<div class="chaptext" id="l30"><SPAN name="less30"></SPAN>
<div class="lesson">LESSON XXX.</div>
<div class="chaphead">USEFUL GRAINS.</div>
<p>Wheat and corn are called grain because they are small, hard seeds
What other kinds of grain can you name?</p>
<table summary="illustration" width="100" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="5"
cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td><SPAN href="images/055_l.gif" target="_blank" id="ill55"><ANTIMG src=
"images/055.jpg" border="0" alt="RIPE WHEAT" /></SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="caption">RIPE WHEAT.</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Which of these grains is used the most? Which makes the choicest
flour?</p>
<p>Some kinds of wheat are sown in the spring. These are called spring
wheat.</p>
<p>Winter wheat is sown in the fall. A few days of sun and rain, and
the plants spring up like grass, remaining green through the
winter.</p>
<p>What color does the wheat turn as it ripens? When it is ripe what
is done with it?</p>
<table summary="illustration" width="100" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" border="0"
align="right">
<tr>
<td><SPAN href="images/056_l.gif" target="_blank" id="ill56"><ANTIMG src=
"images/056.jpg" border="0" alt="HARVESTING WHEAT IN THE WEST." /></SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="caption">HARVESTING WHEAT IN THE WEST.</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>For what is the flour of wheat used?</p>
<p>What is sometimes done with the stalks, or straw?</p>
<p>Indian corn is one of the most useful of plants. Do you know why it
is called Indian corn? It is because the Indians first raised
it.</p>
<p>When is corn planted? How is the land prepared for planting? What
is done to the corn while the plants are small? When does it ripen?
How tall does it grow?</p>
<table summary="illustration" width="100" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="5"
cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td><SPAN href="images/057_l.gif" target="_blank" id="ill57"><ANTIMG src=
"images/057.jpg" border="0" alt="SEVERAL KINDS OF GRAIN." /></SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="caption">SEVERAL KINDS OF GRAIN.</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>What is the stem of the corn called? What are the flowers on the
stalk of corn called? On what do the grains of corn grow?</p>
<p>What use is made of the green stalks and leaves? What use is made
of the ripe grain? For what are corn-husks largely used?</p>
<p>Sweet corn, if boiled when green, is an excellent vegetable. It is
preserved by canning.</p>
<p>A large cornfield, with its tall, straight stalks, covered with
green shining leaves and crowned by flowers, is a very pleasant
sight.</p>
<p>Corn is sometimes called the national emblem. What does emblem
mean?</p>
<p>What use is made of oats; barley, rye, and buckwheat? Some of these
grains are useful in two or three ways.</p>
<table summary="illustration" width="100" border="0" align="right" cellpadding="5"
cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td><SPAN href="images/058_l.gif" target="_blank" id="ill58"><ANTIMG src=
"images/058.jpg" border="0" alt="ANOTHER GRAIN WHICH WE FIND ON ALMOST EVERY TABLE. " /></SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="caption">ANOTHER GRAIN WHICH WE FIND ON ALMOST EVERY
TABLE.</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>There is another grain which we find on almost every table. It is
rice. The rice plant, when growing, resembles wheat; but, unlike
wheat, it needs a great deal of moisture. So the rice-grower sows
it in fields which he can flood or drain at will.</p>
<p>Do you know what people live on rice without any meat at all? Ask
your teacher to tell you how rice is raised in China and
Japan.</p>
<p>You ought to find something to tell your teacher and classmates
about the grains.</p>
<p>Perhaps you would enjoy drawing some of the grains you have
seen.</p>
<p>Choose one of the grains, and write what you have Learned about it
from conversation and observation.</p>
<div class="verse"><br/>
We plow the fields, and scatter<br/>
The good seed on the land,<br/>
But it is fed and watered<br/>
By God's almighty hand.<br/>
He sends the snow in winter,<br/>
The warmth to swell the grain,<br/>
The breezes and the sunshine,<br/>
And soft refreshing rain.</div>
</div>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />