GARDEN LESSONS 



CHAPTER IV 



The Seed and It» Needs* 

 Exercise* 



The exercises of this lesson should 

 be started several days before studying 

 t he chapter. 



First — Arrange two plates, blotters 

 and seeds as shown in the picture. 

 .Moisten the blotters as needed. Use 



^^5®i55?- 



—First Exercise, 

 beans, corn, radish, wheat. Examine 

 the seeds daily. 



Second — Fill a tumbler half full of 

 boiled water. Drop in a few beans 

 (Windsor beans if you can get them). 

 Note the bubbles. Where are they com- 

 ing from? How does the water first 

 enter the seed? 



Third — Arrange material as pictured. 

 Chalk boxes may be used. Bury six 

 Windsor (or lima) beans or kernels of 

 corn half in the soil with scarred end 

 down. Bury six beans with scarred 

 end up. Note results from day to day. 



Fourth — Float two halves of a wal- 

 nut shell on water. Place sugar care- 

 fully in one. Observe from day to day. 

 Treat the coats of squash seeds in the 

 same way. Note results. 



Fifth — Between two plates of glass 

 place two or three thicknesses of blot- 



ter. Next to the glass on one side place 

 wheat, on the other corn. Note the 

 growth of the roots. 



Sixth — Examine a bean or pea pod. 

 Open it carefully. Pull off a bean or 

 pea and notice where it fastens to the 

 pod. This is the hilum. 



If you were to plant peas today in 

 your garden would you know just what 

 to do? Few people know much about 

 seeds. This chapter and the one to 

 follow will tell you how to plant your 

 seeds. 



"Water Awakens the Seed— A dry seed 

 may lie for years apparently dead. Add 

 a little water and soon it rids itself of 

 its coat and the young plant begins to 

 grow. Exercise 2 and 3 told you that 

 the water enters first at the micropyle, 

 a little opening near the hilum. Just 





—Second Exercise. 



—Third Exercise. 



as soon as the water enters the seed 

 activity begins. Sugar is made and 

 water passes through the seed coat, 

 just as it passed through the walnut 

 shells and the coverings of the squash 

 seeds into the seed (exercise 4). Thus 

 seeds must be planted deeply enough in 

 the soil to cover the hilum and the 

 micropyle. 



The Seed — Select a bean which has 

 germinated, or started, and open it 

 carefully. Find the little embryo, or 

 plant. It has a short stem and the be- 

 ginning of a root. The little stem has 

 a bud or small leaves on it. This is 

 the plumule, and it grows into the main 

 stem and the leaves of the new bean 

 plant. The embryo needs food at once. 

 Find its food. It is stored in the seed 

 leaves, or cotyledons. You have learned 

 that a seed is a sleeping plant in a 

 secure house, the seed coat, with 

 enough food to last until roots are 

 formed and the stem and leaves get 

 above the ground. Therefore, large 

 seeds, such as beans, containing much 

 food, are planted more deeply than 

 small seeds such as radish. The gen- 

 eral rule is to plant seeds five times 

 their diameter. 



(To be continued.) 



Communications should be sent to 



C. A. STEBBINS, Editor 



Agricultural Education Division 



