SEEDS , 27 



Each kind of seed has a habit of germination peculiar to itself. 

 To discover these individual ways of plants is to become person- 

 ally acquainted with the plants, which can not fail to beget not 

 only au interest but even a love for these earnest members of 

 Nature's community. This interest and love will not cease with 

 the lessons in the school, but will be a source of wholesome 

 pleasure at every recurring spring time thruout life. 



The embryo plant well out of the seedling state, leading now 

 an independent existence, presents us with other lessons inexhaus- 

 tible for our school work. Some of these we shall select to form a 

 part of this course to be treatea subsequently. 



Most of these lessons will be taken from the adult plants as 

 we shall find them in gardens, woods and fields. There are some 

 important matters which may be noted as the young seedlings 

 are growing in the boxes, etc. 



Each plant on leaving the seed, each in its own way, imme- 

 diately begins to establish its stem with its peculiar system of 

 branches, and its root and root system. As has been pointed out, 

 the former is to explore the air for carbonic acid and sunlight, 

 and the latter to explore the ground for water and certain sub- 

 stances dissolved in the water. 



Each plant arranges its stems with its branches and the 

 leaves on them, in such a way as to present its leaves to the sun- 

 light and air to very good advantage and with little interference 

 with each other. The ways in which the many forms of plants 

 have worked this out are very numerous and are represented in 

 the varied habits of plants which we know as characteristic of 

 them. This subject we shall take up in later lessons. 



The root systems of the plants are as important and as well 

 planned as the stem systems. However, less is known about them 

 since they are hidden and hard to j^t t at. Still the early stages of 

 the formation of the root system can be observed in the growth of 

 the seeds between the glass plates and in the jar of water. 



Growing plants of various kinds may hz carefully dug up' 



