STORAGE OF NOURISHMENT IN THE SEED. 19 
gathered from the air and water, but most of it, during the 
very early life of the plant, is due to the reserve material 
stored in the seed. 
Any one who has watched the slow growth of seedling grass 
plants and the very rapid growth of young corn plants can 
appreciate the effect of an abundant supply of food in the seed 
in securing a rapid start for the seedling. This particular 
illustration is a good one, since corn is itself a kind of grass. 
25. Storage of Nourishment outside of the Embryo. — In 
very many cases the cotyledons contain little nutriment, but 
there is a supply of it stored in the seed 
beside or around them, Figs. 1 and 8. 
26. Examination of the Four-o’clock Seed; 
its Germination. — Examine the external sur- 
face of a seed! of the four-o’clock, and try 
the hardness of the outer coat by cutting it <i 
with a knife. From seeds which have been L es 
soaked in water at least 24 hours peel off the ik, ola dae 
coatings and sketch the kernel. Make a cross- Seeds, Longitudinal Sec- 
section of one of the soaked seeds which has not tions, 
been stripped of its coatings, and sketch the sec- _{, asparagus (magnified). 
tion as seen with the magnifying glass, to show I, poppy (magnified). 
the parts, especially the two cotyledons, lying 
in close contact and encircling the white starchy-looking endosperm.? 
The name endosperm is applied to nourishment stored in parts of the 
seed other than the embryo. . With a mounted needle pick out the little 
almost spherical mass of endosperm from inside the cotyledons of a seed 
which has been deprived of its coats, and sketch the embryo, noting how 
it is curved so as to inclose the endosperm almost completely. 
Sketch the germinating seed and the young seedling at two or three 
stages of its growth to show the form and development of the cotyledons, 
and try to find out whether the endosperm disappears. 
27. Examination of the Kernel of Indian Corn; its Germination. — 
Soak some grains of large yellow field-corn® for about three days. 
1 Strictly speaking a fruit. 
2 Buckwheat furnishes another excellent study in s2eds with endosperm. Like 
that of the four-o’clock it is, strictly speaking, a fruit. 
8 The varieties with long flat kernels, raised in the Middle and Southern States 
under the name of ‘‘ dent corn,” are the best. 
