SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS. 



21 



keeping the paper pressed against the glass. Place seeds in different 

 positions between paper and glass (Fig. 12), and pour in water enough 

 to moisten sawdust and paper. Fit up a few of these jars, because 

 later on you will have seeds of several kinds to germinate. Sphagnum 

 (bog-moss) is better than sawdust ; it is easier and cleaner to use, and 

 it retains water better. Tumblers or lamp-glasses may be used instead 

 of large glass jars. 



42. Glass-sided Boxes. Get two oblong wooden boxes (depth 

 should be at least a foot for the long roots of Bean seedlings). 



(a) Remove one of the longer sides and replace it by a vertical sheet 

 of glass ; at each end of the box fasten a strip of wood on each side of 

 the glass, or simply knock tacks in to keep the glass side in position. 



Fig. 13. Glass-sided Germination Box, with Seedlings of Cress and Wheat. 



(b) Make a similar box, but fix the glass side so that it slopes down- 

 wards and inwards (Fig. 13). Fill the boxes with moist sawdust and 

 place the seeds close to the glass. 



43. Early Stages of Germination. How do the young 

 root and the young shoot emerge from the seed-coat ? Which 

 is the first to appear on the outside ? Notice the V-shaped 

 split in the coat along the edge of the root-pocket, caused by 

 the root swelling up and raising the outer wall of the pocket 

 as a triangular flap (does the apex of the triangle reach as far 



