“With no rain, the sun rose angry in the sky each morning and showed no mercy on the seedlings that had survived. By February, the stalks were wilted and bent toward the ground. By May, half of our crop was scorched. The plants that remained were only as high as my father’s chest. If you took one of the leaves in your hand, it would crumble to dust” (68).
Which phrase from the excerpt best helps the reader to understand the meaning of the word scorched? (RI.6.1, RI.6.4, L.6.4a)