* 



PART I 



STRUCTURE, FUNCTIONS, AND CLASSIFI- 

 CATION OF PLANTS 



CHAPTER I 



THE SEED AND ITS GERMINATION 



1. Germination of the Squash Seed. Soak some squash seeds in 

 tepid water for twelve hours or more. Plant these about an inch 

 deep in damp sand or pine sawdust or peat-moss in a wooden box 

 which has had holes enough bored through the bottom so that it will 

 not hold water. Put the box in a warm place (not at any time over 

 70 or 80 Fahrenheit), 1 and cover it loosely with a board or a pane 

 of glass. Keep the sand or sawdust moist, but not wet, and the 

 seeds will germinate. As soon as any of the seeds, on being dug up, 

 are found to have burst open, sketch one in this condition, 2 noting 

 the manner in which the outer seed-coat is split, and continue to 

 examine the seedlings at intervals of two days, until at least eight 

 stages in the growth of the plantlet have been noted. 3 



1 Here and elsewhere throughout the book temperatures are expressed in 

 Fahrenheit degrees, since with us, unfortunately, the Centigrade scale is not 

 the familiar one, outside of physical and chemical laboratories. 



2 The student need not feel that he is expected to make finished drawings 

 to record what he sees, but some kind of careful sketch, if only the merest 

 outline, is indispensable. Practice and study of the illustrations hereafter 

 given will soon impart some facility even to those who have had little or no 

 instruction in drawing. Consult here Figs. 9 and 89. 



3 The class is not to wait for the completion of this work (which may, if 

 desirable, be done by each pupil at home), but is to proceed at once with the 

 examination of the squash seed and of other seeds, as directed in the follow- 

 ing sections, and to set some beans, peas, and corn to sprouting, so that they 

 may be studied at the same time with the germinating squashes. 



5 



