25 



from the soil. It will continue for a few weeks to 

 develop new leaves, the old ones becoming yellow 

 and dying off; thus showing that its constituents 

 have been withdrawn for the formation of new parts. 

 A miniature plant may thus be produced, and 

 vitality kept up for some time, until the inorganic 

 elements become insufficient for its increased 

 growth, and it then dies. Under natural conditions 

 however, i.e., when the seed is placed in contact 

 with the soil, the plant will, as soon as the first 

 leaves are formed, begin the process of assimilating 

 food from without the inorganic portion through 

 the rootlets, the organic portion chiefly through the 

 leaves ; the elements absorbed increase the mass, 

 the plant gradually expands, and the process of 

 development goes on now more or less vigorously, 

 according to the amount of nourishment the plant 

 can obtain within reach. 



Until the first leaves are produced, the plant 

 depends entirely on the nourishment contained in 

 the seed for the formation of the organs which 

 subsequently absorb food from without. The num- 

 ber and strength of these organs will be in exact 

 proportion to the amount of nourishment contained 

 in the seed : a large, well-developed seed will 

 produce during the course of germination large and 

 vigorous organs, while a poor, imperfectly-deve- 

 loped seed will not only take much longer to 

 germinate, but the rootlets and leaves produced will 



