PEOPAGATION BY SEEDS. Ill 



the parchment and silver skin are removed, and then we have 

 left the homy, folded albumen making up the bulk of the bean. 

 It is this albumen, roasted and ground, which supplies the cofEee 

 of household use. In the economy of plant life, the albumen is 

 intended for a very different purpose : it is a patrimony which the 

 young embryo is supposed to utilize and adapt for the purposes of 

 its growth and development. In fact, it is a supply of food spe- 

 cially and wisely adapted to promote its first impulses of life and 

 energy. When examined under the microscope, the albumen con- 

 sists of a number of cells, with walls more or less thick, forming 

 a storehouse of nourishment in the form of starchy compounds, 

 volatile oil, and other vegetable products. If in a fresh, mature 

 bean we cut rather obliquely toward its base, we shall come 

 upon a smaU cylindrical body, completely invested by the tissue 

 of the albumen. It is about one-third the length of the bean, and 

 looks like a small peg with a round head. This is the embryo of 

 the future plant, and apparently now consists of only two parts. 

 The narrow pointed part directed toward the base of the bean is 

 the radicle. This, in the process of germination, will develop into 

 the tap-root, while the roimd head, called by botanists the plu- 

 mule, will be found, on examination, to consist of two very minute 

 fleshy leaves — the cotyledonary or seed-leaves of the young plant. 

 Between these minute leaves is a process called the jmncbwm 

 vegetationis, or growing-point of the ascending axis, destined, in 

 process of time, to give rise to all the various structures of stem, 

 branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit. 



PEOPAGATIOH BT SEEDS. 



" For the raising of Liberian coffee from seeds the flrst requi- 

 site is a supply of well-ripened seeds, as fresh as possible. From 

 the description of the various structures contained in a coffee seed 

 it will be seen how delicate and sensitive these structures are. If 

 the albumen be injured by damp or fermentation, or if it be ex- 

 posed to the hardening and desiccating influences of a dry atmos- 

 phere, it wiU be rendered quite unfit as a food supply for the 

 young seedling, and it is owing to these circumstances that im- 

 ported seeds so often fail to produce healthy plants. In the case 

 of weU-ripened seeds, under favorable conditions, ninety-six to 



