SEEDLINGS 



CHAPTER II. 



HOW SOME PLANTS BEGIN LIFE. 



Plants that have seeds are called higher plants, because 

 they give their children, the seeds, such a good start in the 

 world. 



Take the castor bean for- an example. On the home 

 plant, each seed has a room to itself in the little ball of a 

 house. It seems quite safe in the strong walls defended 

 by stiff little prickles; but suddenly, on a sunny day, the 

 walls of the little room split open, sometimes with such 

 force that the seed is flung far out into the world . For a 

 time it lies on the ground exposed, as one might think, to 

 many dangers; really the seed is protected by its hard coat, 

 and by being poisonous. Soon, too, it becomes buried in 

 the dust, where it waits with other seeds for the rain and 

 sunshine to waken it. 



Soak some castor beans in water, and you will see how 

 the little knob at one end acts like a sponge in taking up 

 water. Plant the seeds, and in a week or so a little white 

 sprout pushes out where the knob was. Do you think this 

 sprout a root or a stem? Really it is both, as you can see 

 by watching, for the root grows steadily downward, but 

 the stem part grows upward and becomes a long, narrow 

 arch, that lifts the earth above it, and finally breaks 

 through. Meanwhile the rest of the seed swells and 

 bursts its coat. What is now the outside part is a white, 



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