24 AGRICULTURE 



Sprouting seeds need air. Corn planted in a field that 

 was afterwards overflowed by a creek for several days 

 failed to come up. It was because the water kept the air 

 away from the seeds. 



Three conditions for germination. We now understand 

 that for a seed to germinate it must have moisture, air, 

 and the proper amount of heat. 



How food is stored for the young bean. You may soak 

 or plant peanuts, beans, or cowpeas to learn another way 

 in which parents pack plant-food for the use of the infant 

 plants. By carefully removing the seed-coat from the 

 soaked seed you find that all the seeds are made up chiefly 

 of two thick " halves," which later will become the seed- 

 leaves, or first pair of leaves. These " halves " are storage 

 places or pantries for the food hidden away by the parent 

 plant for its seed-children while too young to get food from 

 the soil and the air. Mankind's supply of bread comes 

 chiefly from tiny pantries stored in the seeds by grain 

 plants. By carefully opening the halves of the seed of 

 bean or cowpea, you will find the germ, which appears as 

 a very small, flattened, white bud near the point where 

 the two fleshy halves are joined together. 



"Coming up." When germination occurs, this bud of 

 the bean, squash, and many other plants is pulled to the 

 surface of the ground in an interesting way. That part of 

 the stem just below the seed-leaves rapidly increases in 

 length, humping itself into the shape of a wire staple. 

 Hence the first thing seen above ground is a part of the 

 stem shaped like the center of a wire staple. One end of 

 this staple is formed by the roots, while the other end 



