PERSONALITY OF PLANTS 
the seedling continues to grow, these cotyledons 
begin to shrink and shrivel. ‘The plant is liv- 
ing on their substance until it can begin to make 
its own. In the case of the Bean, the stem lifts 
the emaciated cotyledons up into the air, where 
they act as leaves until the tiny green things at 
the stem’s tip have expanded into those impor- 
tant organs. 
When the first leaves have fully opened and 
the spent cotyledons have dropped off as mere 
empty shells, the independent life of the plant 
may be said to have begun. We are now ina 
position to examine its methods of living. 
Examining the root, we find that by this time 
it has expanded into many branches. Each tip 
is a tiny mouth through which the plant drinks 
the all-important water and mineral salts. Root 
tips exercise great ingenuity; they feel their 
way underground, touching here, recoiling 
there, and searching out the elements necessary 
to the plant’s economy with wonderful sagacity. 
The actual absorption is done by minute fila- 
ments or hairs which take in water and its dis- 
solved contents by osmotic action. ‘They se- 
crete a digestive fluid which renders certain 
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