DIVISION » Tk 
LIFE OF THE PLANT. 
CHAPTER IL 
GERMINATION. 
Bi 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Having traced the composition of vegetation from its 
ultimate elements to the proximate organic compounds, 
and studied its structure in the simple cell as well as in the 
most highly developed plant, and, as far as needful, explain- 
ed the characters and functions of its various organs, we 
approach the subject of VecrTasLe Lirr and Nutrition, 
and are ready to inquire how the plant increases in bulk and 
weight and produces starch, sugar, oil, albuminoids, ete., 
which constitute directly or indirectly almost the entire 
food of animals. 
The beginning of the individual plant is in the seed, at 
the moment of fertilization by the action of a pollen tube 
on the contents of the embryo-sack. Each embryo whose 
development is thus ensured, is a plant in miniature, or 
rather an organism that is capable, under proper circum- 
stances, of unfolding into a plant. 
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