The Story-Book of the Fields 



strong enough ; but would it be possible for 

 the cotyledon of the wheat, so poor and so 

 small, to act as nurse to the young plant ? 

 Certainly not : the wheat must have a store 

 of food, and this store is the perisperm, 

 which makes up almost the whole of the seed. 

 This same perisperm, the first food of the 

 first shoot of the wheat, is also the chief food 

 of man ; for under the millstone it becomes 

 flour, which is the substance of bread. But 

 how does the flour in the perisperm feed the 

 plant ? We may learn this from a simple 

 experiment. If we put some wheat in a 

 saucer and keep it slightly moist, in a short 

 time the seed will germinate. If we take a 

 seed as soon as the green point of the young 

 shoot appears, we shall find it quite soft. 

 It may now be crushed by the finger, and 

 will pour out a white liquid with a very sweet 

 taste, that might be taken for a kind of milk. 

 You may guess what has happened, from 

 what you have been told of the wonderful 

 change that may take place in starch. The 

 perisperm of the grain of wheat consists 

 chiefly of starch, and during the process of 

 germination this store of starch has been 

 converted into a sugary substance — glucose, 

 which produces the kind of vegetable milk 



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