APPLIED 

 ECONOMIC BOTANY 



CHAPTER I 

 SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 



THE seeds of a plant are such familiar objects that most of 

 us fail to appreciate their very great importance. Of course, 

 we know in a general way that a new plant may come from a 

 seed and that the seeds of this new plant will produce other 

 plants. We also know that the seeds of many plants are used 

 as food by man and beast. However, few people have any very 

 clear ideas of the structural or chemical characters which make 

 the seeds of some plants valuable for food while the seeds of 

 others are useless for this purpose. Neither do they have a 

 very clear conception of the parts of the seed which produce the 

 parts of the young plant and the conditions necessary for their 

 development. Let us examine and compare a few seeds and 

 try a few experiments with the seeds of different plants to 

 determine these points. 



Parts of a* Seed. The seed is a young plant and its food 

 supply. It is in a dormant or resting state and is waiting for 

 the necessary conditions before growing into the form generally 

 recognized as a living plant. The most important parts of a seed 

 are, (a) a miniature plant known as the embryo and which 

 under certain conditions will develop into a full-grown plant; 

 (&) an ample supply of exceptionally nutritious food for the 

 nourishment of the new plant or seedling until it becomes self- 

 supporting; and, (c) the necessary protective covering (Figs. 

 1, 2 and 3). 



The little plant within the seed is complete in itself. It pos- 



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