CHAPTER FOUR 
HOW PLANTS GROW 
The wonder of growth! There is more mystery in the 
way one bean vine climbs its pole than in all the detective 
stories ever printed. 
NeEvIN WoopDsDE 
WITHIN a seed is a little plantlet. When the seed 
germinates, this tiny plant breaks out of its case, sends 
its root down into the earth, and pushes its stem and 
leaves up to the air. Day by day it becomes larger, its 
stem gets longer and thicker, new leaves appear, and 
finally flowers and fruits are produced. 
Or a bud on the tuber of a plant like the Irish potato 
or Jerusalem artichoke, or on the root of a sweet potato 
may produce a new plant. At first the bud is very 
small, but it increases in size until a full-grown plant 
is formed. 
What happens inside a plant when it grows? How 
Fic. 28. ‘Tall oaks from little acorns grow.’’ Other plants also have small 
beginnings, all our garden plants coming from either tiny plantlets in seeds or 
.from buds on stems and roots. The illustration shows early stages in the growth 
of the pea, Irish potato, and sweet potato. 
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