10 Introductory 



shaped they never grow big. In Japan you may see 

 oaks and cypresses 100 years old and yet small enough 

 to be put upon the dinner table (Fig. 6). Yet, however 

 stunted in growth these trees may be, they still show 

 a thick woody trunk, and it is this trunk which chiefly 

 distinguishes trees from other growing plants. 



CHAPTER II 



FRUITS AND SEEDS 



LESSON 1 



Season. About first week in October. 

 Materials required for each pupil. 



One broad bean which has been soaking 12 24 

 hours in water and one unsoaked one. One acorn in 

 its cup. One of each of the following fruits or seeds: 

 hazel nut, rose-hip, grain of wheat, Spanish chestnut, 

 horse-chestnut. 



Nearly every kind of tree passes the first stage of 

 its existence wrapped in a seed in a tiny, sometimes 

 microscopic, form. A very long time ago, before flowers 

 as we now know them existed at all, some of the only 

 plants that made any attempt at flowering belonged to 

 the pine family. Their seeds were placed directly on 

 scaly leaves and were uncovered, as is the case with 

 pine seeds to-day. If you slip a knife between the scales 

 of a ripe pine cone in the early summer you will find 



