
 get the food from the soil, it takes the soil into its 
 stomach. This process not only grinds the soil 
 into finer pieces, but increases its richness. 
 
 Bringing to the surface an amount of soil that 
 can be easily measured, it has been definitely 
 proved that the earthworm completely mixes and 
 re-mixes the soil in a definite number of years. It 
 can truly be said that this little animal is one of 
 the farmer's best friends. 
 
 j&- 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Plants have life and motion. Their struggle for existence. Their 
 structure. How complex plants develop. Organs and func- 
 tions. Why plants have so many roots and leaves. Structure 
 and function of leaves. How a leaf works. Arrangement and 
 shapes of leaves. The storing of food in plants. Importance of 
 perfect seeds. Individual plants — Indian corn, potatoes, peas, 
 and beans. 
 
 Under the study of soil it was found that, during 
 long ages, the earth has produced a layer of 
 decayed and ground-up rock, varying in thickness 
 from a few inches to several feet. This soil covers 
 the face of the land and is the natural home of 
 most plants. 
 
 Some of the first and simplest forms of plants 
 have always lived in water. They adopted this 
 mode of living when the earth was new and before 
 any soil was formed. Their food is dissolved in 
 the water in which they live. In this manner of 
 living, they simply float upon the water, a part of 
 the plant being below the surface and a part of it 
 above. Such plants as seaweeds of the oceans, 
 and the small duck-weeds of our ponds have all 
 the conditions necessary for plant growth and 
 development. They have earthy material dis- 
 
 41 
 
42 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 solved in the water, and free air and light above. 
 
 The largest and most beautiful kinds of plants, 
 however, cannot grow in this way because of the 
 liquid and unstable condition of water. Water 
 plants cannot raise their trunks and branches into 
 the air, as oaks and cedars do, because they have 
 no solid support for their roots. All they can do 
 is to lie flat upon the water and float. 
 
 The soil, then, is a more ideal home for plants 
 than water is. In it they find food, and a firm 
 anchorage for their roots, enabling them to raise 
 their trunks high in the air, and spread their 
 branches, making forms of symmetry and beauty. 
 It is true that plants cannot move much when 
 rooted to one spot, but food and drink come to 
 them in ample quantities. Other conditions are 
 such that they are able to grow into larger forms. 
 
 PLANTS HAVE LIFE AND MOTION. 
 
 Plants are to be thought of as living beings. 
 They are just as much alive as animals, but, being 
 of different structure, they manifest life in a differ- 
 ent way. 
 
 Though rooted to one spot, in most cases, yet 
 plants do move. They not only move in the space 
 in which they grow for a season, or number of 
 seasons, but move from place to place. They do 
 so for new food — much the same as animals do. 
 Every breeze causes a part, or the whole, of a plant 
 to move. Its leaves, branches, and stem are not 
 
PLANTS. 43 
 
 aimlessly fluttering, swaying, and bending, but are 
 changing their positions to get as much air and 
 light as possible. Some plants, such as sunflow- 
 ers and field peas, are great lovers of light. 
 They bend the upper parts of their bodies toward 
 the sun, and follow it in its daily course. They do 
 this so that their leaves and blossoms may get a 
 large amount of light and heat. Others, such as 
 poplar trees, are so made that their leaves flutter 
 in the slightest breeze, thus presenting first one 
 side then the other, to the air and light. Such 
 plants do not have as many leaves as those that 
 have less movement. Each leaf does a large 
 amount of work, hence there is a saving in the 
 amount of exposed surface. 
 
 Besides movement in one place, plants — such as 
 ferns, Solomon's seal, blood-root, and many others, 
 move slowly from place to place. They do so by 
 means of their underground stems. Such stems 
 grow horizontally in the ground in the direction of 
 the most plentiful supply of food. At one end of 
 the underground stem is a large bud. This bud, in 
 growing, pushes continually forward, while the 
 opposite end gradually dies away. All along the 
 stem are lateral buds. These yearly send up 
 branches or leaves for the necessary supply of air 
 and light, and the production of seeds. Such 
 plants are perennials, and live the longest; in fact, 
 they practically never die, except in cases in which 
 the underground stem is destroyed. They simply 
 
44 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 grow forward year after year, constantly adding 
 new growth at one end and dying at the other. 
 
 Such perennial underground stems can be found 
 fresh and alive in the ground during winter. They 
 afford excellent means for plant study during that 
 season of the year when the whole face of the 
 earth seems to be swept clear of all traces of life. 
 A little digging in the earth in the right places, 
 even when the ground is frozen solid, will reveal 
 surprises of fresh and expanding buds of rare 
 beauty and the richest colors. They can be placed 
 in jars of earth in the house during the latter part 
 of winter, when new growth will take place long 
 before any signs appear out of doors. 
 
 Then, too, plants, or rather their children, move 
 from place to place by means of the many devices 
 for scattering seeds. Plants must not only provide 
 for their own life and growth, but also for their chil- 
 dren. Seeds produced by a plant do not fall upon 
 the ground where the parent plant stood, but are 
 carried to new places. The soil which supplied the 
 parent plant, especially if it be a plant which lives 
 for many years, such as an oak or maple, has all it 
 can do to supply nourishment for itself. The young 
 seeds are sent away to new and unoccupied fields. 
 
 THE STRUGGLE OF PLANTS FOR EXISTENCE. 
 
 Plants have to struggle for life just as man and 
 other animals do. It is a well-known fact that plants 
 usually crowd one another. Thus none are as 
 
PLANTS. 
 
 45 
 
 large and perfect as they otherwise would be. In 
 many cases, some are forced out of the race entirely 
 and cease to be. The strongest and first in the 
 field always win. This is one of the main prin- 
 ciples in agriculture, one class of plants being given 
 possession of the soil to the exclusion of others. 
 Corn, potatoes, and like crops are plowed and cul- 
 
 
 
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 RED CLOVER, TIMOTHY, OATS, AND WHEAT 
 
 tivated after the plants start to grow, so that other 
 plants cannot crowd in to take away a part of the 
 light and food. In other words, cultivated plants 
 do not have to use part of their strength in strug- 
 gling with enemies. They are enabled to use all of 
 it in growing larger and more perfect. 
 
46 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 Those of the same kind, too, struggle with each 
 other. Each plant requires a certain amount of 
 space and food for its complete development. 
 When there are so many growing together that the 
 space for each is very small, none grow to much 
 
 AUTUMN CORN FIELD. 
 
 size. The fruiting in such cases is imperfect or 
 altogether wanting. Corn planted a few feet 
 apart, and two or three stalks together, will grow 
 from seven to twelve feet high, producing large and 
 
PLANTS. 47 
 
 well-developed ears. When it is sowed as thick as 
 wheat or oats, although no other plants grow with it, 
 it will attain a height of but three or four feet, with 
 but the indication of ears and no seeds at all on 
 them. 
 
 Plants require space in proportion to the size of 
 the full-grown individuals. Large plants require 
 much space, and small plants require little space. 
 Thus clover, timothy and field peas are planted 
 but a few inches apart because the full-grown 
 plants are small and require little food and light. 
 These plants, too, when started to grow in soil in 
 which all weeds have previously been destroyed, 
 so take possession that no weeds are allowed to 
 grow. The reason for this is that most of the air 
 and light are shut out. As soon as the ripened 
 crop is removed, thousands of weeds spring up, 
 showing that the seeds were there waiting for an 
 opportunity to germinate. 
 
 Plants cannot be considered as having the power 
 to reason, yet they spend no energy in germinating 
 when the conditions are such that growth would be 
 impossible. They behave in many other ways just 
 as wonderful as this. 
 
 STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. 
 
 Like animals, plants are either simple or complex 
 in structure. A simple organism is one in which 
 the life processes are carried on in a single cell, or 
 a few united cells. A good example of a cell is the 
 
48 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 egg of a bird or of an insect. Some of the simplest 
 plants resemble very much the soft egg of an 
 insect. All the life-activities are carried on by the 
 
 HAY CUTTING AND STACKING. 
 
 whole mass. They have no special organs, such as 
 roots for drinking and leaves for breathing. The 
 single cell is roots, leaves, stem, and branches all 
 in one. Any and all parts of the plant body eat, 
 
PLANTS. 49 
 
 drink, and digest at the same time. No one part 
 seems to be different from or better than another. 
 
 With plants of a more complex nature, there are 
 special organs for the production of seeds, and from 
 these new plants grow. Simple plants are pro- 
 duced by the simple cell dividing into two parts. 
 Each part becomes a perfect plant and looks just 
 like the parent cell. By and by these two divide in 
 the same manner, giving rise to four plants. 
 These four again divide, giving rise to eight plants, 
 and so on. An infinite number might thus come 
 into existence were it not for the fact that many 
 are destroyed, and many more die from the lack 
 of food and other things necessary for such a life. 
 
 Most of the very simple plants live either in 
 water, or on substances where a great deal of 
 water is present. If from any cause the moisture 
 disappears, the plants cease to grow; but most of 
 them have the power of reviving on the return of 
 the supply of moisture. 
 
 HOW COMPLEX PLANTS DEVELOP. 
 
 Complex organisms are those that have special 
 organs set apart for special purposes. Thus, 
 instead of drinking in water all over their surfaces, 
 as the simple plants do, complex plants have roots, 
 by means of which they drink. These roots are 
 especially fitted to do that work, and they do it 
 well because they have few other burdens imposed 
 upon them. Instead of breathing with the whole 
 
50 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 body, higher plants have organs especially fitted 
 for that work. And, instead of dividing and break- 
 ing to pieces in order to produce new plants, those 
 of complex structure have special organs for the 
 production of seeds. These seeds germinate and 
 become new plants without any disturbance to the 
 parent plant. 
 
 Complex plants might be compared to a civilized 
 community. There each person does some partic- 
 ular thing instead of everything necessary to life. 
 The baker can bake good bread because he has all 
 his time and strength for that one thing, and the 
 tailor can make good clothes for the same reason. 
 The same is true of the higher plants. Leaves can 
 breathe well for the plant because they give all 
 their time and strength to that one office. 
 
 Simple plants can be compared to a savage com- 
 munity where every man is everything — carpenter, 
 tailor, shoemaker, butcher. Nothing in such a 
 community is done well because there are so many 
 different things for each man to do. Because of 
 this division of labor, complex plants are usually 
 the largest and finest types. 
 
 Cells form tissue, and tissue forms organs. One 
 of the main differences, then, between a very sim- 
 ple plant and a complex one, is that the simple 
 plant consists of a single cell, and the complex plant 
 consists of a very great number of cells constructed 
 into tissue, and the tissue constructed into organs. 
 
 Plant cells can easily be seen with a low-power 
 
PLANTS. 51 
 
 microscope in the thin, transparent tissue peeled 
 from an onion. Cells large enough to be seen with 
 the naked eye can be separated from the pulp of 
 an orange. 
 
 ORGANS AND FUNCTIONS — ROOTS. 
 
 Plants drink with their roots. All living things 
 require water, and plants are no exception to this 
 
 HAY STACKS. 
 
 rule. In fact, plants require more water for growth 
 than animals do. The roots of a plant not only 
 drink for it, but they hold it fixed to one spot, so 
 that it may grow up into abundance of air and 
 light. They keep its position against the wind and 
 other things that tend to destroy it. 
 
 One part of a plant has a natural inclination for 
 light, hence, it grows upward. The other part has 
 an inclination for the soil and darkness; hence, it 
 grows downward. Roots grow in all directions in 
 
52 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 the soil, which is the great storehouse for water 
 supply. It was formerly thought that plants drink 
 in water with their leaves, but it has lately been 
 proved that this is not the case. Plants will grow 
 and mature without any water touching their 
 leaves. This is so in dry regions, where irrigation 
 is used to supply water. In irrigation the ground 
 is flooded a few inches deep at stated times so that 
 the roots are supplied with water. None touches 
 the leaves or blossoms. Abundant crops are har- 
 vested without the fall of a single rain upon the 
 leaves of the plants. Similar methods are used in 
 the growing of potted plants. 
 
 Roots penetrate the soil, pushing their sensitive 
 tips among rocks, pebbles, and soil grains. The 
 growing end of the root is the part that does the 
 most drinking. The older part carries the water to 
 the main body of the plant, which circulates it as 
 sap. The sensitive ends of the roots are covered 
 with fine hairs which grow out in every direction, 
 taking up all food within their reach. They have 
 great power of attracting water to themselves on 
 account of their small size. The smaller the size 
 of an object, the greater in proportion to its mass 
 is its power of surface tension for the attraction of 
 water. The little hair-like roots are constantly 
 dying. New ones immediately grow out to take 
 their places, so that all the small spaces in the soil 
 are visited in their search. 
 
 Plants get far more substance from the air 
 
PLANTS. 53 
 
 through their leaves than they do from the ground 
 through their roots. The substances taken up by 
 the roots are very essential, though small in amount. 
 Water in the soil contains dissolved substances 
 which are taken up and used by plants. They 
 have the power of selection, to a certain extent, and 
 exclude some things which are not conducive to 
 growth. Some things, however, are taken into the 
 plant structure by the roots which either retard 
 growth or cause the plant to die. Common salt, 
 for instance, when dissolved in water will kill most 
 plants very quickly. It can be seen from this that 
 right kinds of food should be in the soil, and that 
 injurious substances should not be, if strong and 
 vigorous plants are to be grown. Certain elements 
 are necessary for the growth and development of 
 a plant. If they cannot be secured, the plant will 
 die. 
 
 WHY PLANTS HAVE SO MANY ROOTS AND LEAVES. 
 
 All plant food must be dissolved in water before 
 it can be taken up by the roots. They have not 
 the power of eating solid food as animals have. 
 Instead of one large mouth, they have thousands of 
 small mouths. These mouths are so small that 
 they cannot be seen with the naked eye, hence 
 solid food cannot enter them. Then, too, the food 
 in passing up the stem and out to the leaves 
 through the branches does not flow through a 
 large tube like the digestive tract of an animal. It 
 
54 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 must pass through very fine, hair-like tubes, and 
 among closely packed cells; hence, it could not 
 possibly penetrate except in a dissolved condition. 
 
 This is the reason that plants have so many roots 
 and leaves. The many small mouths make up a 
 sum equal to one large one. An animal has one 
 mouth, which serves the double purpose of eating 
 and drinking. A plant has thousands of little 
 mouths for eating, and thousands of still a differ- 
 ent kind for drinking. A plant may have a dozen 
 of its mouths completely destroyed, and still have 
 enough left to eat and drink with. It is quite 
 necessary for them to have so many mouths. 
 They cannot move about, and the food in both air 
 and soil is so widely scattered, and in such small 
 quantities in any one place, that they could not 
 gather in a sufficient supply if they were not thus 
 provided. 
 
 The roots of plants are great lovers of water. 
 Since it is their office to supply the plant with this 
 necessary liquid, and in large quantities, too, they 
 seem to know where it is, and grow in that direc- 
 tion. There is always water in some place in the 
 ground. This is proved from wells in which water 
 stands at various levels during the entire year. 
 Besides, there is water held everywhere by the sur- 
 face tension of soil grains. It never escapes, except 
 by evaporation at the surface, and when it is taken 
 up by the roots of plants. Plants, trees especially, 
 growing near wells, sometimes almost fill up the 
 
PLANTS. 55 
 
 cavity by their roots extending in search of water. 
 They not infrequently grow downward forty or 
 fifty feet after penetrating the walls of a well. 
 
 LEAVES — STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION. 
 
 If it can be said that one part of a plant is more 
 useful than another, then the most important part 
 is the leaves. They grow upward and outward 
 into the air and light. They spread their flat 
 bodies into numberless shapes, and the most beau- 
 tiful forms. The leaves of most plants are very 
 thin, compared with their other dimensions. It is 
 necessary that they should be, since their function 
 is to gather air and light, and to evaporate water. 
 During normal growth, there is a great deal of 
 water evaporated. Since the amount depends 
 upon the quantity in the soil which can be absorbed 
 by the roots and sent up to the leaves, plants in 
 very dry regions have very thick, fleshy leaves, 
 which expose less surface compared with the bulk 
 of the plant. Such, for instance, are the cacti, 
 whose native home is the dry, arid region of west 
 central United States. 
 
 Some forms of the cactus plant have no true 
 leaves at all. The large, green, fleshy stalk per- 
 forms the functions of both leaves and stem, and 
 acts also as a water reservoir from one rainy season 
 to another. If these plants had thin and highly 
 divided leaves, so much surface would be exposed 
 that evaporation would carry away the water too 
 
56 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 quickly, leaving them to wither and die. Hence, 
 plants in different climates and locations so shape 
 their leaves as best to fit them for life and growth 
 under the imposed conditions. 
 
 That leaves do evaporate water may be verified 
 by placing a glass jar over growing leaves. Drops 
 of water can soon be seen collecting on the inside 
 of the vessel. One who has never looked into the 
 matter will be surprised at the very great amount 
 of water evaporated by a single leaf during a day 
 of active life under good growing conditions. The 
 reason that the amount of water evaporated by 
 leaves of plants is not appreciated, is because it 
 passes into the air in the form of an invisible 
 vapor. Knowing, however, that a small potted 
 house plant, with only a few leaves, easily drinks a 
 pint of water each day, it will be readily perceived 
 that, in proportion, many hundreds of pints must be 
 drunk up and given off by the thousands of leaves 
 of some of the larger plants, such as trees. Since 
 the leaves of plants require so much water for 
 evaporation, it is quite essential to cultivate the 
 soil so as to keep as much water as possible in store 
 for them during the growing season. 
 
 HOW LEAVES DECOMPOSE AND REBUILD. 
 
 It has been mentioned that water drunk in by 
 the roots of plants and sent to the leaves, takes 
 certain earthy material in solution with it to be 
 built into the structure of the plant. Water has 
 
58 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 other parts also to play, and the leaf is the organ 
 in which the wonderful work goes on. Water 
 consists of hydrogen and oxygen strongly bound 
 together. The leaf has the power of breaking 
 them apart, and combining them with carbon to 
 form starch, sugar, fat, and other substances com- 
 posed of these three elements — carbon, hydrogen 
 and oxygen. 1 The carbon is obtained from the 
 carbonic acid gas of the air. Carbonic acid gas is 
 composed of carbon and oxygen. Only a fraction 
 of one per cent, of the atmosphere consists of car- 
 bonic acid gas, yet there is always some floating 
 everywhere, and the leaves struggle hard to get 
 every molecule that passes. 
 
 There is in every living leaf an active, green sub- 
 stance called chlorophyl. It has the power, under 
 the influence of sunlight, to break-up water and 
 carbonic acid gas and form them into starch. 
 The starch is changed into similar compounds with 
 a different proportion of the atoms of carbon, 
 hydrogen, and oxygen. The leaf, then, is the fac- 
 tory in which organic material is made; chlorophyl 
 is the machinery, and sunlight is the motive power 
 that does the work. Organic compounds — or the 
 compounds of carbon — can always be recognized 
 from the fact that, on being heated sufficiently, a 
 black, charred mass remains. The charred mass is 
 carbon taken from the atmosphere by the growing 
 
 J The formula for starch is C 6 H 10 O 5 , and for sugar C 12 H 22 11 . 
 
PLANTS. 59 
 
 plant in the form of a gaseous compound. When, 
 however, charcoal is raised to the kindling point, it 
 burns, or oxidizes, and returns again to the atmos- 
 phere whence it came. 
 
 Besides starchy substances, leaves build up 
 another substance called albumen. It contains not 
 only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but an addi- 
 tional element — nitrogen. The nitrogen is not 
 taken from the air directly, but is brought up 
 from the earth by the roots as a nitrate dissolved 
 in water. There is far more nitrogen than any 
 other substance in the air, yet leaves do not have 
 the power of absorbing it. Nitrogen is very 
 essential in the formation of albuminous sub- 
 stances, so that soils poor in its compounds yield 
 very light crops of certain kinds of plants. Some 
 plants — the seeds especially — are richer in albumen 
 than others, and of course require more nitrogen in 
 the soil. The sticky part of wheat flour is albu- 
 men, and there is a larger proportion of it in the 
 grains of wheat than in Indian corn. Hence a 
 good wheat-growing soil must necessarily be differ- 
 ent in composition from soil in which corn is best 
 grown. Wheat grows well in soil where clover was 
 grown the previous season. The roots of clover 
 have the especial power of extracting free nitrogen 
 from the air and fixing it as nitrates in the soil, 
 whence the wheat plants take it up and build it into 
 albumen of the seeds. 
 
60 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 HOW A LEAF WORKS. 
 
 There is busy work, and there are complex 
 changes going on in leaves during the day while 
 the sun shines. As soon as compounds are formed 
 in the leaves, they are carried away by the circula- 
 tion of the sap to all parts of the plant, to be built 
 into tissue. Starch is not soluble, but sugar is; so 
 the starch is transformed into sugar and carried by 
 the sap to the places where most needed, and there 
 changed back again to starch, cellulose, fat, gum, 
 or some other similar compound. At night, of 
 course, when there is no light, starch-building 
 ceases, and the leaves stop taking in carbonic acid 
 gas; but, as with animals, vital activity never 
 entirely ceases so long as there is any life. During 
 the night rest of plants there is a process, though 
 less active, going on in the leaves similar to the 
 breathing of animals, in which oxygen is taken in 
 and carbonic acid gas given off. 
 
 It may be well to add here that "there can be no 
 life without a peculiar substance called protoplasm. 
 It is called by some " the physical basis of life." 
 Protoplasm is a watery, transparent, jelly-like sub- 
 stance, very plastic, and always in motion. It is 
 composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, 
 and sulphur. It is the basis of animal life as well 
 as of plant life. Plants build organic substances 
 out of inorganic material, while animals consume 
 or destroy such substances. From this it is very 
 
PLANTS. 61 
 
 evident that plants appeared first upon the earth, 
 and animals afterwards. Animals cannot exist 
 without previous plant life. ' It is true that some 
 animals eat nothing but flesh, or other animals; 
 but all animal life would soon disappear from the 
 face of the earth if there were no plants from 
 which they could get the organic material. 
 
 The leaves of plants get most of the material for 
 plant structure from the atmosphere, and only a 
 small amount from the soil. It would appear, 
 then, that the farmer need care little about the soil 
 in which plants are grown; but the substances in 
 the soil are absolutely necessary. Besides, the soil 
 costs money, while the air is free to all. In the 
 burning of a stove two things are necessary — fuel. 
 and oxygen of the air. The fuel costs money, 
 but the oxygen comes floating in without price. 
 Nearly twice as much oxygen as fuel is used in the 
 act of combustion. If it had to be paid for at the 
 same rate as fuel, modern house heating would be 
 very expensive. It is likewise true of ourselves, 
 and the animals we raise — the food costs labor and 
 money, but the large amount of oxygen costs noth- 
 ing. So it is with plants — carbonic acid gas comes 
 free, but land is scarce and high-priced. Besides, 
 the air can never be exhausted of its supply, for all 
 burning and decay constantly return enormous 
 quantities of this gas to the atmosphere, to be used 
 over and over again. 
 
62 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT AND SHAPES OF LEAVES. 
 
 Leaves are arranged in various ways on the 
 plant. Whatever the mode may be, it is always 
 the best way of getting the greatest supply 
 of air and light. Some are arranged in circles 
 around the stem, the largest being at the bottom, 
 and the others growing smaller toward the top. 
 This arrangement is similar to that of the petals of 
 the rose, and for that reason is called the rosette 
 type. The mullein, garden cabbage, and bell- 
 flower are good examples of this type. With such 
 plants the lowest leaves are not only the largest, 
 but their leaf stalks are the longest, pushing out so 
 as not to be shaded by the ones above. Instead of 
 growing out directly beneath the ones above, they 
 grow between them, thus securing a position where 
 nearly all of the leaf is in full light. 
 
 Another type of leaf arrangement similar to the 
 rosette is that of many climbing vines, the redbud 
 of the pea family, and many other plants. In this 
 type the leaves are placed very much the same as 
 the shingles on the roof of a house. When the 
 plant is in full foliage, they will actually shed water 
 during a light shower. This arrangement is such 
 that the spaces between the upper leaves let light 
 fall upon the leaves below. It is thought by some 
 that this habit, together with that of all kinds of 
 plants whose leaves slope outward and downward, 
 is for the purpose of carrying the water of rains 
 
PLANTS. 63 
 
 away from the central part of the plant to the outer 
 ends of the roots. In the rosette type, most of the 
 water is directed down the central stem. The 
 leaves of a great many plants slope inward and 
 downward, directing the water falling upon them 
 to the central stem and roots. Indian corn and 
 cabbage are good examples of this kind. 
 
 Nature always fits a plant to meet the conditions 
 of its surroundings; so, it must be that some plants 
 need most water for the central roots, and others 
 need it for the outer ones. 
 
 Looking up into almost any tree, one will find 
 few leaves around the central stem and branches, 
 but very many on the outer twigs. The reason for 
 this is the same as in the other cases given — the 
 struggle for light and air. If many leaves were to 
 grow within the circle of the outer ones, so much 
 light would be shut out that but little work could 
 be done by them. This mode of leaf position 
 is particularly noticeable in the elm, the leaves 
 of this tree not only being on the outermost 
 twigs, but the greatest number on the topmost 
 branches, giving that tree its decidedly character- 
 istic shape. 
 
 THE NUMBER AND PARTS OF LEAVES. 
 
 Another feature of leaves which might be classed 
 under arrangement is that of numbers. Each plant 
 requires a certain amount of work to be done for 
 its development, and it takes a certain amount 
 
LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 ~t> of exposed leaf-surface to 
 gather in the necessary en- 
 ergy. So a plant produces 
 few or many leaves, accord- 
 ing to the size of the leaves. 
 If the leaves are small, a 
 greater number are re- 
 quired; if they are large, 
 few are nec- 
 essary. The 
 willow pro- 
 duces a 
 great many 
 small leaves, 
 while the 
 squash vine 
 supports 
 only a few 
 very large 
 ones. But, 
 in each case, 
 the leaf sur- 
 face is com- 
 mensurate 
 with the size 
 of the plant. 
 Leaves as- 
 sume almost 
 an endless 
 
 • . ' ' . r 
 
 LEAVES AND BLOSSOMS. Variety Ol 
 
PLANTS. 65 
 
 shapes, but each shape, no doubt, is for some defi- 
 nite purpose. A leaf may have three parts — blade, 
 leafstalk, and stipules. The stipules are small leaf- 
 like appendages at the base of the leafstalk. In 
 a great many cases there are no stipules, the 
 leaf consisting of blade and petiole only. In a 
 great many more cases, the petiole and stipules are 
 both wanting, the leaf consisting of blade only. 
 The blade is the essential part of the leaf, and 
 where the leafstalk is wanting, the blade is attached 
 directly to the stem at one end, or, sometimes, 
 the stem goes right through it, either at the 
 center or at some other point. The petiole is a 
 device for carrying the leaf into free air and light, 
 so its length varies according to circumstances. 
 Some leaves turn very easily upon their petioles, 
 fluttering with the slightest breeze, and thus secure 
 every stray molecule of passing carbonic acid gas. 
 
 Leaf blades are either entire, or divided into 
 parts. A leaf that is smooth around its edge is 
 called a simple leaf. With some leaves, the mar- 
 gin is indented very much like the teeth of a saw. 
 Others have still deeper notches, forming what is 
 known as a lobed leaf. In another class of leaves, 
 the divisions extend clear to the midrib, forming 
 a compound leaf. 
 
 Often a compound leaf is mistaken for several 
 simple leaves, but it can be distinguished in two 
 ways. That part which falls off in the autumn is 
 the whole leaf, and new buds for the next year's 
 
66 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 growth develop at the base of the leafstalk. The 
 divisions, or leaflets, of a compound leaf do not, in 
 falling, separate from the main stem, which is, in 
 fact, the midrib; and no buds develop at the bases 
 of the petioles of the leaflets. 
 
 Examples of compound leaves are the walnut, 
 rose, and locust. Some compound leaves have 
 their leaflets compound. These leaves are called 
 doubly compound. Some are even trebly com- 
 pound. Examples of lobed leaves are the oak, 
 maple, and water-melon vine; of toothed leaves, 
 the elm, willow, and peach; of simple leaves, or 
 entire, smooth margins, Indian corn, redbud, and 
 plantain. 
 
 Leaves are built upon a framewo^: of veins. 
 Generally, there is one large vein in the middle of 
 the leaf, called the midvein, and many small 
 veins issue from it, making it resemble a feather. 
 In others there is a network of small veins on 
 each side of the midvein. The veins in many 
 leaves all radiate from one point, which is the 
 point of attachment of the petiole to the blade, pro- 
 viding there is a petiole present. A good example 
 of the last is the common garden nasturtium. 
 
 Compound leaves take their shapes from the 
 style of venation. If the small veins spring out 
 along the midvein, the result is a compound leaf 
 like that of the sumac or tomato; but if they all 
 radiate from one point, the result is a compound 
 leaf like that of the chestnut or clover. 
 
PLANTS. 
 
 67 
 
 Much could be said about divided leaves, for the 
 varieties are endless, but the common principle 
 underlying all is that the more divisions a leaf has, 
 the more surface there is exposed compared with 
 the mass. Some plants grow, or their ancestors 
 
 THRESHING WHEAT. 
 
 have grown, in locations where there was so much 
 competition among the leaves for air and light that 
 a leaf with an entire margin could not secure 
 enough food and energy to carry on the necessary 
 work, so it had to divide its blade to accomplish 
 the result. 
 
G8 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 The author has found on sassafras, and on black- 
 berry vines, in very shaded locations, no less than 
 twenty different kinds of leaves, varying from sim- 
 ple through lobed to compound, on a single, indi- 
 vidual plant. Thus it has come about, through 
 struggle for existence, that plants change their 
 structure and habits to make a living for them- 
 selves and to propagate their kind. It is much the 
 same with lower animals and with human beings. 
 Men will do all kinds of work, and endure great 
 hardships, in order to provide for themselves and 
 their children. 
 
 STORING OF FOOD IN PLANTS. 
 
 Under the discussion of the work done by 
 leaves, it was stated that they take gases from the 
 air, and mineral substances from the earth, and 
 manufacture them into organized substances. A 
 part of these substances goes to build up the plant 
 structure itself, but . in the late stages of plant 
 growth, the best and richest materials are stored 
 away in different parts of the plant for the begin- 
 ning of the next year's growth, or for the starting 
 of new plants. When a new plant starts into life, 
 or when the same plant renews its life and growth 
 after the cessation of activities during winter, there 
 must be something for it to start on before leaves 
 are put forth to gather in and make food. 
 
 With plants that do not annually die down to the 
 ground, new buds can be found at the base of the 
 
PLANTS. 69 
 
 leaf stalks in autumn which will give rise to new 
 leaves the next year. These buds are stored with 
 food. The food is built into them during the sum- 
 mer, and an additional supply is drawn from the 
 old leaves just before they fall off for the winter. 
 Some food, also, for the starting of new leaves is, 
 no doubt, stored at other places in the plant body, 
 either in the cells or among them; and, no doubt, a 
 large quantity in the roots; for, when sap begins to 
 flow in spring, it contains rich food. The sugar 
 maple, and hickory are good examples of trees in 
 which much sugar is present in the first flow of 
 sap. In the hickory, there is such a large propor- 
 tion of sugar that it exudes as a thick syrup, with 
 the sweetness and consistency of honey. This food 
 goes to start new leaves before they are able to 
 work for themselves; but as soon as the store of 
 food is used up, and they have unfolded to the air 
 and light, mineral substances rise with the sap and 
 the building process begins. 
 
 Plants that die down to the ground annually, and 
 renew their growth from bulbs, tubers, and under- 
 ground stems, store up food in these to be kept 
 overwinter, or during a dry season; and from these 
 the new plants draw supplies until they are large 
 enough to have sufficient leaf and root surface 
 started to take care of themselves without any 
 help. Examples of these are bulbs of lilies and 
 onions, tubers of potatoes and artichokes, and 
 underground stems of Solomon's seal and black- 
 
70 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 berry vin.es. Some of the bulbs and tubers are rich 
 in the starchy foods. 
 
 Flowering plants, in their native state, bear seeds 
 from which new plants start. Those, of course, 
 which have bulbs, tubers, and underground stems, 
 have a double advantage — for they start their 
 young from seeds as well as from these under- 
 ground parts. Seeds are storehouses for food of 
 the highest type. 
 
 The final total energy of a plant goes for the 
 production of seeds. It labors day in and day out, 
 from germination to maturity, to gather and organ- 
 ize rich materials to be stored in its seeds for the 
 production of new generations. Annuals exhaust 
 all their energy and die as soon as their seeds are 
 matured. Most of them leave dry, withered stalks 
 for an early and rapid decay; because, practically, 
 all nutritious substances from roots and branches 
 were withdrawn at, and before death, for the final 
 and complete development of the seeds. 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF PERFECT SEEDS. 
 
 Of all the parts of a plant that contain food, 
 seeds are the richest with respect to their size. 
 There is very little water in them — the food is con- 
 solidated and rich. 
 
 There is very little substance but water taken 
 from the soil during the early growth of plants, 
 but when the seeds begin to form and ripen, the 
 richest ingredients are called for. It is then that 
 
PLANTS. 
 
 71 
 
 the quality of the soil is tested; and, if it be poor, 
 one heavy crop of seeds will so exhaust it that a 
 crop of the same kind the succeeding year will not 
 be worth the harvesting. 
 
 Weeds, of course, rob the soil for their seeds; 
 but, since they either fall upon the ground or are 
 
 MEASURING WHEAT AT THE THRASHER. 
 
 plowed under, the rich substances they take from 
 the soil are returned to it again. Useful, seed- 
 bearing crops are usually taken away from the soil 
 on which they were grown, little or none of their 
 substance ever being returned. In this way soil, 
 whether it be rich or poor, will, sooner or later, 
 
72 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 lose its vitality and refuse to yield harvests to the 
 cultivator. When a harvest of seeds is taken from 
 a field, its equivalent in some form should be 
 returned if the quality of the soil is to be retained. 
 
 The composition of seeds and other parts of 
 plants will be taken up in another chapter, but let 
 it be noticed here, that seeds, together with bulbs 
 and tubers, are the great sources from which 
 human beings derive food. Without them, life as 
 it now is would be impossible. 
 
 If it can be said that plants desire, it is not their 
 desire to produce seeds and tubers for man to use, 
 but for the propagation of their kind. In fact, 
 they take all precaution to prevent their being 
 eaten; — the hard shells of nuts, the thorny covering 
 of some, the repellant taste of the outer coats of 
 others, and a hundred other devices making them 
 difficult to secure. Plants, having no particular 
 device for the protection of their seeds against 
 animals, produce so many to each plant that a few 
 always escape and find their way to suitable soil 
 for germination. 
 
 Man, with machinery, does what he likes with 
 plants. Those kinds which he finds rich in starch, 
 sugar, oils, or albumen, he cultivates to the exclu- 
 sion of other plants. Under cultivation, there is 
 no longer a struggle for existence — the farmer with 
 his machinery protects and aids them so much, that 
 plants can use their entire energy in producing 
 more food. Thus plants, which in the wild state 
 
PLANTS. 73 
 
 produced only a few small seeds or bulbs, in a culti- 
 vated state produce many large ones. Seeds whose 
 coverings offer almost complete resistance to the 
 teeth of animals, offer none to the teeth of mod- 
 ern machinery, and are converted into numerous 
 kinds of wholesome and nutritious foods. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL PLANTS — INDIAN CORN. 
 
 Indian Corn, or Maize, belongs to the family of 
 grasses. This can easily be seen by a close obser- 
 vation of the leaves and stalk. It will be found 
 that the veins run parallel, and that the stalk is 
 jointed like that of grass. The stalk is somewhat 
 tubular, the outer body being hard and tough, giving 
 it great strength. The inside is made up of a soft, 
 cellular, pithy mass with parallel, fibrous strings, 
 running lengthwise from joint to joint, similar to 
 the veins in the leaves. 
 
 The corn plant grows from six to fifteen feet high. 
 It is from a light or yellowish green to a dark green 
 in color during the growing season, the composition 
 of the soil and the amount of rain-fall making the 
 difference in color. When the ripening of the 
 grain begins, and the food stuffs are withdrawn 
 from the stalks and leaves, the color changes to 
 yellow and brown, with sometimes a tinge of 
 orange and red. 
 
 The plant has but one central shaft, there being 
 no branches. The leaves are arranged alternately 
 
74 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 on the stem, and are attached to it directly, with- 
 out any petioles. They are long and ribbon-like, 
 with a very heavy midrib through the center from 
 the base to the tip. They arch upward in a grace- 
 ful curve, the inner part 
 sloping downward to 
 the central shaft, and 
 the outer part sloping 
 downward and away 
 from it. The attach- 
 ment around the base 
 is such as to give them 
 a trough, so that part 
 of the rainfall is carried 
 to the stalk to find its 
 way to the roots of the 
 plant, and the rest is 
 directed away. The 
 leaves wave under the 
 influence of the wind in 
 ti a plume-like fashion, 
 ^J&k^and the plant as a 
 whole bends and nods 
 with every passing 
 breeze. 
 The blossom of corn is divided into two parts, 
 one part being at the very top of the plant, and the 
 other part about half way down the stalk. The 
 part of the blossom at the top is the pollen-bear- 
 ing or staminate part, and the part down on the 
 
 CORN GROWING. 
 
PLANTS. . 75 
 
 stalk is the pollen - receiving, or pistillate part. 
 Sometimes there are two, three, or more of the lat- 
 ter, but generally only one. They are called the ears 
 of corn, while the part at the top is called the tassel. 
 
 The tassel bears the pollen, which falls upon the 
 ear or is carried to it by the wind. The ripened 
 ear has a long, cylindrical, rough, woody core called 
 the cob. During the early stages of the ear, the 
 cob is green and soft; connected with it in rows are 
 long, white, or green threads, commonly called 
 silks (but in reality the pistils of the blossom), 
 which extend several inches beyond the outer end 
 of the cob. These silks, or pistils, receive the fall- 
 ing pollen and bring it back to their points of 
 attachment to the cob, at which places it produces 
 the seeds, or grains, of corn. As soon as the 
 grains are mature, the silks die and turn brown. 
 
 The whole ear of corn is covered completely by 
 layers of tightly-fitting leaves, similar to the leaves 
 of the plant. This part is called the husk and 
 must be removed before the grains can be shelled 
 from the cob. The husk is a protection for the 
 grains against the weather and the attacks of ani- 
 mals. There is a similar covering around grains of 
 wheat and oats, but in those cereals there is a 
 separate husk for each seed. 
 
 PLANTING AND HARVESTING CORN. 
 
 Indian corn, in the central states, is usually 
 planted in May and June, though sometimes as 
 
fgm 
 
PLANTS. 77 
 
 early as April, and as late as July. After the 
 ground is plowed and harrowed, it is planted in 
 rows about four feet apart, the plants being from 
 one to two feet apart in the row. It is planted 
 with corn drills which plant one or two rows at a 
 time, according to the style of the drill. Those 
 which plant two rows at a time are drawn by two 
 horses, and those which plant only one require but 
 one horse. 
 
 The seeds germinate in a few days, sending up a 
 single blade, as all grasses do, the seed consisting 
 of but one cotyledon. As it grows upward, it puts 
 out leaves first on one side then on the other, so 
 that there are two rows of leaves up the stalk on 
 opposite sides; but, as has been said before, these 
 are arranged alternately on the stem. Last of all 
 the tassel and ears appear; and as soon as the 
 grains in the ear are mature the whole plant dies, 
 from the tassel to the lowest roots. 
 
 Most species of the grass family are provided 
 with bulbs or underground stems, and spring up 
 each season from them; but the corn plant has no 
 such underground parts. New corn plants ger- 
 minate from seeds only. It is the same with wheat 
 and oats. Corn, however, has a species of roots 
 rarely found in other cultivated plants. They are 
 called aerial roots. They grow out in circles near 
 the base of the stalk, and are called brace-roots be- 
 cause they brace the stalk of corn against the force 
 of the wind. They appear just before the plant is 
 
78 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 full grown, because, with the added weight of the 
 heavy ear, there is then the most need of support. 
 
 Weeds soon spring up in a corn field on account 
 of the plants being so far apart; so incessant culti- 
 vation is necessary to destroy them. Cultivation 
 not only keeps down the weeds, but also keeps the 
 soil in a condition for holding moisture. Corn, of 
 all plants, requires a great amount of water for its 
 growth and development. It should be plowed 
 four or five times during a season, best while the 
 plants are small, so that the roots may not be inter- 
 fered with. After the plants are large enough to 
 completely shade the ground, further cultivation is 
 unnecessary; for the shade not only prevents weeds 
 from growing, but also keeps in check a too rapid 
 evaporation of soil moisture. 
 
 Corn is harvested, or gathered, in late autumn, 
 or at any time during the winter. Some husk it in 
 the field, and others cut and gather it, husk and 
 all, leaving the husking till the corn is needed for 
 the market or for feeding. The leaves of corn be- 
 ing of the same nature as hay, the stalks are some- 
 times cut just before frost and made into shocks in 
 the field or placed in barns. In this form it is 
 known as fodder, and makes a good, rough feed for 
 cattle and horses during autumn and winter. The 
 stalks are not eaten, being too tough and coarse. 
 Owing to its bulky nature, corn fodder is never 
 shipped away to market, but is fed on the farm 
 where it is raised. 
 
PLANTS. 79 
 
 The grains, or seeds, of corn, are the most useful 
 part of the plant. They are rich in starchy matter, 
 and, for that reason, are used largely in fattening 
 animals for market. Corn being rich in starch, 
 and that being easily converted into similar organic 
 compounds, is manufactured into many different 
 things. The most common are corn-starch, syrup, 
 and alcohol. One firm has succeeded in producing 
 nearly fifty different and distinct substances from 
 corn, among them being a substitute for India rub- 
 ber, which is almost as good as the genuine article 
 from the India rubber tree. 
 
 It would be almost an endless task to describe 
 all the virtues of this wonderful plant, so the high 
 tribute paid it by the poet Longfellow is given 
 below: — 
 
 Day by day did Hiawatha 
 Go to wait and watch beside it ; 
 Kept the dark mold soft above it, 
 Kept it clean from weeds and insects, 
 Drove away, with scoffs and shoutings, 
 Kagahgee, the king of ravens. 
 
 Till at length a small green feather 
 From the earth shot slowly upward, 
 Then another and another, 
 And before the summer ended 
 Stood the maize in all its beauty 
 With its shining robes above it, 
 And its long, soft, yellow tresses ; 
 And in rapture Hiawatha 
 Cried aloud, "It is Mondamin! 
 Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin!" 
 Then he called to old Nokomis, 
 And Iagoo, the great boaster, 
 
80 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 Showed them where the maize was growing, 
 Told them of his wondrous vision, 
 Of his wrestling and his triumph, 
 Of this new gift to the nations, 
 Which should be their food forever. 
 And still later, when in Autumn 
 Changed the long, green leaves to yellow, 
 And the soft and juicy kernels 
 Grew like wampum hard and yellow 
 Then the ripened ears he gathered, 
 Stripped the withered leaves from off them, 
 As he once had stripped the wrestler, 
 Gave the first feast of Mondamin, 
 And made known unto his people 
 This new gift of the Great Spirit. 
 
 THE POTATO. 
 
 The potato plant belongs to the nightshades, a 
 family of plants containing poisonous principles. 
 It is a near cousin to the common garden tomato. 
 The potato is a native of Mexico and Central 
 America, but has been introduced into and is now 
 cultivated in many different countries and climates. 
 
 The tuber, or swollen portion of the underground 
 stem, is the part of t-he plant used for food. In its 
 native state, the tuber of the potato is no larger 
 than the plum or cherry, but by cultivation and 
 selection it has increased to its present large 
 dimensions. 
 
 Scattered over the tuber are a number of buds, 
 commonly called eyes, and from these buds new 
 plants grow. 
 
 In planting potatoes, the large ones are cut into 
 
PLANTS. 81 
 
 several pieces, but each piece must contain an eye. 
 Since the tubers grow and expand in the ground, 
 they require a loose soil for a good crop. 
 
 Potatoes are planted in rows about four feet 
 apart so as to admit of cultivation; and the hills in 
 each row are from two to three feet apart. The 
 time for planting is from the final disappearance 
 of frost from the ground until July, according to the 
 variety. The early varieties mature, in central and 
 northern United States, about the first of July; 
 and the late varieties in September and October. 
 
 The plant bears blossoms, and grows from two 
 to four feet high, with a tendency to vine, or run 
 along the ground; hence, the term potato vine. 
 As soon as the blossoming is fully over, all of the 
 nutritious substances of the upper part of the plant 
 are withdrawn and stored in the tubers, the vines 
 quickly withering till scarcely any trace of them 
 can be found a few weeks later. Corn or sun- 
 flower stalks have so much substance left in them 
 that they exist a year or more after maturing; 
 but not so with the potato vine. What little 
 material is left in it soon decomposes and the 
 products return to the air and soil. 
 
 Like all tubers and bulbs, potatoes are composed 
 largely of water, and must be kept in a temperature 
 above freezing, for freezing renders them unfit for 
 use as food. Corn, and most seeds, contain such a 
 small percentage of water that freezing does not 
 affect them. Bulbs and tubers, however, can be 
 
82 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 frozen solid without impairing their germinating 
 powers or food properties, providing they be left 
 in the ground till after thawing out. The soil 
 seems to have virtue of such a nature as to with- 
 draw the frost so gradually, and in such a manner 
 as to revivify them. If this were not so, a great 
 many of the most beautiful of wild plants would be 
 destroyed by the deep soil-frosts of severe cold 
 winters. 
 
 The usual manner of keeping potatoes during 
 winter is to place them in cellars or bins, or to 
 cover them in the field in large heaps, first with a 
 layer of straw, then with earth deep enough to keep 
 out frost and shed rain. This is claimed to be 
 one of the best ways of storing them. 
 
 Potatoes are classed with the starchy foods, 
 although less than one-fourth of their composition 
 is starch. Three-fourths of the potato is water; 
 so that there is but one-fourth solid food. 
 
 Besides being used very extensively for food, the 
 starch of the tuber is made into dextrin, grape 
 sugar, and alcohol. 
 
 The skin of the potato contains a poison, but this 
 is destroyed by steaming or boiling. 
 
 BEANS AND PEAS. 
 
 There are many varieties of beans and peas, and, 
 although they differ to some extent, yet they are 
 very similar in their nature and growth. The most 
 prominent marking of the large order to which 
 
PLANTS. 83 
 
 these plants belong, is the seed pod. The bean or 
 pea pod is in reality a transformed leaf. When a 
 pod is broken open, laid out flat, and the seeds 
 taken out, it resembles a leaf very much. The 
 long, tough fiber along the back of the pod cor- 
 responds to the mid-vein of the leaf, and the line 
 along the front of the pod is the union of its two 
 margins. . The fibers of green pods are called 
 strings and must be removed before the pods are 
 cooked for food. 
 
 Beans and peas are good examples of the two- 
 cotyledonous plants. That is, the seeds are in two 
 parts, and in germination these two halves are 
 lifted into the air above the ground to act both as 
 leaves and a storehouse of supply, till the plants 
 have enough roots and leaves to make a living for 
 themselves. It will be noticed that the two cotyle- 
 dons, or halves of the seed, turn green as soon as 
 they reach the light and air, which means that 
 they are endowed with chlorophyl and can manufac- 
 ture protoplasm as well as supply it ready made. 
 As soon as true leaves are developed, the cotyle- 
 dons are absorbed by the plant and fall into disuse. 
 
 Beans and peas grow rapidly, requiring but from 
 six to ten weeks for growth and maturity; hence, 
 they are planted from early spring till the middle 
 of summer. They are annual plants and die away, 
 root and stalk, as soon as the seeds ripen. 
 
 The seeds germinate and spring up in a day or 
 two when planted in warm, moist soil. They need 
 but a thin covering of earth for germination. 
 
84 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 When covered too deeply, they decay in the earth 
 and no crop results. They are planted either in 
 rows for cultivation or sown thickly, as grass or 
 wheat, so as to take full possession of the soil, and 
 grow about as well in one way as the other. 
 
 The crop is gathered and shelled from the pod 
 by hand, or cut with a mowing machine, and 
 threshed with a separator similar to the one used 
 for wheat and oats. 
 
 Some beans are picked before the seeds are ma- 
 ture, the tender pods being cooked and used for food. 
 In this green form they are known as string-beans. 
 
 There are a great many kinds of beans and peas. 
 Some are used as food for human beings and other 
 kinds for live stock. The latter kind are fed very 
 much as hay is — cattle, horses, and pigs eating 
 them. They eat not only the seeds, but pods and 
 leaves also. Beans and peas are rich in starch and 
 albuminoids, the former producing fat, and the 
 latter flesh, or lean meat; so that they are desir- 
 able in fattening animals for market. 
 
 All plants of this order not only produce seeds 
 rich in albumen, or nitrogenous food, but they also 
 have the power of extracting free nitrogen from 
 the air and fixing it by means of their roots as 
 nitrates in the soil, from whence other plants can 
 draw supplies. They are able to do this through 
 nitrifying germs growing in little knobs on their 
 roots. For this reason such plants are considered 
 beneficial to the soil and are often grown and 
 plowed under as fertilizers. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 TREES. 
 
 The study of trees important. Planting groves. Trees afford 
 beauty, timber, and protection. Individual trees: — the elm, the 
 sugar maple, the oak, the cotton wood, the hickory. 
 
 At first thought it seems unnecessary to take up 
 time under the subject of agriculture for the study 
 of trees, but when viewed in its true and broadest 
 sense, the study of trees commands a place of no 
 small importance. It is a part of farm life that 
 has generally been too much neglected, but which 
 soon must become a serious study. 
 
 When this country was first settled, it had the 
 most magnificent forest areas of any part of the 
 world. It was a matter of necessity, of course, to 
 clear away a great part of these forests for timber 
 and agricultural purposes. The latter half of the 
 past century has witnessed not only a wholesale 
 destruction of vast areas of forests, but also a 
 waste of the timber. This has continued at such a 
 rate that good timber is fast becoming very scarce. 
 The loss of timber is not all the damage. It is a 
 well know fact that forests, with the deeply pene- 
 trating roots, and gigantic leaf surface for the 
 evaporation of water, are great regulators of rain- 
 
 85 
 
86 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 fall. They regulate the surrounding atmosphere 
 by the enormous amount of water evaporated by 
 their leaves, and by the absorption of heat neces- 
 sary for tree growth. 
 
 SOUTHERN PINES. 
 
TREES. 87 
 
 The water evaporated by leaves keeps the air 
 saturated. This moisture aids in the precipitation 
 of rain. When, however, there are few trees to 
 supply atmospheric moisture — since rainfall is de- 
 pendent upon additional moisture carried by winds 
 from the seas, long dry periods are likely to be 
 experienced in certain sections during summer 
 when rain is most needed. 
 
 A forest gives out much moisture to the air 
 by leaf evaporation, and holds back the water on 
 the forest floor, so that it is given off gradually. 
 This is an ideal condition. It is not the great 
 amount of water falling upon the ground at one 
 time that does most good, but the constant supply. 
 A forest holds back the water in two ways: by 
 shading the ground so that little evaporation takes 
 place, and by retaining it among fallen dead and 
 decaying leaves and branches. The latter not 
 only has a tendency to produce frequent summer 
 rains, but also prevents the rapid rushing away of 
 heavy rains to cause floods. 
 
 Trees are great barriers against scorching, hot 
 winds in summer, and against strong, destructive 
 winds coming at any time of the year. In the west- 
 ern prairie states many groves have been planted 
 purely as wind-breaks for farm buildings. They 
 have proved to be very efficient in that respect. 
 Besides, the people there are now able to use many 
 of the trees for fuel and timber because of the 
 necessary thinning as the trees grow in size. 
 
38 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 THE TLANTING OF GROVES. 
 
 The planting of groves must now be taken up 
 in nearly all sections of the United States to supply 
 the deficiency caused by the wanton and ignorant 
 destruction of trees which has taken place. Grove 
 or forest planting will be a general good to the 
 country at large, and a special good to those who 
 plant them. It will be capital well invested. 
 
 A cultivated forest, to be profitable, should be 
 planted and tended much the same as a field of 
 corn. The ground should be plowed and har- 
 rowed late in autumn, and the seeds, or nuts, 
 planted in rows from three to four feet apart so as 
 to admit of cultivation for the first few years. The 
 seeds should be planted in the fall of the year, 
 because most kinds require the moisture and frosts 
 of winter to render them capable of sprouting in 
 the spring. This is nature's way of planting trees. 
 
 In planting a few acres of trees on a farm, the 
 kinds should be considered. It is always well to 
 have a variety, but the greatest numbers should be 
 those that have the greatest value, both for their 
 wood and their fruit. A few years after planting 
 the thinning out of every alternate tree is neces- 
 sary, and a few years after that still more is 
 required. The first thinnings, »of course, are small, 
 but they have a market value, and can be used in 
 various ways. For instance, the first thinnings of 
 hickories are used as walking sticks, and always 
 
TREES. 89 
 
 command a good price. The later thinnings — 
 when the trees have attained a diameter of an inch 
 or more — can be used for almost numberless pur- 
 poses, both on the farm and in the factory. 
 
 Such a cultivated grove will require some ground, 
 but the poorest of land can be used. Land on 
 which nothing else will grow will produce a good 
 growth of trees with a little care. After the trees 
 have attained some size, the field can be used as a 
 pasture for live stock. Not much grass will grow 
 on the ground, but the shade is of benefit during 
 the hot summer months, and they afford protection 
 against cold winds in winter. Pigs, especially, do 
 well when raised on wood land. They not only 
 like the shade, but find a considerable amount of 
 food beneath and among the fallen leaves. They 
 eat acorns very greedily. 
 
 TREES AFFORD BEAUTY, TIMBER, AND PROTECTION. 
 
 Besides the monetary value of a forest, it adds 
 to the beauty of a farm. A solitary ornamental, 
 shade, or fruit tree, is beautiful; but a forest or 
 a grove has a charm which surpasses them all. 
 There are few things more beautiful and more 
 harmonious. A stroll through the woods in autumn, 
 winter, spring, or summer is one of the most pleas- 
 ant pastimes that can be taken by one who loves 
 nature. 
 
 Trees, whether solitary, in groups, or in a forest, 
 impress us with their size, endurance, symmetry, 
 
90 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 and beauty. When other plants have yielded to 
 frost and cold, and died away, trees stand proud 
 and sublime against the strongest blasts of winter, 
 raising: into the air their trunks and branches with 
 
 
 
 
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 IP? 
 
 WtA 
 
 mHri^mkMv 
 
 
 
 :/■ 
 
 
 COTTONWOOD TREE. OAK FOREST IN THE DISTANCE. 
 
TREES. 91 
 
 mantles of snow and ice. Then comes the renew- 
 ing of life-activities in spring, with the swelling and 
 bursting of buds, and the display of the softest 
 tints and colors. Summer brings its millions of 
 leaves, its welcome shade, and its subdued colors. 
 Most glorious of all are the radiant foliage color- 
 ings of autumn, telling that the trees have fur- 
 nished their season's work, and are ready for the 
 long rest of winter. 
 
 A small tract of woodland on a farm presents 
 another advantage, and that is the number of birds 
 that will be attracted by it. Birds love the shelter 
 of trees for roosting and nesting, and will seek 
 them wherever they can be found. 
 
 During the nesting and breeding season, the 
 parent birds supply their young with food from the 
 immediate surroundings. The food carried to 
 young birds consists mainly of soft-bodied insects, 
 such as grubs and caterpillars, and these generally 
 are the forms most destructive to crops. 
 
 Birds, when undisturbed, as they would be in a 
 standing grove of trees, love to build year after 
 year in the same place. So, as the trees grow, the 
 farm would have a constant natural exterminator 
 at work against the enormous inroads of insects, 
 and stronger and more sure than the best artificial 
 means. 
 
 Besides the good they do in keeping down the 
 number of injurious insects, birds add to the cheer- 
 fulness and beauty of every rural scene, with their 
 
92 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 joyful songs, gentle social influences, and beauti- 
 ful plumage. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL TREES. 
 
 Since the subject of trees has become such an 
 important study, it is well to know something about 
 individual trees, so that their names and character- 
 istics may become more familiar. 
 
 It is no easy matter to say what trees are of the 
 most importance, because that depends largely 
 upon taste and the uses for which they are planted. 
 A few of the common trees of central United 
 States will be given here. 
 
 THE ELM. 
 
 The Elm Tree family is a large one, but its mem- 
 bers have so many points in common that a descrip- 
 tion of one will give a tolerably clear image of all. 
 
 The common American elm may be taken as a 
 type. This elm tree grows to a height of from 
 fifty to more than one hundred feet. The bark is 
 rough, and dark gray in color. The wood is red- 
 dish brown, and rather soft in its nature, but diffi- 
 cult to split on account of its interlacing fibers. 
 For this reason the young trees are used for the 
 hubs of wagon and carriage wheels. 
 
 The elm is one of the easiest trees to identify 
 because of its shape. It rises as one central shaft 
 for a considerable distance, then divides into 
 
TREES. 
 
 93 
 
 several principal branches, and these again into 
 smaller ones — all taking a decided upward direc- 
 tion, making sharp 
 angles with the main 
 trunk and with each 
 other. Very few 
 branches assume a 
 horizontal or droop- 
 ing position, except 
 the outer lowest 
 ones. This upward 
 tendency of all the 
 branches gives the 
 tree the general 
 shape of a feather 
 duster. 
 
 All the branches 
 of an elm tree are 
 graceful in form 
 throughout. They 
 are not as pliant and 
 tender as those of 
 the willow, nor as 
 rugged as those of 
 the oak, but possess 
 that unassuming 
 grace so pleasing to 
 the eye. 
 
 Owing to the up- 
 ward tendency of the the elm. box elder to the right. 
 
94 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 branches, most of the foliage is at the very top of 
 the tree. In very few cases are there leaves at 
 any other place. This is one of the features by 
 means of which the tree can be so easily distin- 
 guished. 
 
 The leaves of the elm are arranged alternately, 
 are rather rough on both sides, and have a notched 
 or saw-toothed margin. The leaf can always be 
 told from the fact that one side is always a little 
 larger than the other. Strong side-ribs spring out 
 all along the midrib, terminating in the margin. 
 The leaf, as a whole, is strong and firm. 
 
 The blossoms appear early in spring, and the 
 seeds mature before the leaves are fully developed. 
 A single tree bears an almost countless number of 
 seeds, from which young elms readily grow. 
 
 The roots of the elm are long and fibrous. They 
 do not strike very deeply into the ground, but run 
 near the surface in great numbers. Since they 
 grow so near the surface and take up so much 
 moisture, very little other vegetation can thrive 
 near the tree; hence they require much room. 
 With old trees, the large roots strike out above the 
 ground for a few feet, giving the lower part of the 
 trunk a very uneven appearance. 
 
 The American elm should be planted for its 
 beauty and shade. It is easy to start and very 
 hardy, growing vigorously for nearly a hundred 
 years. It is seldom attacked by insects; and its 
 branches, though graceful and pliant, are so tough 
 
TREES. 95 
 
 that the strongest blasts seldom break them. It 
 retains its symmetry of form till old age. 
 
 THE SUGAR MAPLE. 
 
 The sugar, or hard Maple extends from New 
 England to the West Central States. It grows more 
 slowly than some of the softer varieties, but finally 
 attains a very large size. 
 
 When growing by itself in an open space, the 
 branches and leaves come out low down on the 
 stem. The top of the tree in such open locations 
 is generally oval in shape. In a crowded forest, 
 however, the main stem often rises forty or fifty 
 feet without a single branch. 
 
 The bark of the sugar maple is light gray in 
 color, and is smooth on young trees, but rough on 
 older ones. 
 
 The wood is very hard, strong, fine-grained, com- 
 pact, and capable of taking a high polish. It is one 
 of the most useful of all woods, especially for tools, 
 furniture, and floors. It is especially made use of 
 for floors, owing to its fine grain and rreat wear- 
 ing qualities. The wood is also valuable for fuel, 
 making a hot, cheerful blaze nearly equal to that 
 of hickory. 
 
 The leaves of the tree are among the most beau- 
 tiful of all leaves. They are arranged opposite on 
 the stem, and have long, slender petioles. The 
 simple leaf is divided into five principal lobes and 
 
96 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 several smaller sub-divisions, each ending in a 
 sharp point. The veins radiate from the base of 
 the leaf blade, giving it the palmate form. The 
 autumn colorings of maple leaves are most glori- 
 ous. They flash under October skies in red, crim- 
 son, orange, and yellow. 
 
 Maples blossom early, and the seeds ripen before 
 the middle of summer. The seeds are borne at 
 the end of long, pendulous foot-stalks, diverging 
 into two wings forming what is known as maple 
 keys. One of the capsules is usually empty, prob- 
 ably for the reason that two seeds cannot ger- 
 minate at the same spot without crowding each 
 other. By means of the two wings the seeds are 
 carried by the wind and planted in new soil. It is 
 easy to grow maples from the seed. 
 
 One of the most noted things about the sugar 
 maple is the sweetness of its sap — from which maple 
 syrup and maple sugar are made. The sap is 
 drawn from the trees in very early spring, before 
 the leaves begin to grow. Boring into the tree for 
 sap beyond question weakens it to some extent, 
 but the injury is so slight that the effect is seldom 
 noticed, even though repeated for twenty or thirty 
 consecutive years. 
 
 On the whole, the sugar maple is a very beauti- 
 ful and useful tree and will stand for generations 
 in full vigor. No farm should be without a grove 
 of sugar maples. 
 
TREES. 97 
 
 OAKS. 
 
 There are a dozen or more species of the Oak 
 family, but they may all be classed roughly into 
 two groups; namely, the white oak group and the 
 red oak group. The white oak group matures its 
 fruit in one year, and has rounded, lobed leaves; 
 the red oak group has sharp-pointed, lobed leaves 
 and requires two years for the ripening of its fruit. 
 
 The oak stands as an emblem of strength, forti- 
 tude, and endurance. There is nothing tender or 
 pliant in its make-up. It is the embodiment of 
 massiveness from its large, anchoring roots to the 
 tips of its branches. Some trees bend or sway 
 under a heavy load of ice and snow or the force of 
 a strong wind, but not so with the oak. It resists 
 everything with its own great strength. For this 
 reason it has a wide range, being able to grow in 
 almost any situation. It is a native of both Europe 
 and America. It will grow in the sheltered valley 
 or upon the unprotected mountain side, and thrive 
 almost equally well in both places. 
 
 Oaks grow to be very old. They are about 
 twenty years old before they produce acorns, and a 
 century or more before they are fully grown. 
 There are oaks in England nearly a thousand 
 years old, and some in the United States several 
 hundred. 
 
 A description of the white oak will give a fair 
 notion of the whole family. 
 
98 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 The white oak is so called because of its light- 
 colored bark. The bark is not pure white, but 
 light gray. The bark of the white oak, as well as 
 of all oaks, contains a large amount of tannic acid 
 which is used in tanning leather. Enormous quan- 
 tities of oak bark are used for this purpose. 
 
 The quality of strength so characteristic of the 
 oak family is accentuated in the white oak. The 
 trunk is large and strong, the branches are gnarled 
 and massive, striking out boldly from the main 
 stem nearly at right angles, while the great, bulg- 
 ing roots at its base strike strongly and deeply into 
 the earth, giving it a foothold that defies the wild- 
 est storm. 
 
 The white oak blossoms in early summer and 
 ripens its acorns before the autumn frosts of the 
 same season. The acorns are readily eaten by 
 many animals, and are quite nutritious. They may 
 even be eaten by human beings. Young white oak 
 trees are best secured by planting acorns, because 
 the trees do not bear transplanting well owing to 
 the downward tendency of their roots. 
 
 Young white oak leaves unfold slowly from the 
 buds, being soft in texture and pink in color. 
 They are green during the summer, and turn red 
 in autumn. 
 
 The wood of the white oak has made it famous 
 the world over. It is beyond question the strong- 
 est of woods, and is used for numberless purposes 
 where strength is required. The strong timbers in 
 
TREES. 99 
 
 ships, houses, cars, bridges, and large machinery 
 are nearly all made of white oak. It is also used 
 to a large extent in making strong casks, handles 
 for tools, frame work for carriages and wagons, and 
 different parts of small machinery. There has been 
 such a demand for it in so many lines that it will 
 soon disappear if replanting is not vigorously begun. 
 
 It is also one of the most beautiful and sub- 
 stantial woods for furniture and inside finish, tak- 
 ing the highest polish and giving an air of strength 
 and solidity so desirable in such work. Some of 
 the red oak group are equal to, or even better 
 than the white oak, for the last named purposes, 
 because of the darker color of the wood. 
 
 Oak ranks among the best of hard woods for 
 fuel. It burns with a hot, cheerful blaze and lasts 
 for a long time. The early settlers of the Missis- 
 sippi valley used it not only for fuel, but they split 
 it into rails for fencing, cut it into posts, and built it 
 into frames of houses and barns. The white oak 
 stands the effect of outdoor, wet weather better 
 than any of the other species, save, perhaps, the 
 post oak, which is its closest relative. 
 
 May the time soon come when every farm can 
 boast of its grove of young oaks, to be handed 
 down as a noble heritage to future generations. 
 
 THE COTTONWOOD. 
 
 The Cottonwood belongs to the poplar family. 
 They all have soft wood and are very rapid grow- 
 
 L.cfC. 
 
100 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 ers. The wood is so soft and difficult to work that 
 the trees have been considered worthless till of 
 late. It has recently been discovered that the 
 wood has a high commercial value, and can be used 
 for many purposes. It is now used very exten- 
 sively for making paper. 
 
 Its rapid growth and hardiness also make it a 
 favorite with those who wish to have a forest or 
 grove in a few years. An investment in a grove of 
 cottonwood trees will give quick returns. The trees 
 grow readily in almost any part of the United 
 States. They are especially valuable for shade 
 trees, not only in the country, but also in towns 
 and cities. The leaves are so smooth that coal 
 dust does not settle on them to stop up the pores, 
 as is so often the case with trees having rough 
 leaves. They always have a bright, clear, vigor- 
 ous appearance. 
 
 The foliage of a poplar tree is not dense, but the 
 leafy top is beautiful and interesting. The leaves 
 are always in motion. One kind, the aspen-leaf 
 poplar, has its leaves so delicately adjusted on 
 their long petioles that they are in constant motion 
 when no breath of air can be perceived by any 
 other means. 
 
 In their movement they make a noise like a 
 shower of rain, and may often be mistaken for such, 
 even when the sky is clear. 
 
 The leaves are somewhat oval in shape, broad at 
 the base, and pointed at the apex. They are tough 
 in texture, and turn yellow in autumn. 
 
TREES. 101 
 
 The blossoms appear in early spring before the 
 leaves are fully out. They hang in aments. When 
 the seeds are ripe they are surrounded by a tuft of 
 long, white hair resembling cotton; hence the 
 name. By means of this cottony substance the 
 seeds are carried long distances by the wind. 
 
 The bark is rather light in color, even on very 
 old trees, giving them a cheerful appearance. 
 Solitary old cottonwood trees can be found in 
 many sections of the country. They have few, but 
 large branches, which extend upward nearly par- 
 allel with the trunk. With their large arms they 
 stand out in rugged beauty, catching every passing 
 breeze with leaves high in the top, and indicating 
 that activity and mirth are possible, even in old age. 
 
 HICKORIES. 
 
 Hickory Trees belong to the family of walnuts. 
 They all bear nuts and compound leaves, making 
 it easy to distinguish them. The leaves are pin- 
 nately compound, ending in a single leaflet, which 
 form is known as odd pinnate. The number of 
 leaflets varies from five to twenty-three; the true 
 walnuts having more than the hickories. 
 
 The wood of the whole family is very valuable. 
 Walnut timber is now very scarce, owing to the 
 great demand for it in cabinet work. The wood of 
 the black walnut is very dark, and ranks among the 
 most costly of woods for fine cabinet work and 
 furniture. 
 
102 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 Hickory timber is very light in color, splits in 
 straight pieces, is tough and flexible, and its 
 strength is unequalled. Hence, it is the wood 
 much used for carriages and wagons. Spokes for 
 wheels are made of hickory because of its tough- 
 ness, flexibility, and strength. There is no other 
 timber quite so good for this purpose. 
 
 The shellbark is generally considered the best of 
 hickory trees. It grows from fifty to eighty feet 
 high. The branching varies according to the sur- 
 roundings. In a forest with other trees it sends up 
 a central trunk from thirty to fifty feet high, and 
 then branches out into an irregular head. In an 
 open field, the solitary tree begins to branch near 
 the ground. The branches come out at nearly 
 right angles to the main stem. The main stem is 
 almost always persistent to the top, and the head 
 of the tree is nearly cylindrical in form, with occa- 
 sional wide gaps between the branches. 
 
 Besides its timber and fuel value, — for all hickory 
 wood is the very best for fuel, the shellbark is prized 
 for its fruit. The nuts rank next to the English 
 walnut in food value. The trees begin to bear at 
 about twenty years of age, and continue to old age. 
 A half dozen thrifty trees will bear all the nuts a 
 family can use. The nuts ripen and fall off after 
 the first frosts of autumn. The outer hull, which 
 is in several parts, bursts open, setting free the 
 brown treasure within, and the nut is ready to crack 
 and eat. 
 
TREES. 103 
 
 Probably no other grove of trees would yield a 
 larger income on the amount invested than a small 
 field of shellbark hickories. When bearing begins, 
 the bark peels off and hangs in long, loose, vertical 
 strips; but the younger trees, which would have to 
 be thinned out, have smooth, tight bark. The 
 bodies of such young trees are used for many pur- 
 poses. They always command a high price. The 
 nuts also have a high standard market value. 
 
 A young person who now plants a small field 
 with hickories, will not regret the experiment in 
 after years. The young trees do not bear trans- 
 planting on account of the long tap root. Young 
 trees are best secured by planting the nuts where 
 the trees are permanently to stand. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 INSECTS. 
 
 Stages in insect life. Food and growth of insects. Mimicry and 
 protective resemblance. Cross-fertilization by insects. Destruc- 
 tion of insects. Insects both friends and pests. Insect intelli- 
 gence. Insecticides. House flies. Weevils in general. The 
 granary weevil. Grain moths. The Indian -meal moth. How 
 to keep out insects. The Hessian fly. The squash bug. 
 
 Unlike most familiar animals, insects are inter- 
 esting on account of the several stages through 
 which they pass. Most kinds are so different in 
 the different stages that one would not think them 
 to be the same creatures. Who would believe 
 that the slow, creeping, worm-like caterpillar would 
 ever become a beautiful butterfly with large wings 
 to sport in the sunlight; or the sluggish, soft- 
 bodied grub transform into a lively beetle, with 
 hard coat of mail, and wings and legs for rapid 
 locomotion? Such, however, are some of the won- 
 ders of the insect world. 
 
 There are four stages in the life of the highest 
 orders of insects — egg, larva, pupa, and adult. 
 Some of the lower orders do not pass through all 
 these stages, but, as the young hatch from the egg, 
 they resemble the adult except in size and the pos- 
 session of wings. In a few species, the young are 
 
 104 
 
INSECTS. 
 
 105 
 
 brought forth alive. Two of the four stages are 
 active and two are dormant. The larva and adult 
 are active stages, the egg and pupa are dormant. 
 Since the good or harm an insect does is in its 
 eating, it is essential to find in what stage the most 
 eating is done. In other words, its habits and life 
 history must be learned. 
 
 Most moths and butterflies eat an enormous 
 amount in the larva, or caterpillar stage, but only 
 
 CABBAGE BUTTERFLY, CATERPILLAR, AND CHRYSALIS. 
 
 sip a little honey occasionally in the adult stage. 
 Some beetles do as much eating in the adult as 
 they do in the grub stage, but the food generally is 
 of a different' character. The Colorado potato 
 beetle lives on the potato plant during all its 
 stages, the larva and adult both eating the leaves; 
 while the cabbage butterfly lives on the cabbage 
 leaf only in the larva stage, the adult flying in the 
 
106 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 air, now and then tasting the sweets of blossoms 
 wherever they may be found. 
 
 The larva stage is the one in which growth takes 
 place. A caterpillar, for instance, hatches from 
 the egg a very small worm-like creature. This eats 
 for a few weeks or months, growing all the time, 
 then enters the pupa, or dormant stage, after which 
 no growth in size takes place. It eats during the 
 worm stage not only for growth, but also to lay up 
 stores of fat and other material for future use. 
 During the dormant stage, this supply is changed, 
 elaborated, and built into the organs of the adult 
 insect. 
 
 Insects may be classed as soft-bodied animals; 
 that is, they have no inside bony skeleton, but are 
 provided with a more or less hard outer skeleton. 
 With many, it is a mere skin. As growth takes 
 place they find this outside skin, or skeleton, grow 
 too small, and change it from time to time for a 
 new and larger one. This process is called moult- 
 ing, and has an analogy among many other animals. 
 
 Since no growth takes place in the adult stage, 
 some insects take but little food during that time — 
 only enough to repair waste of tissue and develop 
 eggs. Some eat as voraciously during the adult 
 stage as they do in the larva stage. In a few cases 
 the adults eat nothing at all, and hence have no 
 digestive organs. The May fly lives only a day as 
 an adult, but three years in the aquatic, or larva, 
 stage. It eats enough during its long period of 
 
INSECTS. 
 
 107 
 
 early life to supply sufficient strength for the very 
 short adult period. Living for so short a period, 
 it has no time for eating. A few hours are spent 
 flitting in the bright sunshine, the eggs are laid in 
 the water, and its round of life is complete. 
 
 INSECT FOOD AND GROWTH. 
 
 Insects feed upon both animal and vegetable 
 matter. Grubs of beetles eat decayed vegetable 
 matter, such as rotten wood; maggots of flies eat 
 
 CECROPIA MOTH. 
 
 decayed flesh; caterpillars eat leaves; plant lice and 
 squash bugs suck the juices from plants; dragon 
 flies catch and eat other insects; and many kinds 
 
108 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 eat almost anything that they can lay hold of. 
 Ants probably display the greatest amount of intel- 
 ligence in securing food. They have what are 
 known as "ants' cows" and milk them. The 
 so-called cows are plant lice from which they 
 secure a sweetish substance called honey dew. 
 They not only get it from plant lice while they are 
 on plants, but they also take them to their homes 
 and keep them much the same as a farmer does 
 his cows. 
 
 The main function of the adult female insect is 
 to lay eggs, and generally after this act is accom- 
 plished, she dies. Insects lay a great many eggs; 
 some, many thousands. This is very necessary to 
 preserve the species, for they are incessantly 
 preyed upon by birds and other animals. Only 
 one or two of every thousand ever come to 
 maturity. 
 
 MIMICRY AND PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE. 
 
 Insects have so many enemies that they have 
 acquired habits and devices by means of which to 
 escape destruction. Eggs are frequently the color 
 of the leaves upon which they are laid, or they are 
 stuck to the under side of leaves to escape detec- 
 tion. The eggs, as well as the caterpillars of the 
 cabbage butterfly, are so nearly of the green of the 
 cabbage leaf that only the closest search can reveal 
 them. The wings of some adult insects are so 
 nearly like certain leaves in form and color that 
 
INSECTS. 109 
 
 the creatures make themselves appear to be a part 
 of the stem upon which they alight. The insect 
 known as the "walking-stick" so resembles a dead 
 brown twig that it would be taken for such when 
 at rest on a tree or shrub. Some night-flying 
 moths sleep during the day attached to the trunks 
 of trees, and so fold their wings as almost com- 
 pletely to resemble the bark of the tree upon 
 which they rest, and thus avoid being picked up by 
 birds. 
 
 Devices for mimicry are almost as numerous as 
 the different forms of insect life. Mimicry, how- 
 ever, is not confined to insects alone, but is com- 
 mon to all classes of animals. It is thought that 
 the stripes of the tiger are there to make it har- 
 monize with the large grass blades among which it 
 lurks. In this case, perhaps, the resemblance is 
 not to conceal the tiger from danger, but that his 
 prey will approach near without seeing him. 
 
 Scientists have found that most plants do better 
 when the pollen of one falls upon the blossom of 
 another of the same kind than when the pollen 
 falls upon the same blossom that produced it. The 
 offspring of such a plant does better than others 
 because it partakes of the qualities of two parents 
 instead of those of one. A weakness in one par- 
 ent may be compensated by corresponding strength 
 in the other. This method of pollination is called 
 cross-fertilization. Plants in which the pollen falls 
 upon the blossom that produced it soon become 
 
110 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 weak and abnormal. Weakness and deformity are 
 transmitted from generation to generation, till the 
 plant is no longer able to cope with others in the 
 struggle of life and thus dies and gives place to 
 stronger forms. 
 
 CROSS-FERTILIZATION BY INSECTS. 
 
 Nature is very careful to secure cross-fertiliza- 
 tion in plants. The visits of insects to the blos- 
 soms to secure the nectar that they find there is 
 the greatest means by which cross-fertilization is 
 accomplished. To secure the carrying of pollen, 
 plants have to pay for it by expending extra 
 strength in producing pleasant odors, sweet nectar, 
 bright-colored blossoms, and such attractive things. 
 Insects would not carry pollen from one blossom to 
 another were there not some reward for their doing 
 it. Odor and color are probably guides to the 
 sweets held by the blossoms. In securing nectar 
 from the blossom, the insect unconsciously rakes off 
 some pollen on his legs and body, and carries it to 
 another blossom, thus accomplishing the desired 
 result. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that the pollen 
 of one blossom will do no good upon the blossom 
 of a different kind of plant. For instance, the pol- 
 len from an apple blossom carried by a bee to a 
 pea blossom would not produce apples on the pea 
 vine. Nature, again, has so ordered it that insects 
 visit only one kind of plant while it blossoms, and 
 
INSECTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 do not wander aimlessly from one kind to another. 
 When apple trees are in bloom, bees, for example, 
 feed upon apple blossoms; when catnip is in bloom, 
 they feed upon catnip blossoms. When white 
 clover is out, all honey made in the hive during 
 that period is "white clover honey." 
 
 White blossoms that are insect-fertilized come 
 
 # 
 
 
 «*fc- 
 
 HOW INSECTS CARRY POLLEN. 
 
 out at night; colored blossoms come out during 
 the day. So some insects fly by day, and some by 
 night. Certain insects fly by night because certain 
 plants bloom then; or, the plants bloom then be- 
 cause certain insects fly by night. 
 
 Tubular blossoms conceal nectar deep down 
 their tubes at their bases, out of the reach of most 
 insects; but some moths and butterflies have for 
 
112 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 tongues or probosces long sucking tubes by means 
 of which they are able to reach it. There is mar- 
 vellous adaptation in the forms of blossoms and 
 the structure of insects to secure cross-pollination 
 among plants. Some of the most useful farm and 
 garden plants depend upon insects to carry pollen 
 from plant to plant. If it were not for the large 
 bumble-bee, seed would not mature in red clover. 
 The common honeybee carries pollen for the 
 white clover. We are indebted to the same hum- 
 ming, busy creature for abundant crops of apples 
 and many other useful fruits. An apple orchard 
 in full bloom fairly hums with the music of the busy 
 honeybee. Care should be taken in spraying fruit 
 trees not to kill any of these creatures, for they 
 are as necessary to a full harvest of fruit as soil, 
 rain, or sunshine. 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. 
 
 Birds and other animals annually destroy mil- 
 lions of insects in their different forms; insects also 
 kill each other. Otherwise, they would increase to 
 such an extent that no other animate beings could 
 exist upon the earth. This is a well-known fact 
 through the whole animal kingdom: mammals eat 
 mammals; birds eat birds; fish eat fish. Some- 
 times the parent will eat its own offspring. It 
 seems cruel, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, and is, 
 no doubt, necessary to preserve the balance of 
 power and numbers among animals. 
 
INSECTS. 113 
 
 Some insects, such as lice and flies, make a living 
 by sucking blood out of other animals. Such 
 creatures are called parasites* Insects, too, have 
 parasites that either suck or eat away their vitality. 
 Many ground beetles are literally covered with lice 
 which can easily be seen with the naked eye. 
 The common house-fly has a similar enemy, also a 
 fungus growth .that carries off large numbers of 
 them toward the close of summer. 
 
 The ichneumon fly probably does as much, or 
 more damage to insect life than does any other 
 creature. It is provided with organs by means of 
 which it pierces holes in the bodies of caterpillars 
 and deposits its eggs therein. These eggs soon 
 hatch and the young ichneumons slowly but gradu- 
 ally eat away the internal soft parts of their host. 
 The caterpillar eats voraciously to supply the 
 waste, but to no effect. When the ichneumons are 
 ready to come out into the world to lead a winged 
 life, they finally eat the vital organs of the cater- 
 pillar, leaving nothing but the empty outer shell. 
 A similar fate overtakes large numbers of army 
 worms and grasshoppers. 
 
 A large kind of ichneumon has piercing — or 
 rather, drilling organs several inches long. With 
 these it is able to drill holes deep into the trunks 
 of trees to the burrows of wood-boring grubs, upon 
 which the young feed. It can be safely said that 
 ichneumon flies help to keep down the numbers of 
 injurious insects, and are therefore man's friends. 
 
m 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 All forms and stages of insects are the prey of 
 predatory insects. Eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults, 
 fall as victims. The dragon fly has already been 
 
 spoken of. Be- 
 ing rapid of 
 flight and con- 
 tinually on the 
 wing, large 
 numbers of 
 small - winded insects are 
 
 THE 
 DRAGON FLY 
 
 taken by it, and thus the air 
 about streams and swamps is 
 less infested than it other- 
 wise would be. Beetles not only eat eggs and low 
 forms of insect life in the ground, but chase higher 
 forms over rocks and up trees. The tiger beetle is 
 very useful in this respect. Some wasps, also, kill 
 other insects. 
 
 INSECT INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 Although small in size, and comparatively low 
 in the scale of animal life, some of the higher orders 
 of insects display an unusual amount of intelli- 
 gence, skill and constructive ability. The ant, liv- 
 ing a social community life, shows in many ways a 
 marked degree of intelligence. The honeybee is 
 famous for constructive skill in building its 
 geometric cells; it also shows foresight in laying 
 up stores of honey for winter use. Paper wasps 
 not only produce a fair quality of paper, but also 
 
INSECTS. 115 
 
 skillfully build it into serviceable houses. The mud 
 wasp is a mason who knows his trade well, and can 
 build a more beautiful and complex house than 
 any beaver or bird with the same material. 
 
 If any insects can be called domestic, bees and 
 silk moths are truly such. Honey of bees is not 
 only pleasant to the taste but it also has a high 
 food value. It is a common article of diet at all 
 times of the year, and its commercial value is of 
 no small importance. The caterpillar of the silk 
 moth spins material that is worn in some form or 
 other by nearly all of the human race. Silk is not 
 only used for clothing but is woven into fabrics for 
 almost numberless purposes. The silk worm does 
 not thrive well in the United States, yet the silk 
 trade is very extensive. The combined silk indus- 
 tries of the world amount to hundreds of millions 
 of dollars. It seems almost impossible that so 
 small an insect could be of such service to human 
 beings. 
 
 INSECTICIDES. 
 
 Different substances are used to kill insect pests 
 of the farm and garden, but certain underlying 
 general principles should govern the intelligent use 
 of all of them. Chickens, as well as other birds, 
 both wild and domestic, like to wallow in dust. 
 They do it to kill the bird lice on them. Insects 
 breathe by means of small tubes arranged along 
 the sides of the body. These tubes, or breathing 
 
116 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 pores, are called spiracles. The spiracles are so 
 small that dust stops them up and breathing can- 
 not take place. Thus the insects die in the dust 
 bath. When infested with lice, birds will take a 
 dust bath in any kind of dry earth. Domestic 
 birds prefer ashes when they are to be had, and 
 will wallow in them in preference to dry earth. 
 Ashes act as dust to stop up the breathing pores of 
 insects, and the alkaline properties attack the tissue, 
 making the destruction doubly sure. Man has 
 copied from nature here and uses several kinds of 
 dust to kill insects with. Ordinary road dust is 
 often used. Lime and ashes are both good, and 
 besides are excellent food for the plants when 
 washed into the soil. 
 
 Poisons, such as Paris green, London purple, 
 and sulphate of copper are often sprayed upon 
 plants infested with insects. The insects eat the 
 leaves, take the chemicals into the system, and die 
 by poisoning. 
 
 Kerosene, carbolic acid, and similar substances 
 are used because of their strong power to attack 
 and destroy animal tissue. They literally blister 
 or burn insects to death. A mixture of kerosene 
 and soap, or soap alone, may be used with similar 
 results. Soap is very good for the soil, too. 
 There are three general principles then, in killing 
 insects — stopping up the breathing pores, poison- 
 ing, and burning or blistering the tissues. 
 
 Large worms, or caterpillars, are sometimes 
 
INSECTS. 117 
 
 picked off by hand and killed, when only a few 
 plants are infested; but the process is very slow 
 and uncertain for a large field. 
 
 SOME OF OUR COMMON INSECT PESTS. — HOUSE FLIES. 
 
 The house fly is one of the most common and 
 familiar of all insects, and needs but little descrip- 
 tion. It belongs to the order of two-winged (dip- 
 terous) insects. There are four stages in its 
 life-history — egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The 
 larva is a small, 'worm-like, white maggot, and 
 differs very much in form and habit from the adult. 
 Maggots have mouth parts fitted for eating solid 
 substances, while adult flies have them fitted for 
 sucking liquids. 
 
 Flies breed in filth and in decaying animal and 
 vegetable matter, especially the former, or a mix- 
 ture of both. So the presence and number of flies 
 depend upon the amount of decaying organic mat- 
 ter in a neighborhood — governed, of course, by the 
 time of year or by the temperature. They breed in 
 nearly all parts of the world, but do so most abun- 
 dantly in warm countries. 
 
 After eggs have been laid in filth of any kind, it 
 takes but a few hours for them to hatch. The 
 maggots eat for a few days, molt, or change their 
 skin, twice during the time and then go into the 
 pupa, or resting stage. The pupa stage lasts 
 about five days. So it is less than two weeks from 
 the time that eggs are laid till adults come forth. 
 
118 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 An individual female fly lays about a hundred 
 eggs. From this it can be seen that a single fly 
 could give rise to many millions during a single 
 summer. 
 
 It cannot be said that house flies are injurious; 
 on the other hand, they do a great amount of good 
 in destroying decaying organic matter. They are 
 however, very troublesome to both man and beast. 
 It is believed by some that germs of disease attach 
 themselves to the bodies of flies and are thus car- 
 ried from place to place. The truth of this theory 
 is possible, tenable, and, indeed, highly probable; 
 for flies are a common nuisance in sick rooms, and 
 germs of disease adhering to them could be carried 
 to, and infect, another person as easily as they 
 could by the body or clothing of a human being. 
 
 Different remedies are proposed. Garbage 
 about the house should be quickly and carefully 
 disposed of. Thorough cleanliness in the house, 
 and careful screening of doors and windows will 
 keep them out to a large extent. Cleanliness here 
 implies that no sweet substances or food be left 
 exposed, for they attract flies in larger numbers 
 than almost anything else. They congregate 
 wherever there is anything for them to eat or to 
 lay their eggs in. 
 
 A stable in which horses are kept will breed 
 enough flies for a whole neighborhood. Stables 
 should be swept clean daily and the refuse matter 
 carted away to the fields and plowed under, or put 
 
INSECTS. H9 
 
 into a tight tank and sprinkled with kerosene. 
 Chloride of lime will also kill maggots, but it is too 
 expensive to be practicable. 
 
 Flies have several natural enemies. They are 
 subject to disease, they are picked up by birds, and, 
 in the larva forms, are eaten by beetles; but they 
 breed so fast that the effect of this destruction is 
 seldom noticed. The only true and ^ practical 
 remedy for the nuisance they become lies in the 
 combined efforts for cleanliness of every one own- 
 ing stables, dwellings, or other buildings, in or about 
 which decaying organic matter may accumulate. 
 
 WEEVILS IN GENERAL. 
 
 Under the head of weevil all those insects may 
 be included that injure stored grain. There are 
 many kinds of them, so only the most general 
 description will be here given. 
 
 Vegetables and fruits containing a large percen- 
 tage of water can be kept in store only a few 
 months. Water is very conducive to decay, but 
 the so-called grains contain such a small percen- 
 tage of water that they will keep for years in dry 
 places without change. Owing to the small 
 amount of water and the large amount of solid food 
 in grains, they have become world-wide staples of 
 consumption. Being so condensed in bulk, they 
 can be shipped very long distances with profit, and 
 people of countries not producing them are able to 
 secure supplies almost as cheaply as if they were 
 
120 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 native to their own soil. The United States 
 receives rice from China, and, in turn, sends wheat 
 and corn to other countries. Countries and sec- 
 tions of countries are able to tide over years of 
 scarcity and famine for the same reason. 
 
 Although grains are rich in food value, and have 
 such good keeping qualities as far as decay is con- 
 cerned, they are subject to injury by several kinds 
 of insects, all popularly known as "weevils." These 
 are very small insects, and hence can easily infest 
 a quantity of grain without being discovered until 
 a considerable amount of damage has been done. 
 Not only is there a loss in weight, but the insects' 
 bodies and excreta make it unfit for use as food. 
 Some kinds destroy the germs of the seed so that 
 they will not grow when planted, whence there 
 results a diminution of the crop. 
 
 Insect injuries to ripened and stored grains 
 amount to many millions of dollars annually in a 
 single State. In some cases nearly half of the 
 corn is destroyed by them. The annual loss in 
 the whole United States probably amounts, on an 
 average, to nearly a hundred million dollars. 
 
 Heat and dampness are conditions favoring the 
 increase of such insects. Heat helps the eggs to 
 hatch. Dampness renders the grains soft, so 
 that they can be easily eaten. The husks of grain 
 being primarily for protection, the husked varieties 
 are subject to greater ravages than those from 
 which the husks have not been removed. 
 
INSECTS. 
 
 121 
 
 Many different articles of food are now manufac- 
 tured from grain and put up in packages. If such 
 foods are made of uninfested stock and sealed 
 immediately in insect-tight cases, the articles can 
 be kept for a long time. All insects hatch from 
 
 WOOLLY APHIS OF THE APPLE. 
 
 a, agamic female; b, larval louse; c, pupa; d, winged female (with 
 enlarged antenna above. ) 
 
 eggs; so, if the box containing the food is sealed 
 tightly with paper, or similar material, so that the 
 adult cannot lay its eggs in it, none will hatch and 
 the food will be safe. Many such articles are now 
 put up in small pasteboard boxes and carefully 
 sealed over with a thin covering of paper. 
 
122 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 THE GRANARY WEEVIL. 
 
 The granary weevil is a small beetle which has 
 been known for centuries to injure stored grain. 
 The adult insect is about an eighth of an inch in 
 length and brown in color. The female punctures 
 the grains of wheat with her snout and lays her 
 eggs in the cavities. When the eggs hatch, the 
 larvae devour the mealy interior and then undergo 
 their transformation. In the small cereals a single 
 grain furnishes a house for but one larva; but in 
 the larger kinds, such as Indian corn, a kernel 
 furnishes a home for several individuals. 
 
 The adult beetles, as well as the larvae, eat the 
 grain. They are quite prolific and will breed sev- 
 eral generations during a year. One pair may 
 give rise to several thousand individuals annually. 
 
 GRAIN MOTHS. 
 
 These small moths infest all kinds of grain, and 
 are destructive in fields as well as in bins, because 
 of the adult's power of flight. The caterpillars do 
 the damage. After hatching from the eggs, they 
 burrow into the grain and eat out the starchy mat- 
 ter. They soon mature, spin silken cocoons, enter 
 the pupa stage, and transform into adult moths — to 
 pass again through the cycle of life. They do 
 more damage in the Southern than in the North- 
 ern States. 
 
INSECTS. 123 
 
 THE INDIAN-MEAL MOTH. 
 
 Another moth, known as the Indian-meal moth, 
 because its caterpillar infests the meal of Indian 
 corn, is very common in many parts of the United 
 States. 
 
 It is a well-known fact with those using corn 
 meal that it will not keep long in summer, but 
 becomes stringy. This stringy substance is caused 
 by the small caterpillars of this insect spinning 
 large quantities of silken threads, to which the par- 
 ticles of meal adhere. They also deposit a great 
 amount of excrement, which makes the meal unfit 
 for human consumption. No amount of sifting 
 will thoroughly clean it. 
 
 There are also many other moths and beetles 
 that damage flour and grain, but their habits are so 
 similar to the ones already given that a descrip- 
 tion here is not necessary. 
 
 HOW TO KEEP OUT INSECTS. 
 
 Granaries, bins, and storehouses for grain should 
 be lined with tight-fitting boards, then painted or 
 whitewashed to stop up as many cracks as possible. 
 After removing the grain at the end of each sea- 
 son, they should be carefully swept, cleaned, and 
 repainted, or whitewashed. No crevices should 
 be left as lurking places for insects. Doors should 
 be tight-fitting, and other openings carefully 
 screened. Thorough cleanliness will go far to 
 
124 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 keep down the ravages of insects. Grain should 
 be harvested and threshed as soon as possible to 
 prevent the winged forms of insects from infesting 
 it in the fields. 
 
 For stored grains, bi-sulphide of carbon seems to 
 be the best and most practical insecticide. Bi-sul- 
 phide of carbon is a liquid with a strong, disagree- 
 able odor. It vaporizes readily in the free air, is 
 highly inflammable, and a powerful poison. It is 
 very effective in killing insects, but it does not 
 injure the grain. The liquid can be placed in 
 dishes above the grain and allowed to vaporize. 
 The vapor is heavier than air and soon sinks 
 through the mass of grain to the bottom of the 
 bin, killing all vermin therein. The liquid is put 
 up in tin cans, is cheap, and easy to handle. 
 
 THE HESSIAN FLY. 
 
 Besides being injured by weevil in the bin, wheat 
 is also subject to attack in the field by a still more 
 formidable enemy, known as the Hessian fly. It is 
 held by some that this pest was introduced into the 
 United States during the Revolution by the Hes- 
 sian troops. It began its ravages in the vicinity of 
 their landing, and was probably brought over in 
 straw, which they used for bedding. The first 
 injuries were noticed in 1779. 
 
 There is an annual loss in the United States of 
 about fifty million bushels of wheat, due to the 
 ravages of this insect. In some localities there is 
 
INSECTS. 125 
 
 a loss of from one-half to an entire crop. The 
 Hessian fly is a wheat insect, but it will also breed 
 in a few other grains. 
 
 , The adult insect is a small fly about one-eighth of 
 an inch long, and dark in color. Like all flies, it 
 passes through four distinct stages — Qgg, larva, 
 pupa, and adult. The pupa stage for this fly is 
 known as the "flaxseed stage," owing to its resem- 
 blance to that seed. 
 
 The second, or maggot, stage is the one that 
 does the damage. Eggs are laid by the adult on 
 the leaves or stems of wheat. They hatch in a few 
 days, and the white maggots eat the tissue and 
 suck the juices from the stalks. Sometimes their 
 injuries cause enlargements to grow on the stems 
 at the point of attack. If the injury is great, the 
 plant falls to the ground. 
 
 Most wheat plants respond to the injury by send- 
 ing up new shoots; but these, in turn, are generally 
 infested, so that only a partial crop is the result. 
 Hardy varieties, that is, those with hard, flinty 
 stems, sustain the least injury because the straws 
 do not bend easily at the injured points. 
 
 No remedy has been found to save a field when 
 once infested with the Hessian fly, but careful 
 measures may save succeeding crops. Since the 
 flies work on the lower "joints of the stem, they 
 may be left in the field by cutting the wheat high. 
 If the stubble is then burned, they may be destroyed. 
 Another effective measure is to plow under the 
 
126 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 infested stubble and plant the field with some 
 other crop the next year. Late sowing of winter 
 wheat will often prevent the crop from becoming 
 infested, because the adult flies perish on the 
 approach of cold weather and hence no eggs are 
 laid on the young plants. This method is not 
 always practicable, because wheat sown too late is 
 in danger of being winter-killed. Probably the 
 surest method of destroying the pest lies in the 
 rotation of crops. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that, after all 
 precautions have been taken, a neighbor's brood 
 may easily fly over and defeat your precautions. 
 
 THE SQUASH-BUG. 
 
 By a great many people all insects are called 
 "bugs." It is right to say that all bugs are insects, 
 but not that all insects are bugs, any more than it 
 would be to say that all birds are thrushes. One 
 order of insects may be called bugs. It is dis- 
 tinct from all the other orders, and may be known 
 in several ways. The main characteristic is the 
 mouth, which is fitted for piercing the tissues 
 of plants and sucking their juices. Many bugs 
 undergo an incomplete metamorphosis; that is, 
 they have no distinct pupa stage, but the insects 
 hatch from the eggs and closely resemble the 
 adults, with the exception of wings. 
 
 The stage between the Ggg and the adult is com- 
 monly called the nymph stage. This is the stage in 
 
INSECTS. 
 
 127 
 
 which growth in size takes place. The nymph 
 molts, or sheds its skin, several times to allow its 
 body to grow. When the adult stage is reached 
 wings appear, and growth in size stops. The adult 
 eats in order to develop eggs for a new generation. 
 The common squash-bug is so called because it 
 is the best known of all insects that infest pump- 
 
 SQUASH VINE BORER. 
 
 a, male moth; b, female; c % eggs on a bit of squash stem; d, full- 
 grown larva in situ in vine; e, pupa;/, pupal cell. 
 
 kins and squashes. It is a true bug, having highly 
 developed piercing and sucking mouth-parts, and 
 undergoing incomplete metamorphosis. Its near 
 relatives are bed-bugs, plant-lice, animal-lice, scale- 
 insects, cicada, and a host of other pernicious 
 insects. It can truthfully be said that they are the 
 most despised of all the class. 
 
128 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 Squash-bugs are popularly known as "stink- 
 bugs," from their disagreeable odor. The adult 
 bug is about three-fourths of an inch long, dark- 
 brown above, and mottled-yellow beneath, the long, 
 jointed feelers prominent, and the wings folded 
 diagonally across the back. 
 
 Eggs of the squash-bug are generally laid on the 
 under side of the leaves of the plant on which it 
 feeds. They are nearly white when first laid, but 
 soon change to a dark color. The eggs hatch in a 
 little more than a week; the young nymphs are 
 dark in color. They are green and black, and also 
 assume reddish or brownish tinges before maturity. 
 
 Injury to the plant is done by the insect's piercing 
 a hole and sucking the juices. It attacks not only 
 the vines, but also the leaves and fruit. The insect 
 is more or less harmful during its entire active life. 
 When a great number attack a plant, the juices 
 are soon sucked away and the plant is sure to die. 
 If the fruit alone is infested, development ceases. 
 It is not only the sucking out of the juices that 
 destroys the plant; but, in puncturing the holes, 
 the insects inject a drop of liquid which has a 
 poisonous effect upon the plant. 
 
 Young plants sustain greater injuries than older 
 ones; but at any time during the season sufficient 
 numbers will completely destroy a crop. Some- 
 times the attack is not begun till the fruit is nearly 
 developed; but even then the bugs may cause it to 
 be unfit for use. 
 
INSECTS. 129 
 
 At the end of the season, or when the squash- 
 bug has finished eating, it hides away in rubbish, 
 among the dead vines, under bark and stones, or 
 under almost anything it can find. It thus passes 
 the winter in hibernation, ready to come out the 
 next summer and lay eggs for new generations. 
 
 No satisfactory chemical preparation for killing 
 the squash-bug has been found. Anything strong 
 enough to kill the insect will also kill the plant. 
 Owing to their habits of concealment, a careful 
 cleaning up of old vines, and burning, will destroy a 
 great many of the bugs. It might also be said 
 here that a careful raking up and burning of all 
 the dead plants in gardens and truck patches 
 would help to keep down the numbers of many 
 injurious insects. Different plants attract different 
 insects, so that a garden soon becomes a pest- 
 house for many kinds . 
 
 A good plan is to cover the garden a few inches 
 deep with dry straw, spray the whole with a few 
 gallons of kerosene, and burn. The cost of doing 
 this, and the labor, would be recompensed many 
 times. It must be remembered, however, that 
 some forms pass the winter in the ground and 
 would not be affected by such methods. 
 
 Another, and probably the most reliable way to 
 keep down the numbers of this pest, is to watch 
 carefully early in the season for adults, to destroy 
 them by hand, and to cut off leaves, or portions 
 of leaves, to which eggs adhere. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 The food of birds. Relation of birds to agriculture. Utility not the 
 only measure of the value of birds. Individual birds: — the 
 woodpecker, the swallow, the meadow lark, quails, sparrows, 
 the wren, the robin, bluebirds, the bobolink. 
 
 It can truthfully be said that some things in the 
 world are very important because we cannot live 
 without them. 
 The fact is 
 that all things' 
 have a place 
 in the world, and con- 
 tribute in some way 
 or another to make 
 it a fit abode for 
 
 man. v 
 
 Without air or ^B 
 
 water, life of all kinds 
 
 would soon come to 
 
 an end. Without 
 
 plants, animals would have nothing 
 
 to feed upon. Were all fishes of 
 
 one kind, some climates and some 
 
 waters would be without fish. In 
 
 the cycle of life, each individual is 
 
 dependent upon its surroundings, 
 
 but, in turn, helps to make those surroundings fit 
 
 for others. 
 
 130 
 
 THE KINGFISHER. 
 
BIRDS. 131 
 
 It is not true that we could not live upon the 
 earth another day if all birds were killed, but life 
 would not be so pleasant without them. Farming 
 and gardening would not be so profitable; neither 
 could shade and fruit trees be grown successfully 
 because of the great numbers of insects that would 
 thrive if left unmolested. We shall study birds, 
 then, mainly with reference to the good they do in 
 killing pernicious and injurious insects. 
 
 THE FOOD OF BIRDS. 
 
 Birds, like other animals, require food. Some 
 eat one thing and some another. Some live 
 entirely upon a vegetable diet, some on an animal 
 diet, and some on a mixture of both vegetable and 
 animal food. The greatest number of birds 
 belongs to the last class; that is, the kind that eats 
 both vegetable and animal food. The diet of 
 birds, at first thought, seems to be of little impor- 
 tance; but, upon careful study, it is found to have 
 a vital relation to the success of farmers and gar- 
 deners, and to be of general importance to all. 
 
 In studying the food of birds, we shall find out 
 many important things about their structure and 
 habits. For instance, as winter approaches in our 
 northern latitude, food becomes scarce. This 
 compels some of our birds to fly to warmer 
 regions, where food is abundant. Then, again, as 
 summer approaches, they come back to the fresh 
 and unoccupied fields where there is no lack of 
 
132 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 food during warm weather. Hence, the migration 
 of birds is almost wholly dependent upon their 
 food supply. 
 
 Some birds stay north during the cold winter,when 
 
 the ground is 
 covered with 
 snow and ice, 
 and all in- 
 sects are 
 dead or hid- 
 d e n away 
 in a dormant 
 state. Such 
 birds are 
 found to be 
 well fitted to 
 secure a liv- 
 ing even dur- 
 ing the se- 
 vere winter, 
 though the 
 odds seem to 
 b e against 
 them. 
 
 The wood- 
 pecker is a 
 good exam- 
 ple of this 
 
 THE WOODPECKER. 1 • J U 
 
 kind. He 
 stays north because his food is as easily secured 
 
BIRDS. 133 
 
 during the winter as it is at any other season of 
 the year. 
 
 Woodpeckers feed largely upon those grubs of 
 insects which burrow in the trunks and branches 
 of trees. Their feet are fitted for clinging to the 
 bark; their tails for supporting them while at work; 
 their long, sharp bills for pecking holes in the wood 
 to the grubs; and their slim, barbed tongues for 
 piercing and dragging out the victims. So the 
 structure of woodpeckers, to a large extent, 
 depends upon the food they eat. 
 
 The same is true of hawks and owls (see p. 135), 
 which kill and eat birds and other animals. 
 Their feet are fitted for catching and holding their 
 prey, and their sharp, curved bills for cutting and 
 tearing the flesh. The structure of the swallow's 
 wings, tail, and mouth, is due to the fact that it 
 lives upon winged insects and must catch them in 
 mid-air. ^ 
 
 Birds that catch fish and other small animals in 
 the shallow water of swamps and streams, have 
 long legs for wading, and long bills and necks for 
 reaching deep into the water. Ducks and geese 
 secure their food in either deep or shallow water, 
 and have bills especially fitted for straining out the 
 indigestible mud and other material. So the list 
 continues, — each bird having something peculiar 
 and interesting about it, due to the food upon 
 which it subsists. 
 
m LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 RELATION OF BIRDS TO AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Until recent years, very little study of birds in 
 their relation to agriculture has been made. Now, 
 however, farming is reduced to a scientific basis, 
 and many principles have to be considered to 
 make it a successful pursuit. It is further admitted 
 by all that insects are destructive to many crops, 
 and that the reduction of their numbers, and hold- 
 ing them in check, must be seriously considered. 
 
 Artificial methods of insect destruction are fre- 
 quently expensive and unsatisfactory. Often they 
 cannot be used at all; and the producer is com- 
 pelled to stand aside and see the results of his 
 labor vanish before his eyes, with no means of help. 
 There are times, too, during the busy summer's 
 work, when the farmer feels that he cannot stop 
 other work to kill insects. So they are permitted 
 to increase till some valuable crop is destroyed. 
 
 Now, the presence of birds is a natural means 
 for keeping in check the harmful ravages of inju- 
 rious insects. Birds never cease working. They 
 rise early in the morning and retire late in the 
 evening. All day long they pick up insects of all 
 kinds, which they eat themselves or carry to their 
 young 
 
 There are no holidays with birds. Sunday and 
 Monday are alike with them so far as eating is con- 
 cerned. A farmer, then, may leave his fields one 
 day in seven and know that the insect exter- 
 
BIRDS. 
 
 1.5.) 
 
 minators are still at work, if he is friendly to use- 
 ful birds and allows them to live on his farm 
 unmolested. It pays in more ways than one. 
 Birds appreciate human kindness and protection 
 as few other animals do. 
 
 'HE SCREECH OWL. 
 
 Birds are now protected by law in many States. 
 In some localities, however, there is so little 
 thought taken of the law that it is not strictly 
 enforced. It thus happens that thousands of our 
 most beautiful and useful creatures are sacrificed 
 wantonly, or for the table, or for the capricious 
 
136 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 decoration of women's hats. And yet, in this 
 enlightened time, it does seem that no thoughtful 
 woman ought to consent to wear any part of a 
 bird as an ornament. 
 
 During the summer months, the main diet of 
 birds consists of soft-bodied insects, such as grubs 
 and caterpillars. This is especially true of young 
 birds in the nest. Such forms are more easily 
 swallowed and digested than others. Seeds are 
 too hard for their tender stomachs. Adult birds 
 eat seeds because they are able to digest them. 
 The number of seeds, however, generally falls far 
 short of the number of insects taken. It must not 
 be forgotten, too, that young, growing birds require 
 more food than full-grown ones, so the grain eaten 
 by them after they are able to shift for themselves 
 is fully compensated for by the great number of 
 insects eaten while they are young. 
 
 UTILITY NOT THE ONLY MEASURE OF THE 
 VALUE OF BIRDS. 
 
 Young birds in the nest should, therefore, be 
 looked upon not only as interesting subjects for 
 care and study, but as the most useful of all wild 
 creatures that live on a farm. It is a well known 
 fact that only a small part of the birds born ever 
 arrive at maturity. Before they are able to fly 
 from the nest, young birds are taken by animals 
 of prey, are killed by lice in the nest, are killed by 
 severe storms, or they die of starvation because of 
 
BIRDS. 
 
 137 
 
 accidents to their parents. Now, since they eat 
 insects almost wholly during that period, it is quite 
 evident that their value to the producer is very 
 great, even though the surviving adults may eat a 
 few grains of wheat or corn. 
 
 THE BOBOLINK. 
 
 Nor should the side of utility alone be consid- 
 ered when the feathered tribe is studied. Birds 
 are not only the most beautiful, but also the most 
 cheerful creatures about a place. Their beauty of 
 form and covering is unsurpassed by that of any 
 
138 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 other class of animals. Most creatures are dumb, 
 or they only occasionally utter a few unmusical 
 sounds. Birds, on the other hand, are the most 
 musical of all animate creation, with the possible 
 exception of man. There are but few species that 
 do not utter pleasing vocal sounds. Many of them 
 pour forth music of such volume and sweetness 
 •that the appreciative ear could never tire of listen- 
 ing. 
 
 The songs of birds are missed during the winter 
 months, but sound the sweeter when the wave of 
 migration comes pouring over the North in spring. 
 During the early summer months, (their mating 
 season,) their songs are especially joyful. The 
 songs of most birds are clearest in the early morn- 
 ing, but many kinds sing well all day long. A 
 rural scene without such sounds would be lonely 
 indeed. Fortunate are those people who are 
 privileged to enjoy such harmony. 
 
 Our knowledge of the good or of the harm done 
 by birds does not rest upon general observation 
 alone. The United States Department of Agricul- 
 ture has carefully examined the stomachs of 
 several thousand individual birds. On an average, 
 about 75 per cent, of the contents was found to 
 consist of the bodies of insects, most of which are 
 destructive to cultivated plants. Some species 
 examined were found to subsist almost entirely 
 upon insects, while only a few ate more grain than 
 other kinds of food. 
 
BIRDS. 139 
 
 With such facts in view regarding the usefulness 
 of birds in keeping down the numbers of injurious 
 insects, the farmer, the gardener, and the fruit 
 grower should combine their efforts for the pro- 
 tection of these valuable little friends. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL BIRDS. — THE WOODPECKER. 
 
 There are several species of this bird in the 
 United States. As the name implies, it lives where 
 wood is found. Now, trees furnish homes for many 
 kinds of animals, especially insects, which feed 
 upon the leaves and wood. Grubs, caterpillars, 
 and ants eat into and destroy the trunks and 
 branches of trees. Woodpeckers are better fitted 
 than any other birds for capturing these insects. 
 
 Until recently, before its true office was known, 
 the woodpecker (see p. 132), was held in contempt 
 by most people. They looked upon it as a worth- 
 less creature, going about amusing itself by pecking 
 needless holes in trees, or drumming upon the 
 boards of buildings. 
 
 But those looking carefully into the matter have 
 found that such holes have been the salvation of 
 the trees in which they were pecked. Out of each 
 hole drilled by the bird a pernicious insect was 
 extracted and eaten. In many cases, of course, the 
 trees died, — not because of the holes made by the 
 birds, but because the insects were so numerous. 
 The inside of such trees, when they are cut down 
 and split open, is found to be tunneled, or "honey- 
 
HO LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 combed," in every direction by the holes made by 
 insects. 
 
 The writer well remembers the time when wood- 
 peckers were killed in southern Illinois at all sea- 
 sons of the year merely for the sport of shooting 
 them. At the same time thousands of dollars' 
 worth of trees were destroyed annually by one 
 insect alone — the wood-borer. It is not likely that 
 woodpeckers could have entirely eradicated the 
 evil; but they surely would have helped greatly in 
 keeping down the number of insects, had they 
 been allowed to breed unmolested. It is to be 
 hoped that these birds will not be slaughtered 
 again for mere sport. 
 
 Woodpeckers eat some vegetable food; but as 
 most of it is of a wild variety, not much damage is 
 done to cultivated crops. There is some doubt, 
 however, as to one small species, known as the 
 tk sap-sucker." This, bird pecks holes into the 
 branches of trees for the sap which flows into 
 them. It is thought by some that he more than 
 recompenses for this bad trait in capturing insects 
 attracted by the sap in the holes which he has 
 pecked. At least, we should not condemn the 
 whole family for the misdeeds of one member. 
 
 There is probably no place in which woodpeckers 
 can do more good than in an orchard. They 
 should be induced to stay there rather than driven 
 away. When a woodpecker is seen running up and 
 down an apple tree, pecking vigorously at times, 
 
BIRDS. 
 
 141 
 
 this does not mean that it is trying to injure the 
 tree, but that it is clearing the tree of enemies 
 lurking in the wood and under the bark. 
 
 Nor do woodpeckers confine themselves to trees. 
 Often they alight upon the ground for prey, catch- 
 ing beetles, ants, and even grasshoppers. 
 
 Most species of woodpeckers stay in the north 
 the year round. They keep us company when 
 other birds have flown away. They are the great- 
 est known conservators of trees of all kinds, and 
 should be held in high esteem by those who love 
 trees and know their value. 
 
 THE SWALLOW. 
 
 Swallows are 
 very much un- 
 like woodpeck- 
 ers in their 
 general struc- 
 ture and in 
 their habits. In 
 the main, how- 
 ever, they ac- 
 complish the 
 same end; 
 n a m el y, the 
 killing of in- 
 sects. Just as 
 w o o d p eckers 
 
 THE SWALLOW. 
 
142 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 have long bills, barbed tongues, strong muscles 
 of the head and neck, easily adjustable toes, and 
 stiff tail-feathers, to enable them to secure insects 
 from the trunks and branches of trees; so swallows 
 have large wings, strong muscles of the chest for 
 support in almost continual flight, long tails for 
 guiding, sharp eyes for seeing, and a very large 
 mouth to enable them to catch insects in mid-air. 
 
 Some insects lead a sluggish life, hiding away for 
 long periods, and moving very slowly within a 
 small sphere; others are very active, flying almost 
 continually in the air. Since different insects have 
 different modes of life, then those animals that 
 prey upon them must adapt themselves to certain 
 conditions in order to secure the necessary supply 
 of food. 
 
 Since some insects burrow in wood, then birds, 
 to secure them, must be able to dig into the wood. 
 Since some insects creep on the ground among 
 grass and weeds, then birds, to secure those kinds, 
 must walk upon the ground, with their bills and 
 eyes pointed continually downward. Since some 
 insects spend most of their time flying in the air, 
 the birds that catch them must also fly in the air. 
 It always requires effort to secure food; and this 
 struggle on the part of animals has a tendency to 
 change their structure. 
 
 Now, on account of the large, strong wings, and 
 long, steering tails of swallows, they are able to fly 
 almost continually. This makes them especially 
 
BIRDS. 143 
 
 helpful in ridding the atmosphere of certain nox- 
 ious and troublesome insects. When a swallow is 
 seen gliding swiftly through the air, up at one 
 moment, down at another, and turning a backward 
 somersault at another, he is not doing it for the 
 mere sport of expert acting. In every case it will 
 be found that he is close upon the heels of some 
 swift-flying insect, and must needs follow its devious 
 course in order to catch it. Just as woodpeckers 
 keep trees free of insects, so do swallows perform 
 a similar service for the atmosphere. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that swallows all fly south 
 early in autumn. This is very necessary. Living, 
 as they do, upon insects of the air alone, their food 
 supply soon vanishes on the approach of cold 
 weather. They are then compelled to seek a 
 climate where the air is warm enough for insects 
 to be found. 
 
 Most swallows are social in their habits, and will 
 build their nests in and about barns and other 
 farm buildings, if allowed to do so. They should 
 be encouraged in this habit. They will pay many 
 times over for the trouble of providing for them in 
 keeping the summer air around the premises clear 
 of insects troublesome to both man and beast. 
 
 THE MEADOW LARK. 
 
 The meadow lark is distinctively a ground bird. 
 It nests on the ground and feeds on the ground. 
 Now and then it can be seen sitting: for a few min- 
 
144 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 utes on some telegraph post or tree, but it prefers 
 not to get farther away from the earth than a 
 fence-top. Few other birds spend their lives so 
 low down as the meadow lark. 
 
 THE BLUEBIRD. 
 
BIRDS. 145 
 
 From careful examination it has been found that 
 the food of meadow larks is made up largely of 
 insects. Its vegetable diet consists of a few grains 
 of cultivated plants, and the seeds of noxious 
 weeds, — the latter almost wholly predominating. 
 The insects eaten are mostly beetles, caterpillars, 
 and grasshoppers. 
 
 Some of these beetles are injurious to cultivated 
 crops and some are not. The caterpillars are those 
 popularly known as "cut-worms," an insect most de- 
 structive to grasses, — young corn especially. Cut- 
 worms are difficult to kill by artificial methods 
 from the fact that they spend a great deal of their 
 time beneath the surface of the soil. They come 
 up only long enough to cut off stalks of young 
 grass, which they drag back into their holes. The 
 destructive work of grasshoppers is so well known 
 that it needs no comment. They, too, are difficult 
 to handle by artificial methods. 
 
 During the grasshopper season, meadow larks, 
 as well as many other birds, eat very little other 
 food. Female grasshoppers make small holes in 
 the ground and lay their eggs therein. During 
 this process, myriads are snapped up by the 
 meadow larks before they have time to deposit 
 their eggs. This diminishes the number that 
 would be hatched out the next season. 
 
 The meadow lark goes south only when it is 
 compelled to do so by severe weather. It stays 
 all winter in portions of southern Illinois, and in 
 
146 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 the same latitude elsewhere. It is even successful 
 in securing some insects during this cold season, as 
 is evidenced by the examination of its stomach. 
 It is able to subsist for some time on a vegetable 
 diet, weed seed especially, and returns farther 
 north very early in spring. 
 
 Meadow larks are often killed just for the sport 
 of shooting at them, and some are killed for food. 
 When, however, the great value of these birds is 
 known, it is hoped that all such wanton waste will 
 stop entirely. 
 
 The song of the meadow lark is not so sweet as 
 that of the famous English lark, nor as that of 
 some other American birds; but it is of no mean 
 character. Most of our best song-birds dispense 
 their music from the tops of shrubs or trees, and 
 seldom from the ground in open fields. The 
 meadow lark, however, cheerful at its work in its 
 lowly station, pours forth happy, whistling notes 
 all day long, where otherwise silence and monotony 
 would reign. 
 
 SOME OTHER BENEFICIAL BIRDS. 
 
 The limits of this volume will not permit a 
 description in detail of the habits of all useful 
 birds in this section of the United States. So we 
 must be content with a passing notice of only a few 
 more. 
 
 The value of quails as insect destroyers has long 
 been known by the farmers of the Central States; 
 
BIRDS. 147 
 
 but, being so highly prized for food, they have 
 become favorite game birds. Nothing but the 
 most stringent game laws will ever stop their 
 slaughter. 
 
 Most States now have laws which prohibit the 
 killing of quails except for a few weeks of each 
 year. During those few weeks of non-protection, 
 however, they are shot or trapped in such large 
 numbers that it is a wonder any remain for the 
 next season's breeding. If the maximum amount 
 of good is to be derived from these birds, laws 
 must be enacted to prevent their being killed at 
 any season of the year. 
 
 Quails, like a number of other useful birds, eat 
 some wheat, oats, and corn; but the grains are 
 mostly those that shatter off in the fields and 
 would never be utilized. When undisturbed for 
 several months, quails grow very tame, and will 
 feed near dwellings, or bathe in the dust of coun- 
 try roads almost within arm's reach of the passer- 
 by. They are very prolific, and would soon 
 increase to sufficient numbers to do a vast amount 
 of good if they were not annually killed down to 
 comparatively a few individuals. 
 
 Sparrows are also very useful birds. In addition 
 to the many noxious insects taken, they eat large 
 quantities of the seeds of worthless weeds. Few 
 seeds of useful plants are eaten by them. The 
 much-despised English sparrow probably does 
 much more good than harm. It does not drive 
 
148 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 other useful birds away to such an extent as it has 
 been accused of. Most of its vegetable diet con- 
 sists of refuse or weed seed. Its value as an insect 
 destroyer during the summer months cannot be 
 questioned. 
 
 During the summer of 1900, the writer watched 
 a male and female English sparrow carry food to 
 a nest of half-grown young. The food brought 
 consisted entirely of cabbage worms (caterpillars 
 of the cabbage butterfly), and the number amounted 
 to an average of about fifteen per hour. Now, 
 taking into consideration that the summer day is a 
 long day, and that all birds work early and late, 
 the large number fed to one nest of young during 
 their helpless period can easily be determined. 
 This, of course, takes no account of the number of 
 caterpillars eaten by the parents themselves to sup- 
 port them in their arduous labor. 
 
 The house wren, besides being a cheerful little 
 creature about a house, is another very useful bird 
 at killing insects. Its food consists almost entirely 
 of insects. Some claim that it eats absolutely noth- 
 ing else. It will build any place about dwellings 
 where it can find lodgment for its nest. If undis- 
 turbed by cats, dogs, or human beings, the house 
 wren will sit and sing within four or five feet of a 
 person without showing any signs of fear. 
 
 It might be said here that cats are the worst 
 enemies of birds. They no doubt drive away many 
 valuable species that would otherwise be a source 
 
BIRDS 
 
 149 
 
 of pleasure and of profit. If shade trees, fruit 
 trees, and other plants of the yard and garden are 
 expected to thrive, they must be kept free from 
 the ravages of noxious insects; and birds will do 
 the work more cheaply and with less injury to the 
 plants than anything else. 
 
 THE ROBIN. 
 
 Another beautiful bird is the robin. It eats some 
 fruit, grain, and angleworms, for which it must be 
 condemned, but it is so valuable in killing harmful 
 insects that it more than pays for the damage. 
 
150 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 The robin is also a comparatively tame bird, feed- 
 ing near dwellings as well as in open fields. 
 
 Bluebirds (see p. 144) are also very useful in kill- 
 ing caterpillars, grasshoppers, and many other 
 injurious insects. During the grasshopper season 
 the bluebird's food consists largely of this insect. 
 
 The bobolink (see p. 137) is a bird which deserves 
 both praise and blame. In the northern part of 
 the United States it lives almost entirely upon 
 insects and weed seed; but, in the South, we are 
 sorry to say, it does so much damage to rice fields 
 that it is hunted and killed on every hand. 
 
 In concluding this short and incomplete discus- 
 sion of useful birds, a few random notes from a late 
 popular book on the subject will be given: — 
 
 "The goldfinch eats seeds of the thistle." 
 
 "The phoebe bird catches gnats and flies." 
 
 "Grouse catch spiders and beetles." 
 
 "English sparrows eat bark-insects from trees." 
 
 "Owls eat more mice and insects than birds." 
 
 "The woodpecker gets grubs and beetles from 
 the trunks and branches of trees." 
 
 "The kingbird catches flies and beetles on the 
 wing." 
 
 "Mr. Samuels says, 'Thrushes rid the soil of 
 noxious insects not preyed upon by other birds.' ' 
 
 "Some hawks eat insects." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 BACTERIA. 
 
 Their three general groups. Forms and growth. How bacteria 
 may be destroyed. Their relation to the fertility of the soil 
 How decay produced by bacteria increases fertility in soils. 
 Decay of fruits, meats, and vegetables. Various means of pre- 
 serving food. 
 
 Relation of bacteria to dairy products. Part bacteria'play in making 
 butter and cheese. Bacteria in vinegar-making. 
 
 In the air, on the surface of all objects, in water 
 and in most all liquids, and in the soil everywhere, 
 are millions of very small living things called bac- 
 teria, or germs. They are so small that, to see 
 them, one requires the aid of a compound micro- 
 scope. It takes several thousand bacteria, laid side 
 by side or end to end, to make a line an inch long. 
 Small as they are, they exist in such countless 
 numbers that their influence in the world is very 
 great. 
 
 In a very general way it can be said that there 
 are three kinds of bacteria,— those that are useful 
 to man, those that are harmful, and those that are 
 neither harmful nor useful. However, when they 
 shall have been studied more, the last kind may be 
 classed with one of the other two. Bacteria are 
 generally thought of as producing disease. It is 
 true that a number of species do produce disease; 
 
 151 
 
152 
 
 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 but these species are not so numerous as the harm- 
 less kinds. 
 
 £>^ 
 
 9% 
 
 -s** 
 
 V5- 
 
 s ■ 
 
 ■' 
 
 
 ':'\. 
 
 BACILLUS SUBT1LIS IN HAY INFUSION. 
 
 a, short rod ; &, non-motile rods and chains ; c, spores ; d, motile 
 chains; e y mass of spores forming a pellicle. 
 
 FORMS AND GROWTH. 
 
 Though they are very small, yet bacteria have 
 definite shapes. Some kinds are spherical, some 
 cylindrical, and some spiral. These three general 
 
BACTERIA. 153 
 
 shapes represent all that have been discovered and 
 studied up to the present time. The single bacte- 
 rium consists of a single cell; and this single cell, 
 simple as it is, carries on all the processes of life. 
 
 As with most one-celled plants and animals, bac- 
 teria multiply by division. The process is a simple 
 one. The single cell divides into two parts, giving 
 rise to two individuals instead of one. These two 
 grow for a short time; then each one divides into 
 two equal parts and four individuals are the result. 
 These four in the same manner give rise to eight, 
 and these eight to sixteen, and so on, the number 
 always doubling. Some kinds divide at short 
 intervals — not more than half an hour apart — but 
 other kinds require a longer time. 
 
 Dividing once each half hour, one bacterium 
 could thus give rise to several million individuals 
 during a day of twenty-four hours, as can easily be 
 computed. At this rapid rate of multiplication, 
 they would soon fill the world if a sufficient food 
 supply were at hand. The fact is that they soon 
 exhaust their food supply in any one place and die 
 of starvation, or are poisoned by the effect of too 
 many living in one small colony. 
 
 Bacteria require moisture for their propagation 
 and growth. They are distributed everywhere, but 
 active life and growth are manifest only with the 
 presence of moisture. Bacteria, as spores, are in 
 and on all dry substances. Life in the spore state 
 is dormant, just as life in some higher plants is 
 
154 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 dormant in seeds and bulbs. Bacteria can exist in 
 this state for a long time, in many cases for years, 
 and then become active when the necessary mois- 
 ture is supplied. 
 
 In the spore or resistant state, bacteria are float- 
 ing everywhere in large numbers in the dust of the 
 atmosphere. Their minute size makes this pos- 
 sible. The more dust, of course, the more germs. 
 The stirring up of dust on a street, in a house, or 
 in a stable sets afloat millions of bacteria, to settle 
 again after the air becomes quiet. In this manner 
 they are carried from place to place and from 
 object to object. They never rise and float away 
 from a moist or liquid surface. 
 
 HOW BACTERIA MAY BE DESTROYED. 
 
 Not only moisture, but a certain amount of heat 
 is necessary for the growth of bacteria. Too much 
 heat kills them. Boiling from a few minutes to 
 several hours destroys most kinds, but some are 
 able to resist continued boiling in water and are 
 killed only by a much greater heat. The best tem- 
 perature for rapid growth is a little less than mid- 
 way between freezing and boiling. Freezing stops 
 the growth but does not destroy the life of bacteria. 
 A substance in which they are growing may be 
 frozen for a long time, stopping their growth for 
 the period; but, on being thawed, their activity 
 begins anew. 
 
 A great many chemical substances kill bacteria. 
 
BACTERIA. 155 
 
 The list is a very long one. They could be called, 
 in general, poisons. They are sometimes termed 
 germicides. A chemical that kills one species may 
 not have any effect upon another. They are often 
 killed by the excreta due to their own growth. 
 
 Bacteria require food just as other living things 
 do. Their food must be in a moist, or liquid, con- 
 dition. Wherever there is dead animal or vege- 
 table matter in a moist state, with the temperature 
 sufficiently warm, bacteria will begin to grow and 
 multiply and cause decomposition. When the tem- 
 perature is low, such as in ordinary freezing, winter 
 weather, their action ceases; but it begins again 
 when the temperature rises much above freezing. 
 
 Living, healthy plants and animals have the 
 power to resist the attacks of bacteria. When life 
 ceases, the resisting power ceases; so that a plant 
 or animal begins to decay as soon as it is dead, 
 especially in warm, moist weather. This decay is 
 always due to the growth of bacteria. 
 
 RELATION OF BACTERIA TO THE FERTILITY OF 
 THE SOIL. 
 
 It is a well-known fact among farmers that the 
 fertility of the soil is soon exhausted by the succes- 
 sive raising and clearing off of crops, if nothing is 
 given back in return. For long ages the earth has 
 produced countless numbers of plants and animals 
 which have derived their sustenance from the soil. 
 All this time the soil has not only retained its 
 
156 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 strength, but has added thereto. Here is where 
 these wonderful micro-organisms perform such an 
 important part in the physical and chemical 
 changes going on in the earth's crust. 
 
 As soon as plants and animals die, decomposi- 
 tion sets in — due to the action of bacteria. When 
 their bodies fully decay, as much substance is 
 returned to the earth as was taken from it by them. 
 Another generation of plants and animals uses up 
 this; but they, in turn, give back their bodies in 
 decay to the soil. Thus, in nature's cycle of 
 change, there is a using over and over again of the 
 same substances; but the powerful action of bac- 
 teria makes it possible for the complete transfor- 
 mations to take place. 
 
 Even if the soil had been extremely fertile and 
 deep in the beginning, the bodies of dead plants 
 and animals would have accumulated to such an 
 extent as to make further life impossible, had it 
 not been for the presence of decomposing germs. 
 Bodies of animals have been found preserved for 
 ages in the ice of very cold regions. Decomposi- 
 tion did not take place because bacteria are dor- 
 mant at such low temperatures. 
 
 It is similar with dried specimens. Decomposi- 
 tion germs cannot work without the presence of 
 moisture. So bacteria keep the surface of the 
 earth free from dead bodies of plants and animals 
 by decomposing them and returning them to the 
 soil from whence they came. Bacteria are thus 
 
BACTERIA. 157 
 
 one of the prime factors in making continued life 
 on the globe possible. 
 
 HOW DECAY INCREASES FERTILITY. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that bacteria cause 
 decay of small creatures as well as of large ones, 
 and that the fertility of the soil is due largely to 
 the decay of many minute plants and animals. 
 Untold millions of insects, and other small animals, 
 among plants and in the ground, die annually. 
 Their bodies are covered with decomposition 
 germs, too, and they pass through the same stages 
 of decay and change as the higher forms. 
 
 There are few better ways of increasing the 
 fertility of a piece of land than to let it "rest"; that 
 is, to cease cultivation and let it grow up in weeds. 
 The increased fertility comes from the rapid decay 
 of the great numbers of small plants and animals. 
 For this reason it is always better to let a field 
 grow up in weeds than to keep the surface clean. 
 The weeds naturally afford forage and breeding 
 places for insects and other small animals whose 
 life is very short. They all die and are returned 
 to the soil at the end of the season. 
 
 Bacteria live in the soil as well as on its surface. 
 They help to decompose organic matter mixed 
 with the soil. They are very numerous near the 
 surface, and decrease downward. At a depth of 
 five or six feet few, or none, are found. 
 
 Often organic matter in some soils will not 
 
158 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 decay. This is not due to the absence of bacteria, 
 but to conditions which prohibit their growth. 
 Some low, wet soils are of this nature. The soil 
 water holds acids in solution. These kill germs. 
 Such land generally becomes very productive when 
 well drained, for the washing out of the acids gives 
 the bacteria a chance to work. A good circula- 
 tion of air in the soil also increases their action. 
 
 The decay of organic matter in general is caused 
 by the action of germs. Waste matter from 
 dwellings and stables readily decomposes when 
 moisture is present. Such matter is generally 
 piled in heaps to prevent loss of moisture by evap- 
 oration. Since decomposition produces heat, the 
 rate of decay can be determined roughly by the 
 temperature of the mass. 
 
 Farmers are careful to harvest their crops and 
 store them away in a dry condition. Wet grain or 
 hay will so decay or "turn sour" in a day or two, 
 during very warm weather, as to become unfit for 
 animal food. It can then be used only as a fer- 
 tilizer. In some of these cases decay is due to the 
 growth of moulds and fungi, but the result is the 
 same as that produced by bacteria; namely, the 
 reduction of the substances into several elements 
 and compounds, their identity being destroyed. 
 
 DECAY OF FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND MEATS. 
 
 People have learned by experience that a wound 
 caused by cutting or breaking the skin is attended 
 
BACTERIA. 159 
 
 with serious results, if care is not taken to exclude 
 the air. The outside layer of skin, not being sup- 
 plied with blood vessels, is germ proof, and 
 excludes bacteria from the inner and more delicate 
 parts. In a similar way, fruits and vegetables are 
 covered with skin to keep out decomposition 
 germs. When this skin is once broken germs 
 enter, and decay quickly sets in. 
 
 Fruits and vegetables contain a large amount of 
 water, and for this reason they are more subject to 
 decay than grain, nuts, beans, and their like, that 
 contain but a small amount of moisture. When 
 the water is taken from them, they will keep for a 
 long time, because germs cannot act without the 
 presence of water. From this fact, the drying of 
 fruits and vegetables has come about. Meats are 
 dried for the same reason, and will keep for a long 
 time in that condition. 
 
 The bacteria in vegetables, fruits, and meats can 
 be killed by boiling for an hour or more. If the 
 substances to be preserved are then put in cans 
 which have been thoroughly cleaned and heated so 
 as to kill all germs, and if the cans are hermetically 
 sealed, they will keep their contents sound for an 
 indefinite length of time. The things necessary to 
 do in canning foods so that they will keep, are to 
 kill all germs in the food and the inside of the 
 cans; to seal while hot, so as not to allow other 
 germs from the air to enter, and to keep sealed 
 till the whole contents of a can are to be used. 
 
160 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 If living germs have been allowed to enter the 
 can with the food, and decomposition or fermenta- 
 tion has set in, the fact may at once be known by 
 the escape of confined gas. The principle of can- 
 ning is founded upon the fact that the exclusion of 
 bacteria from organic matter will prevent its 
 decomposition. 
 
 VARIOUS MEANS OF PRESERVING FOOD. 
 
 Another method of controlling the action of 
 germs in food is to reduce the temperature to near 
 the freezing point. The low temperature simply 
 keeps them from growing and multiplying. As 
 soon as the temperature rises, they begin to act and 
 the food spoils. For this reason meats, fruits, and 
 vegetables keep longer during winter and in cold 
 storage. 
 
 Bacteria cannot live in a strong solution of com- 
 mon salt (sodium chloride), and a great deal of 
 meat, and some vegetables, are preserved through 
 this means. The salt solution, however, produces 
 some changes in such foods, so that they lose the 
 flavor of their original freshness. 
 
 Some meats are "cured" with common salt, or 
 other chemicals; some, by smoking. Fish and 
 pork are thus treated. Smoking coats the outside 
 of the meat with a thin layer of creosote (crude 
 carbolic acid), which not only kills all germs pres- 
 ent, but also gives the meat a better flavor. Car- 
 bolic acid is a dangerous substance to take into the 
 
BACTERIA. 161 
 
 human system in very large quantities, but there is 
 so little of it on smoked meats that no harm what- 
 ever results. The smoke of most any kind of wood 
 will preserve meat, but some kinds give better 
 flavors than others. 
 
 Sugar is also a preservative against the action of 
 germs. It is used to a limited extent in curing 
 meats, but very widely in the preservation of fruits. 
 Such fruits are cooked for a long time. The cook- 
 ing, or "boiling down," kills all germs present, and 
 drives off the water, thus making conditions unfit 
 for others to grow. Some dried fruits, such as figs, 
 dates, raisins, and currants owe their good keeping 
 qualities to the large amount of sugar present. 
 
 RELATION OF BACTERIA TO DAIRY PRODUCTS. 
 
 Milk, when freshly taken from the cow, contains 
 few, or no, bacteria. During the ordinary process 
 of milking, however, millions of germs find their 
 way into the milk. Bacteria are floating in great 
 numbers in the dust of barns. They are on the 
 hay, in the litter on the floor, on the hairs of the 
 cows and other animals, and in the clothing and on 
 the hands of the milker himself. 
 
 Any hairs, dirt, or dust falling into the milk pail 
 carry with them large numbers of germs. There 
 is generally a great deal of dust in the cow stable 
 at milking time. This is stirred up by the handling 
 of hay and other feed. Cows shed their hair more 
 or less all the time, and it is not uncommon for 
 
162 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 such hairs to drop into the pail during the process 
 of milking. 
 
 The milker often feeds the cows as well as milks 
 them, consequently his hands are not absolutely 
 free from dirt and dust. Some of the dirt finds its 
 way into the milk pail. Most hairs, dirt, and other 
 foreign bodies are removed from the milk when it 
 is strained; but the germs clinging to them have 
 become mixed with the liquid, and harmful results 
 follow. 
 
 The milk pail itself is often a source of contami- 
 nation. All milk vessels should be carefully 
 washed and thoroughly scalded with boiling water. 
 When this is not properly done, germs from the 
 previous milking, and from other sources, are 
 given to the fresh milk. Sunlight is a good disin- 
 fectant. All milk vessels, after being washed, 
 should be sunned if clean, sweet, milk is desired 
 
 With the best of care to prevent contamination, 
 some bacteria always find their way into milk 
 freshly taken from the cow. It is difficult, if not 
 absolutely impossible, to secure milk that has no 
 bacteria in it. 
 
 It is a fact well known to dairymen that bacteria 
 cause the souring of milk. A small number in the 
 milk multiply into large numbers in a few hours. 
 Here they find water and all essential foods for per- 
 fect and rapid development, provided the liquid is 
 kept warm enough. On a warm summer day the 
 fresh product will sour in a few hours, if kept in 
 
BACTERIA. 163 
 
 the free, open air. A moderate degree of heat 
 seems to be all that is needed. 
 
 From this fact has come the method of cooling 
 milk to keep it sweet. Vessels containing fresh 
 milk, if placed in the cold water of wells or springs, 
 will attain a temperature low enough to keep it 
 sweet for a day or two, according to the other 
 influencing conditions. Ice, too, is used for cool- 
 ing milk, and will keep it fresh for a longer time 
 than ordinary cold water. Milk kept on ice, or in 
 iced water, under favorable conditions, will stay 
 sweet for several days. 
 
 The cooling process does not destroy the germs, 
 but simply retards their action and holds it in 
 check. The germs are still there, and will multiply 
 and grow, causing the milk to sour, as soon as a 
 sufficiently high temperature is restored. 
 
 When it is desired to destroy the life of bacteria 
 in milk, boiling from a few minutes to an hour or 
 more will accomplish the result. This is often 
 done when harmful species, such as disease-pro- 
 ducing germs, are present. If the milk is to be 
 used immediately, no further care is necessary; 
 but if it is to be kept for some time, it should be 
 quickly cooled, and kept cool until needed. By 
 sealing in air-tight cans while hot, milk will keep 
 sweet for a very long time; in fact, almost indefi- 
 nitely, providing proper care is taken in sealing. 
 The only objection to this method of killing the 
 bacteria in milk is that the boiling produces a 
 
164 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 flavor objectionable to some people. However, it 
 is the safest plan. 
 
 Certain chemicals added to milk will kill the 
 bacteria present and keep the product fresh for a 
 long time. Some of these are poisons, but so small 
 a quantity is needed that harmful results need 
 not follow. However, in the hands of ignorant 
 or unskilled persons, the use of such chemicals 
 is a dangerous experiment and should not be 
 resorted to. 
 
 PART BACTERIA PLAY IN MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. 
 
 In butter-making, bacteria play a leading part. 
 Fresh cream is sweet, but before it can be made 
 into butter with a good flavor, it must undergo 
 changes. These changes are called "ripening:' 
 Cream, when kept at the right temperature, sours, 
 and the souring is necessary to give the product 
 the right flavor. Several species of bacteria often 
 work in the same cream, and the butter made from 
 such cream is not of good quality. Each species 
 produces its own peculiar flavor. 
 
 Butter-makers are very careful to exclude all 
 kinds of bacteria except those that give the desired 
 flavor and aroma. This is not always possible; but 
 care and scientific methods have done a great deal 
 to improve the quality of butter. Some butter- 
 makers have almost absolute control over the 
 species and growth of bacteria in their factories, 
 
BACTERIA. 165 
 
 so that they produce an article highly flavored and 
 of a standard quality. 
 
 As soon as the butter is made, most of the bac- 
 teria die, probably on account of the small amount 
 of water and the presence of a great deal of 
 salt. 
 
 Some, however, remain alive. These, after a 
 while, cause the butter to change its character and 
 become rancid. Butter, to keep well, should have 
 all of the water worked out, and a large amount of 
 common salt mixed with it. Salt kills bacteria in 
 butter just as it does in meat. 
 
 Cheese-making is also dependent upon the 
 growth of bacteria. Cheese is made from the 
 casein of milk. This is separated from the other 
 products by rennet. After being separated, the 
 casein is pressed into a solid mass of the shape 
 and size desired, and then set away in a moderate 
 temperature to ripen. It takes weeks, sometimes 
 months, for cheese to ripen, depending upon the 
 kind and the influencing conditions. The slow- 
 ness of the process is probably due to the fact 
 that a great deal of water is pressed from the mass 
 in reducing it to a solid condition. 
 
 Often bacteria different from the ones desired 
 get into cheese. These so change the product as 
 to make it unfit for use. The cheese-maker can- 
 not always control the germs in his cheese so as to 
 produce grades of uniform quality and flavor; but, 
 with care, most of the difficulties can be overcome. 
 
166 LIFE ON THE FARM. 
 
 BACTERIA IN VINEGAR-MAKING. 
 
 Vinegar is a weak solution of acetic acid. On 
 the farm it is usually made of apple cider. The 
 juice of apples, and other juices of similar compo- 
 sition, contain more or less sugar. Sugar is 
 readily converted into alcohol, and acetic acid is 
 only oxidized alcohol. The organic compounds 
 in cider are broken up and reunited through the 
 action of bacteria. 
 
 Apple cider, in warm weather, after standing for 
 about twenty-four hours, gives off bubbles of gas. 
 The gas is carbon dioxide and the process is fer- 
 mentation. The gas gives the cider a sparkling 
 appearance and a spicy taste. After fermenting 
 for another day or two, the cider acquires a strong, 
 sour taste. In a few weeks of change, the product 
 is vinegar. 
 
 The bacteria in the cider grow into a vast 
 colony, forming a solid, slimy mass known as 
 "mother of vinegar." They get into the cider 
 first from the barrel itself, and from the air; but 
 the process may be hastened by introducing some 
 mother of vinegar. Sweet cider makes stronger 
 and better vinegar than other kinds from the fact 
 that it contains more sugar. 
 
 Vinegar is made in different ways and from 
 different substances, but in most cases commercial 
 vinegar is produced directly by the action of bac- 
 teria. 
 
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