THE SEED. 149 



cle or root-end of your embryo, that you know which 

 part is cotyledon, and which plumule, take another 

 seed of the same kind, but less grown one where the 

 root-end of the embryo has scarcely begun to swell 

 and see if you can find the parts. 



Fio. 258. 

 ; Plumule. 



Cotyledon. [ ,\ \ Plumule. 



Badicle. 



Fig. 258 represents such an embryo with the parts 

 shown. 



Point out and name the parts of the embryo of an 

 apple-seed ; of a pumpkin-seed ; and of each of your 

 specimens successively, as in former exercises. Which 

 of your seeds has the largest plumule before growth 

 begins ? Have you any in which the embryo has at 

 first no plumule at all ? 



Have you failed to find cotyledons in any em- 

 bryo looked at ? * 



* If these experiments with seeds are made as early as April, 

 in this climate, the children who have made them will be ready 

 for more extended observations when planting in the garden 

 begins. Most garden-seeds are too small to be separated into 

 parts by young children. But, when growth begins, their parts 

 enlarge, and a child, who has before studied larger seeds, will 

 be able to identify the radicle, cotyledons, and plumule, without 

 difficulty. In the kitchen-garden, a universal appendage of 

 country-houses, the sprouting of the radish, onion, beet, parsnip, 

 lettuce, tomato, carrot, cabbage, cucumber, etc., will furnish an 

 excellent continuation of the study of seeds. 



