Part I 
STRUCTURE, FUNCTIONS, AND CLASSIFI- 
CATION OF PLANTS 
-CHAPTER I 
~THE SEED AND ITS GERMINATION 
- 1. Germination of the Squash Seed. — Soak some squash seeds in 
tepid water for twelve hours or more. Plant these about an inch 
deep in damp sand or pine sawdust or peat-moss in a wooden box 
which has had holes enough bored through the bottom so that it will 
not hold water. Put the box in a warm place (not at any time over 
70° or 80° Fahrenheit),! and cover it loosely with a board or a pane 
of glass. Keep the sand or sawdust moist, but not wet, and the 
seeds will germinate. As soon as any of the seeds, on being dug up, 
are found to have burst open, sketch one in this condition,” noting 
the manner in which the outer seed-coat is split, and continue to 
examine the seedlings at intervals of two days, until at least eight 
stages in the growth of the plantlet have been noted.’ 
‘1 Here and elsewhere throughout the book temperatures are expressed in 
Fahrenheit degrees, since with us, unfortunately, the Centigrade scale is not 
the familiar one, outside of physical and chemical laboratories. 
' 2 The student need not feel that he is expected to make finished drawings 
to record what he sees, but some kind of careful sketch, if only the merest 
outline, is indispensable. Practice and study of the illustrations hereafter 
given will soon impart some facility even to those who have had little or no 
instruction in drawing. Consult here Figs. 9 and 89. 
3 The class is not to wait for the completion of this work (which may, if 
desirable, be done by each pupil at home), but is to proceed at once with the 
examination of the squash seed and of other seeds, as directed in the follow- 
- ing sections, and to set some beans, peas, and corn to sprouting, so that they 
may be studied at the same time with the germinating squashes. 
““é 
