62 Practical Farming 



cotyledons. Our pine trees give us an example of this 

 class. But the pines, while differing in their internal 

 structure from many other plants of two or more seed 

 leaves, are still outside growers Uke the true dicotyledons. 

 Even our common forest trees, which in the greater part 

 of this country all belong to the dicotyledons, have certain 

 of their cells transformed into the tubular shape for the 

 conveyance of water and afterward for the distribution of 

 the elaborated material for the growth of the tree. Various 

 names are applied to these transformed cells by botanists 

 according to the purpose they serve in the life of the plant. 

 But it is not our purpose here to deal in botanical terms 

 further than is necessary to comprehend the structures 

 that carry on the life-work of plants. 



To study the growth of a plant it is best 

 the^ean^ ^ ^^ begin with the seed. One of the best 

 subjects to select for study is the common 

 garden bean. Take some beans and soak them for a 

 night in water. The next morning you will find that 

 they have swollen. This is the first step toward germi- 

 nation. So long as a seed is kept perfectly dry the living 

 matter in it will remain dormant, and in some seeds it 

 can be kept dormant, but still living, for many years, while 

 others lose their vitality in a short time, and some will not 

 even admit of complete drying. But to return to the 

 swollen bean. You will find that it has a protective coat 

 around the whole — a sort of skin. On one side you will 

 find the eye or scar where it was attached to the interior 

 lining of the pod. On one side of this eye you will find a 

 raised lump and on the other side a minute opening 

 through the outer skin. Now place a knife blade carefully 



