Q2 
to bring forth their young. Perhaps we ourselves have 
seen the white tip of the bean rip open its shell the 
second or third day after being laid upon the moist 
cotton wool. But if we had not given this bean plant a 
good chance to grow, it would have kept alive and 
hearty inside its shell for a long time. This is not the 
case with all plants. Certain seeds need to be planted 
soon after they are ripe. If they are not, their baby 
plants die. 
But usually seeds take such good care of their young, 
that they will live for a long time, even if shut up in a 
dark closet or a table drawer, instead of being comfort- 
ably laid away in the warm, moist earth. 
Wonderful stories are told of seeds that have sprouted 
after having lain buried in some Egyptian tomb for 
thousands of years ; but the people best fitted to judge 
of the truth of such stories do not believe them. There 
is no doubt, however, that some seeds keep their baby 
plants alive for many years. 
Early in the summer the seeds of the red maple fall 
to the ground; and soon after this the young plants find 
their way up into the world above. Later in the year 
the sugar maple sheds its seeds. These lie sleeping in 
the earth through the winter. When the warm spring 
days come, the baby plants awake, and stretch them- 
selves, and join the hundreds of other, just-awakened 
baby plants that are flocking into the world above. So 
you see that seeds of the same family have different 
habits in this matter. 
There is one curious tree that lives in swamps along 
the seashore of hot countries. It is called the mangrove. 
