Wheat Talk

W HEAT grows from seed sown in the ground. When it first comes up, it looks like grass, but after a time a strong stalk rises above the green leaves, and out of the end of this stalk grows a head of wheat. The head at first is soft and green, but when the summer heat has made it ripe, it is hard and full, and has a golden color. When the wind blows over a field of ripe wheat, the tall grain bends in long waves, until the whole field looks like golden waves. When the wheat is quite ripe, it is cut down and tied into small bundles called sheaves, and left to dry in the warm sunshine. Then these sheaves are piled into large stacks to keep it safe until they are ready to be threshed. It is then put into a large machine, called a thresher, and all the grains are separated from the stalk. The stalk is straw, and the shell which was around the wheat is chaff. After the grains are cleared of the straw and chaff, the farmer takes it to the mill and it is ground into fine white flour.