SEEDLINGS AND SHOOTS 71 



Do you remember the maple keys we were go- 

 ing to plant? Let us examine one of them 

 closely. Two long seed-leaves are folded palms 

 together and coiled in the little seed pocket of 

 the key. "When carefully straightened out, 

 these leaves prove to be thick and strap-shaped, 

 as unlike as possible from real maple leaves. 

 They are joined by a tiny stem, and between 

 them is a little red bud, which contains the first 

 pair of true leaves for the little seedling. 



Let us put some of the keys in a box of damp 

 sand, or some place where we can get at them 

 easily to note their progress. They begin at 

 once to absorb moisture from the soil, and in a 

 few days, the seed coats crack along the edge ; 

 the little stems begin to lengthen, and presently 

 the strap-shaped leaves swell and stretch and 

 burst from their prison. How thick and tough 

 are these odd little pennants! But the tiny 

 leaves they shelter are delicate and fine enough 

 for any connoisseur. How fast they grow ! In 

 a few days they are fully developed, and with 

 the tiny roots which have grown apace, promise 

 soon to be able to glean their living "from hon- 

 est mold, and vagabond air." Soon there is a 

 second pair of leaves, and then a third ; the little 

 strap-shaped cotyledons are shriveled and with- 

 ered, and the next time we look for them noth- 



