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GROWTH OF PLANTS. 



THE reader who has paid any attention to the pre- 

 ceding details, will be prepared to follow the progress 

 displayed by the seed, from the time it leaves the 

 parent plant till it becomes a plant every way similar ; 

 and may thus become acquainted with the whole his- 

 tory of vegetation from the commencement of germi- 

 nation till the decay and extinction of organic life. 

 As it is requisite for a seed to be placed in an appro- 

 priate soil and situation before it can germinate, I 

 shall first notice the various ways in which seeds are 

 diffused. 



RIPENING AND DIFFUSION OF SEEDS. 



WHEN fecundation has taken place, the nascent 

 seed becomes a peculiar centre of life, and attracts 

 towards it a supply of pulp, and the seed vessel be- 

 comes enlarged, acting, so long as it continues green, 

 precisely like a leaf. The nascent seeds which have 

 not been fecundated shrivel up and die; and it is 

 remarkable that in the oak and the horse chestnut, 

 though there are six nascent seeds, only one of these 

 is evolved and ripens. In some species, as the culti- 

 vated pine apple and the bread-fruit tree, though the 

 nascent seeds are not fecundated, the seed-organ be- 

 comes abundantly evolved, and thereby much improved 

 for the table. 



