O FIKST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



2. But now the French bean also has cracked the 

 earth, and is coming up in a green loop (See 

 fig 4). In a day or two the loop has risen clear 

 of the earth; but the outer coat of the bean is 

 still clinging to the loop. A few days more, and the 

 loop has straightened itself into a stem bearing two 

 fleshy green leaves, that do not look like proper 

 leaves. Next time we pass, two little green leaves 

 that look like true leaves have risen from between the 

 two fleshy leaves ; and now the plant is fairly started 

 in life. 



3. By what magic did these dead-looking seeds, 

 that had been forgotten for four years,* spring 

 into beautiful green plants ? The outsides of the 

 seeds give no answer to the puzzle. Shall we look 

 inside ? 



4. What we saw inside a French Bean : the 

 Plantlet. Soak some French beans for twenty-four 



hours. Examine a bean after it has 

 been a few hours in the water, and 

 you will find that the skin has 

 puckered up into wrinkles, as if the 

 bean's clothes were too big for it. 

 The skin has swollen faster than the 



Fig I 



_, , ^ ^ seed that lies inside it. A few hours 



French bean seed 



^^'''pFa^ntiet^^"'' ^^^^^' ^^^ Water reaches the seed 

 within the skin, and the seed swells 

 out and fills the skin so that it is smooth again. 



5. And now use finger and nail gently and spht 

 open the bean. The seed-coat peels off, and the halves 



' The best seed-wheat is the wheat of the previous year. Each year 

 added to the age makes the germination more uncertain. The stories of 

 the germination of wheat found in Egyptian mammies are not true. 



