i6o 



Harshberger. — Maize , 



The analyses which follow display in a summarized form 

 the constitution of the plant at different seasons of growth. 

 Boussingault 1 gives an analysis of seedlings of maize, after a 

 period of twenty days' germination. The table has been 

 adapted for the chapter. 



As the embryo grows the reserve materials in the seed 

 diminish in quantity. They are conveyed to the seedling, 

 and are used by it to form new protoplasm and new cell walls. 

 "The effect of the absorption of these substances by the 

 embryo is that the cell-sap of the cells of its ground-tissue 

 become charged with them, for the absorption is much more 

 rapid than the consumption in the formation of proteid ; con- 

 sequently the seedling soon comes to contain a larger per- 

 centage of them than does the organ in which they are being 

 formed. If the seedling is growing under favorable condi- 

 tions these substances gradually disappear, and this is accom- 

 panied by an increase in the amount of proteid contained in 

 the seedling." The following table shows this exactly : 



Table II. 



Analysis of Seeds and Seedlings After Twenty Days Ger- 

 mination. Absolute Weight in Grammes. 



1 Vines' Physiology of Plants, 176. 



