It may happen, however, — as it did in a pan of seed which I 

 sowed a few days ago — that one or two of the plants may look 

 like that shown in Fig. 2. Here the seed seems to 

 have come up on top of the plant, and one is reminded 

 of the curious way in which beans come up on the 

 stalk of the young plant. If we were to study the 

 matter, however, — as we may do at a future time — 

 we should find a great difference in the wa3's in which 



the squashes and the beans raise their ^^^ -^ 



seeds out of the ground. It is not our ' ^" 



J 3. Germination juU 



purpose to compare the squash and beginning. 

 the bean at this time, but we are curious to know . 

 why one of these squash plants brings its seed up out 

 of the ground whilst all the others do not. In order 

 to find out why it is, we must ask the plant, and this 

 2. Squash plant 2,'^\w^ is what wc Call an experiment. 



which has ° 



brought the We mav first pull up the two plants. The first one 



seed- coats out j r i. i 



o/the ground. ^Y'lg. I ) will be sccn to have the seed-coats still at- 

 tached to the very lowest part of the stalk below the soil, but the 

 other plant has no seed at that point. We will now plant more 



seeds, a dozen or more of them, so that we shall 

 have enough to examine two or three times a 

 The root ^^Y ^^^ Several days. A day or two after the 

 andpeg. gccds are planted, we shall find a little point or 

 root-like portion breaking out of the sharp end of the 

 seed, as shown in Fig. 3. A day later this root portion 

 has grown to be as long as the seed itself (Fig. 4), and it has 



turned directly downwards into the soil. But 

 there is another most curious thing about this 

 germinating seed. Just where the root is 

 breaking out of the seed (shown at a in Fig. 4), 



growth. 



of 



there is a little peg or projection. In Fig. 5, 

 about a day later, the root has grown still longer, and this 

 peg seems to be forcing the seed apart. In Fig. 6, however, 

 it will be seen that the seed is really being forced apart by 

 the stem or the stalk above the peg, for this stem is now 

 growing longer. The lower lobe of the seed has attached 



