vi , INTRODUCTORY LESSONS. 
your first lessons from plants which have larger beginnings. You should 
first study— 
2. The Plant in the seed. Get many kinds of large seeds, such as 
peas, beans, squash-seeds, buckeyes, castor beans, corn, etc. Put them 
in water that they may become soft enough to be readily separated into 
their parts. In a day or two starchy seeds, such as peas or beans, will be 
in good condition. 
3. First take a bean and make drawings showing the outlines as seen 
sidewise and edgewise. Any marks that seem to be found on all beans 
must be put down in the drawing, but do not bother about the shading. 
These attempts to represent what you see will lead to the discovery of 
certain marks on the concave edge of the bean, the meaning of which 
you may sometime learn by studying the growth of the seed in the pod. 
After you have thus studied the outside of the seed, slit it along the back 
with a sharp knife and take out the kernel. It readily splits into halves 
which are held together near one end by a short stem. Upon breaking 
them apart the stem sticks to one half, and you discover growing from the 
inner end a pair of tiny embracing-leaves. Make another drawing and 
compare it with Fig. 7. Presently it will be “a 
clear to you that this entire kernel is a littlo (| 
plant. The plant in this dry apparently lifeless | 
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SSS 
first stage of its existence is called— 
4, The Embryo, or Germ, This, as you have i 
seen, is made up of the stem, or Radicle; the ; 
thick parts called Cotyledons, and the two-leaved 1 8 ; 
bud, or Plumule. The embryo of a pea is sim- Gane kines wee = 
ilar to that of a bean, but the plumule is more Gfond cotyleion with the sadicle 
of one cotyledon with the radicle 
decidedly a bud. Fig. 8 represents the straight $44 Plumes outer side of the 
same. 
embryo of a peanut. The radicle is not bent around against the cotyle- 
dons as in the pea and bean, and the plumule shows two divided leaflets. 
The cotyledons of the squash are thin and the plumule is scarcely visible. 
Lupine, though its seeds resemble beans, has a long radicle and a minute 
plumule. The buckeye seems to have a long radicle, but since it splits 
nearly to its point, where you will find a large plumule, it is evident that 
the apparent radicle is mostly made up of the cotyledon stems (petioles). 
