CHAPTER I. THE SEED 
I, THE STORAGE OF FOOD IN SEEDS 
Marerrau. — In addition to the four food tests described in Exps. 
1-6, there should be provided some raw starch, a solution of grape 
sugar, the white of a hard-boiled egg, and any fatty substance, such 
as lard or oil. For Exps. 8 and 9, a little diastase solution will be nec- 
essary. ‘Taka’ diastase, made from rice acted upon by a fungus, can 
be obtained for a trifle at almost any drug store. 
LIVING MATERIAL. — Grains of corn and wheat, and seeds of some 
kind of bean, the larger the better. The ‘horse bean” (Vicia faba), if 
it can be obtained, makes an excellent object for study, as the cells are 
so large that they can be seen with the naked eye. For showing the 
presence of proteins (aleurone grains) and oily matter, use thin cross sec- 
tions through the kernel of a castor bean or a Brazil nut. Specimens 
for the study of the individual cell will be found in the hairs growing on 
squash seedlings, in the epidermis of one of the inner coats of an onion, in 
the roots of oat or radish seedlings, or in the section of a young corn root. 
A compound microscope will be required for this study. 
1. The economic importance of seeds.— As a source of 
food to both man and the lower animals, the importance of 
seeds can hardly be overrated. All the flour, meal, rice, 
hominy, and other breadstuffs sold in the market come from 
them, to say nothing of the fleece from the cotton seed that 
clothes the greater part of the world, besides furnishing a 
substitute for lard and an important food for cattle. The 
oils and fats stored in nuts are also to be taken into account, 
the peanut alone yielding the greater part of the so-called 
olive oil of commerce. Since the value of our farm crops 
depends largely upon the kind and quantity of these sub- 
stances furnished by them, it is worth our while, as a matter 
of economic as well as scientific interest, to learn something 
about the nature of the different foods contained in plants. 
sk 
