Rice
Rice A Yellow Field That Waves Like Wheat, But At Nearer View Looks More Like Oats, Comes To Harvest, Sometimes Twice A Year, In The Warm Countries Of The Globe, Especially In The Regions Near The Sea. This Is The Rice Crop, That Feeds Nearly Half Of The Human Race. ...
Rubber Plants_p1
Rubber Plants. When White Men First Came To South America And Explored The Amazon River And Adjoining Territory, They Saw Native Indians At Home, And Had Many Surprises Regarding The Life They Lead. They Noticed A Game Played With A Large Ball Of Dark Substance, That Bounded High When It ...
Rubber Plants_p2
Legal Restrictions Now Prevent The Abusive Treatment Of The Forests Of Rubber Trees. They May Not Be Cut Down, As Formerly Permitted, And Tapping Must Be Done At Stated Intervals, To Let The Trees Recuperate From The Exhaustion They Suffer. At Present The Simple Natives, Who Do The Work Of ...
Rubber Plants_p3
Central American, Or Panama Rubber Is From A Tree Called Castilloa Elastica, Which Grows Ten Degrees North Of The Equator. The Rubber Has Not The Strength Of Para, And Brings A Lower Price. It Is The Tree Of Mexican And Honduras Plantations. A Tree That Reaches Sixty Feet In Height, ...
Sago Palm
Sago Palm. Pearl Sago Is A Form Of Starch Much Like Tapioca, Used For Puddings, And Various Foods For Conva Lescents And Children, Because It Is A Form Of Starch That Is Easy Of Digestion. It Does Not Come From Roots Nor Tubers, As Much Starch Does, Nor From Seeds, ...
Salsify
Salsify. One Of The Root Vegetables That Keeps Company With The Parsnip By Staying In The Ground All Winter, And Being None The Worse For The Freezing It Gets, Is Called From Its Flavor, The Vegeta Ble Oyster Plant. The Crown Above The Slender Roots Bears A Bunch Of Narrow ...
Sea Kale
Sea Kale. A Robust Member Of The Mustard Family Grows On The West Coasts Of Europe, Right Down On The Dunes, To The Line The Tide Reaches. In Other Countries It Is Considered A Weed, But Along The English Channel The People Who Live Near The Beach Claim The Sea-kale ...
Sisal Hemp
Sisal Hemp. The Plants That Produce The Fibre Known To Commerce As "sisal" Are Agaves, Near Relatives Of The Century Plant, Or Aloe. The Leaves Are Mar Ginned With Prickles, And Grow Out Of The Centre Of The Short Stalk. After The Plant Is Three Years Old The Outer Leaves ...
Spinach
Spinach. For Greens There Is No Plant That Compares In Popularity And Merit With Spinach. It Is A Mem Ber Of The Goosefoot Family, That Produces A Great Many Weeds In America, But No Plants Of Any Value. The Gardens Of Europe Have Produced Many Early, Late, And Midsummer Varieties. ...
Squashes And Pumpkins
Squashes And Pumpkins. Professor Bailey, In His "lessons With Plants," Tells Us How To Distinguish A Pumpkin From A Squash At A Glance. Look At The Stem. Does It Flare At The Point Where It Joins The Fruit? Is It A Ridged And Furrowed Stem? Then The Fruit It Bears ...
Stone Fruits
Stone Fruits. Plums And Cherries, Peaches And Apricots Are Stone Fruits. The Pulpy Flesh Encloses The Single Seed, Which Has A Hard Shell, Like A Nut. The Trees Have A Resinous Sap That Flows Out To Heal Wounds In The Bark. The Drug, Hydrocyanic Acid, Gives The Characteristic Bitter Taste ...
Strawberries
Strawberries. Babes In The Woods, In The Folklore Of Various Countries, Have Eaten Wild Strawberries, And Been Covered Over With Strawberry Leaves, When Their Rescuers Were Slow To Find Them. The Scarlet, Or Virginian Strawberry Was Transplanted From The Woods And Fields Into The Gardens Of The Early Colonists. In ...
Sugar Beets
Sugar Beets. A Number Of Vegetables Contain A Noticeable Amount Of Sugar. The Onion Is One Of These Peas And Corn Are Sweet. Stalks Of Corn Yield Sugar. Fruits Of Many Kinds Have A High Per Centage Of Sugar. Grains And Root Vegetables , Must Also Be Counted, And The ...
Sugar Cane_p1
Sugar Cane. Tallest And Most Valuable Of All Grasses Is The Sugar-cane, Which Grows To A Height Of Twenty Feet, In The Most Favorable Situations, And Furnishes One Of The Most Important Of Human Foods. Its Name, Saccharum, Gives Us A Root For Words That Mean Sweet; And It Is ...
Sugar Cane_p2
The Sap Of The Cane Must Be Extracted By Crush Ing And Rolling, Then Condensed By Evaporating The Water It Contains, Then Clarified And Crystal Lized Into The Sugar Of Commerce. The Best Mills Get 95 Per Cent. Of The Sucrose (sugary Content) Of The Cane. This Process Begins With ...
Sugar Maples
Sugar Maples. The Making Of Sugar From Cane And Beets Requires Elaborate Machinery. It Is No Simple Home Industry. But Anybody Who Has A Few Sugar Maple Trees, And A Fair Amount Of Patience, Can Make Maple Sugar As Good As Any. The Rich, Sugary Sap Begins To Flow Early ...
Sweet Potato
Sweet Potato. The Spanish Name, Patata, Comes From The Peruvian, Papa, Name Of A Wild Morning-glory, Native To Tropical South America, And China. The Spaniards Learned To Eat The Sweet Tubers That The Incas Cultivated On The West Slopes Of The Andes. They Are Now Grown In The Warm Parts ...
Swiss Chard
Swiss Chard. A Race Of Beets Is Known To Gardeners Under The Name Swiss Chard. Like The Ornamental Beet, Its Root Is Small And Tough, And The Leaves Are The Part For Which The Plants Are Grown. Thick, Tender Leaf Stalks Branch Out Into The Web Of The Leaf, And ...
The Bush Fruits
The Bush Fruits. Currants And Gooseberries Grow Wild In Both The Old And The New World, And Are Cultivated In A Multitude Of Improved Varieties. These Are Tart, Spicy Fruits, Fine For Jelly And Jams, And For Stewing, Green Or Ripe. The Largest Gooseberries Are The Size Of Plums, And ...
The Cane Fruits
The Cane Fruits. Brambles, We Call The Long-armed Plants Of The Genus Rubus, Which Cannot Hold Themselves Erect, But Sprawl On The Ground, And Make A Thicket By Sending Up Suckers Or By Striking Root At The Tips Of The Arching Canes. The Difficulties Of Walking Through Or Past Such ...
The Coconut Palm
The Coconut Palm. The Coco-nut Palm Grows Best On The Shelly, Barren Soil Of Tropical Shores. It Loves The Sea Air, And As It Grows, Leans Toward The Water! A Crown Of Leaves Shelters The Clustered Nuts That Turn From Green To Brown As They Ripen. It Is The Delight ...
The Date Palm
The Date Palm. The Arab May Well Claim That The Best Palm In All The World Is His Beautiful, Feathery-leaved, Desert-loving Date Palm, The Palm Of The Bible, And Of Ancient History In Many Languages. The Hot Sun Only Sweetens And Dries The Great Clusters Of Dates, That Feed The ...
The Growing Of Flax
The Growing Of Flax. Homespun Linen Clothed Our Ancestors Until They Could No Longer Afford To Keep The Industry Going. Labor Is High-priced, So Americans Buy Their Linens Abroad, Where Labor Is Still Cheap. The Improvement Of Machinery To Handle Flax May Soon Make It A Profitable Industry In This ...
The Ivory Palm
The Ivory Palm. A Low-growing Palm Of South America, Fruits In A "head" Of Hard, Heavy Clustered Capsules, Con Taining Four To Ten Hard, Ivory-like Seeds, Each The Size Of A Hen's Egg. The Texture Of The Seed Is Much Like The Ivory Of The Elephant's Tusk, And Is Used ...
The Kinds Of Wheat
The Kinds Of Wheat Between Two And Three Hundred Varieties Of Wheat Were Selected From A Thousand Varieties Tested By The United States Department Of Agriculture, As Best Adapted To Conditions In Differ Ent Parts Of This Country. The Vast Number Of Varieties Grown The World Over Prove That Wheat ...
The Onion Family
The Onion Family. The Onion Is A Native Of Western And Central Asia, From Which Territory It Came Into Cultivation, And Spread, In Various Forms, Through Europe, And Eastward To China. In America, Gray De Scribed Six Native Species Of Wild Onion, And One Species From Europe. Dairymen Dread The ...
The Orange And Its_p1
The Orange And Its Kin. Citrous Fruits, Which Take Their Descriptive Adjective From The Citron, Include Also The Orange, Lemon, Lime, And Pomelo, Or Grape Fruit. The Leathery, Yellow Skin, Pitted With Dots That Con Nect With Oil Glands, And Yield A Pungent, Aromatic Fragrance, Is A Family Trait Always ...
The Orange And Its_p2
Strangely Enough, The Soil And Climate Of South Ern California Makes Of This Variety A Different Fruit From The South American Form. One Of The Chief Merits Of The Washington Navel Is Its Keeping Qualities In Overland Transit. The Harvest Of Oranges In California Begins In Time To Supply The ...
The Races Of Corn
The Races Of Corn. We Find In New England Cornfields, Sweet Corn And Flint Corn; In The Corn Belt Of The Central States, Chiefly The Yellow Dents; In The South, White Dent Varieties. Dent Corns Have Their Starchy Content Extended To The Top Of The Grain, And Shrinking At Maturity, ...
The Rattan Palm
The Rattan Palm. The Royal Palms Are Noble Specimens Of Their Race. But One Of These Is Not More Interesting Than The Rattan Palm, That Has Not The Necessary Stiffness To Grow Erect. I Quote The Interesting Description Given By Mr. Wallace, Who Saw The Plant In The Island Of ...
The Sugar Palms
The Sugar Palms. A Traveller In The East Indies Describes The Making Of Sugar From The True Sugar Palm And The Coco Palm. "each Day The Tapped Trees Of The Latter Species Yield Two Quarts Of Sap That Boils Down To Three Or Four Ounces Of Sugar. That Has A ...
The Wheat Districts
The Wheat Districts The Soft Wheat District Is Along Our North Atlantic Coast. The Semi-hard District Is South Of The Great Lakes. Hard Spring Wheat Culture Centres In The Red River Valley. Kansas Is The Centre Of The Hard Winter Wheat District. The Durum Wheat Area Centres In Northern Texas. ...
The Wheat Harvest
The Wheat Harvest When Wheat Begins To Turn Yellow, The Time Of Harvest Is Near. The Farmer Dents A Kernel With His Thumb Nail. If It Does Not Burst, It Is Ready For The Sickle. The Best Flour Is Made From Wheat That Is Dead Ripe When Harvested. But It ...
The Wild Cabbage And_p1
The Wild Cabbage And Its Children. Outside Of The Pretty Coast Villages That Look Out On The English Channel, Beyond The Thrifty Fields And Market Gardens, Lie Stretches Of Land So Rocky And Uneven That It Is Unfit For Cultivation. Tufts Of Weedy Growth Soften The Bleakness Of These Desert ...
The Wild Cabbage And_p2
In Some Wild Plants The Tendency To Form Fleshy Subdivisions Of Flower Stems Was Noticed. Selec Tion Of The Best Specimens For Seed Producers Finally Resulted In A Race Of Cabbages Whose Flowers Are Borne On A White, Coral-like Mass Of Stem Branches. These Form A Delicious Dish When Cut ...
The Wonderful Maize Plant_p1
The Wonderful Maize Plant. A Sprouting Grain Of Corn Sends A Pointed Leaf, Rolled Into A Close Tube, Up To The Light, While A Tapering Root Goes Downward, And Branches Into Fibrous Feeding Roots Along Its Sides. Out Of The Tip Of The Leaf Tube A Slenderer Tube Rises, And ...
The Wonderful Maize Plant_p2
Compare A Green Plant With One That Is Ripe And Yellowing. Is The Guard Still Doing Duty? What Effect Have The Surface Hairs On The Water? Does It Collect In Drops, As On An Oily Surface, Or Does It Spread ? The Stalk.—the Swollen Rings Are The Nodes Of The ...
Tobacco_p1
Tobacco. When Benzoni, A Spanish Explorer, Wrote Of His Travels In Mexico, About The Middle Of The Six Teenth Century, He Described Plantations Of An Herb The Natives Called "tabacco," The Leaf Of Which Was Dried And Smoked In A Pipe. Earlier In The Same Century, The Islands Off To ...
Tobacco_p2
The Great Tobacco Producing Countries Of Europe Are Germany, Russia, And Hungary. India, Samatra And Java, Turkey, Japan And China Are The Asiatic Countries. Cuba And Porto Rico, Mexico And Argentina Are The Tropical American Tobacco Regions, And Argentina And Brazil Are Great Tobacco Countries In The South Temperate Zone. ...
Tomatoes
Tomatoes. Your Grandmother Has Told You That In Her Childhood People Grew For Mere Curiosity A Plant That Bore Red Fruits Called "love Apples." They Brought Them In When Ripe, And Set Them On The Mantelpiece To Admire, Until A Break In The Skin, Or A Soft Spot Warned Of ...
Turnips
Turnips. If They Had Been Turned At A Lathe They Would Scarcely Be More Smooth And Evenly Rounded The Turnips We See Harvested In The Fail For Market, Or To Be Stored For Winter Use. The Name, Turnip, Means "turned." They Are Flattened, Or Long And Tapering, Or Globular, But ...
Wheat Farming
Wheat Farming The Farmer Sows His Wheat Broadcast, By Hand, If He Is Old-fashioned And Skilful, And Has A Small Field; Otherwise With Some Kind Of Drill, Or Seeder, That Plants A Large Area More Evenly And More Quickly That Can Be Done By Hand. The Ground Must Be A ...
Wheat
Wheat Let Us Look First At A Single Grain Of Wheat, Out Of The Bagful The Farmer Is About To Sow, Or The Miller Is About To Pour Into The Hopper, To Grind Into Flour. It Is An Oval Body With A Deep Crease Running Lengthwise On One Side, A ...