88 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
in most cases, although not in all, the radicle is the 
first to grow out of the seed, and that it is followed by 
the appearance of the cotyledons or the foliage leaves, 
as the case may be. We shall do well to sow the seeds 
of our wild plants for ourselves to see how and when 
they germinate, for our Nature-study will not be 
complete, however good it may be in other respects, 
if it tells us nothing at all about the birth of the 
seedling. As I have said already, we should sow them 
as soon as they are ripe and note how long they take 
to germinate and the changes that take place between 
infancy and maturity ; in many cases they will sur- 
prise us not a little, and in all they will provide us 
with a great deal more pleasure and interest than we 
wot of. 
My readers will, I trust, understand that in setting 
forth the seven factors of life, animal and vegetable, 
I have given but a very meagre idea of the various 
ways in which they are satisfied in the world of plants ; 
there are modes and happenings in endless profusion 
that I have not even mentioned; I have been more 
concerned to point out what to look for, what to 
observe, and how to find out things for themselves, 
instead of resting content with studying the work 
of others to the exclusion of doing any of their own. 
These chapters are, as it were, a theory, or a working 
plan for the Nature-study of plants in general, and I 
propose devoting the remainder of this book to putting 
the theory into practice by applying the plan to a 
particular plant, the Herb Robert, and then to its 
nearest relatives, the Cranesbills, as well as to the 
Storksbill, which belongs to the same family. 
Meanwhile we may rest assured that every obser- 
vation we can make, every fact we can glean, every 
