HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 11 



all around the world. How long seeds will live is uncertain. The stories of seeds 

 growing which have been preserved for two or more thousand years with Egyptian 

 mummies, are not to be believed. But it is well known that Sensitive Plants have 

 been raised from seeds over sixty years old. Few kinds of seeds will grow after 

 keeping them for five or six years ; many refuse to grow after the second year ; 

 and some will not grow at all unless allowed to fall at once to the ground. There 

 is no way of telling whether the germ of a seed is alive or not, except by tiying 

 whether it will grow, that is, will germinate. 



26. Germination and Early Growtll. Germination is the sprouting of a plant from 

 the seed. Ilaving just illustrated the parts of a plant by the Morning-Glory, from 

 the root up to the seed and the embryo in the seed, we may take this same plant 

 as an example to show how a plant grows from the seed. If we plant some of the 

 seeds in a flower-pot, covering them lightly with soil, water them, and give them 

 warmth, or if in spring we watch those which sowed themselves naturally in the 

 garden the year before, and are now moistened by showers and warmed by sun- 

 shine, we shall soon see how they grow. And what we learn from this one kind 

 of plant will be true of all ordinary plants, but with some differences in the circum- 

 stances, accoi'ding to the kind. 



27. The seed first imbibes some moisture through its coats, swells a little, and, 

 as it feels the warmth, the embryo gradually wakes from its long and deep sleep, 

 and stretclies itself, as it were. That is, the tiny stem of the embryo lengthens, 

 and its end bursts through the coats of the seed ; at the same time, the two leaves 

 it bears grow larger, straighten themselves, and so throw off the seed-coats as a 

 loose husk ; this allows the seed-leaves to spread out, as leaves naturally do, and 

 so the seedling plantlet stands revealed. Observe the whole for yourselves, if pos- 

 sible, and compare with these figures. Fig. 19 is repeated from p. 9, and repre- 

 sents the embryo taken out of the seed, straightened, enlarged, and the two leaves 

 a little opened. Fig. 16 and 17 show how the embryo lies snugly packed away in 

 the seed. Fig. 20 shows it coming up, the seed-leaves above just throv/ing off the 

 coats or husk of the seed. Fig. 21 is the same, a little later and larger, with the 

 seed-leaves spread out in the air above, and a root well formed beneath. And Fig. 

 22 is the same a little later still. 



28. At the very beginning of its growth, the end of the little stem which first 

 comes out of the seed turns downward and points into the earth. From it the root 

 is formed, which continues downwards, branching as it grows, and burying itself 



