INTRODUCTION. 



THE STUDY OF PLANTS. 



GOD made plants for the study of man, as well as for utility 

 and beauty. The seed, ever true to its nature, always brings forth 

 the plant after its own kind ; it is therefore the essential organ : 

 on its structure is founded what is called the "Natural System" 

 in Botany, the outline of which we will briefly state: 



Take an acorn, (the seed of the oak), and then remove the 

 outer coat or skin. The seed will voluntarily divide into two 

 parts (called cotyledons, see page 93) ; nestled in a little cavity 

 at one extremity of the seed is the germ, or embryo plant this 

 is a miniature oak tree. Now examine a kernel of Indian corn ; 

 you will not find it composed of two distinct lobes or cotyledons 

 like the acorn. The germ is seen at what is called the eye of 

 the seed.* 



We perceive in the beginning of the life of plants a great dif- 

 ference between plants of different kinds ; this can be readily 

 observed by placing seeds upon moistened cotton in a glass ves- 

 sel, and watching from day to day the gradual development of 

 the germ. In the difference in the manner of their growth is 

 founded the great division of plants in the Natural System. In 

 the full-grown oak, which has proceeded from the seed with two 

 cotyledons, and in the Indian corn with one cotyledon, there are 

 the following remarkable differences : 



First The oak has a branching stem. The corn has a sim- 

 ple stem. 



Second The oak has grown by the increase of tissues from 

 the outside of the stem, and the wood is hardest towards the 

 centre. The corn has grown from the inside, pushing outwardly, 

 and is hardest at the outside. 



Third The leaves of the oak are net-veined. The leaves of 

 the corn are straight-veined. 



We shall now leave the pupil to begin the study of Botany, in 

 which he will be led, gradually, to an understanding of the won- 

 derful organization of the vegetable kingdom, and the different 

 modes of classifying plants. 



* Refer to page 91 for an explanation of the seed and the germin- 

 ating process. 

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