Third reader. 195 6.  In favorable weather, the tender blades push through the ground in ten days or two weeks; then the stalks mount up rapidly, and the long, streamer-like leaves unfold gracefully from day to day.  Corn must be carefully cultivated while the plants are small.  After they begin to shade the ground, they need but little hoeing or plowing. 7.  The moisture and earthy matter, drawn through the roots, become sap.  This passes through the stalk, and enters the leaves.  There a great change takes place which results in the starting of the ears and the growth of the grain. 8.  The maize plant bears two kinds of flowers,—­male and female.  The two are widely separated.  The male flowers are on the tassel; the fine silk threads which surround the ear, and peep out from the end of the husks, are the female flowers. 9.  Each grain on the cob is the starting point for a thread of silk; and, unless the thread receives some particle of the dust which falls from the tassel flowers, the kernel with which it is connected will not grow. 10.  The many uses of Indian corn and its products are worthy of note.  The green

196 Eclectic series. stalks and leaves make excellent fodder for cattle.  The ripe grain is used all over the earth as food for horses, pigs, and poultry.  Nothing is better for fattening stock. 11.  Green corn, or “roasting ears,” hulled corn and hominy, New England hasty pudding, and succotash are favorite dishes with many persons.  Then there are parched corn and pop corn—­the delight of long winter evenings. 12.  Cornstarch is an important article of commerce.  Sirup and sugar are made from the juice of the stalk, and oil and alcohol from the ripened grain.  Corn husks are largely used for filling

Third reader. 197 mattresses, and are braided into mats, baskets, and other useful articles. 13.  Thus it will be seen how varied are the uses of Indian corn.  And besides being so useful, the plant is very beautiful.  The sight of a large cornfield in the latter part of summer, with all its green banners waving and its tasseled plumes nodding, is one to admire, and not to be forgotten.

LESSON LXXIV.  THE SNOWBIRD’S SONG.

1.  The ground was all covered with snow one day, And two little sisters were busy at play, When a snowbird was sitting close by on a tree, And merrily singing his chick-a-de-dee.

        198 Eclectic series.

2.  He had not been singing that tune very long Ere Emily heard him, so loud was his song; “O sister, look out of the window!” said she; “Here’s a dear little bird singing chick-a-de-dee.

3.  “Poor fellow! he walks in the snow and the sleet, And has neither stockings nor shoes on his feet:  I wonder what makes him so full of his glee; He’s all the time singing his chick-a-de-dee.

4.  “If I were a barefooted snowbird, I know, I would not stay out in the cold and the snow; I pity him so! oh, how cold he must be!  And yet he keeps singing his chick-a-de-dee.