Lumbering was one of the earliest industries to be started in America. In fact, there is a legend that Leif Ericson, who was supposed to have visited North America about the year 1000, brought back a cargo of timber from the new world! We do know that one of th...

In millions of homes in Europe and the United States, the mistletoe is hung up at Christmastime. According to a happy custom, when a girl is standing under the mistletoe, a man is allowed to kiss her.

Curiously enough, the use of the mis­tletoe on holida...

A seed, as you know, is one of the ways in which a plant produces another plant of its own kind. But seeds need special conditions to grow. They need moisture, oxygen, and warmth. If a seed doesn't start to grow within a certain time, the see will die.

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Did you know that about one-half of all the people in the world live almost entirely on a rice diet? Most of these people live in Asia, but rice is also important in the Western World.

There are thousands of varieties of rice, and they vary in many ways. ...

When you look at the unopened pod of the peanut, you can see that it closely resembles the pea or bean. In fact, it belongs to the same family. The peanut plant is a bush, and its blossoms resemble those of the pea.

After the petals fade, a part of the ...

The marshmallow you eat today as candy has nothing to do with the marshmallow! At one time, this candy was actually made from a plant called a marshmallow, which is how it got its name.

Today, marshmallows are made by whipping a combination of sugar, co...

The technical name for this plant is the agave, and it is called a century plant because of a mistaken notion! It is commonly believed that this plant blooms only when it has reached the age of 100 years. The truth is that when it blooms depends on the...

If a weak sugar solution is exposed to the air, in several days a light, frothy scum appears on the surface and the liquid begins to smell of alcohol. This change takes place because tiny plant cells called yeast have settled from the air into the liquid. They have found condi...

Is there anybody in your family on a diet? Then you've probably heard them say as they turned down a certain dish, "Not for me! Too much starch!" Of course, if there are growing children in a house, they are usually fed plenty of starch to "build them up. Starc...

Man's relationship to bacteria is a very interesting one. We all know that many bacteria are harmful. Diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, diphtheria, pneumonia, and all infections that occur in open wounds are each caused by a particular kind of bacteria. So man wages...