THE BRITISH OAK. 35 
tions in most botanical works will assist a beginner to 
understand the various parts of the fruit. 
Acorns intended for planting should be left out of 
doors during the winter. If they have been kept 
indoors they should be soaked for several days in 
water. A large flower-pot nearly full of earth having 
been prepared, six or eight acorns may be arranged on 
the earth and a little loose earth sprinkled over them. 
If this is done in March or April, healthy little plants 
will be developed by July. The familiar acorn-glass 
affords a pleasant way in which the growth of the root 
and its fibres can be watched. 
The two divisions of the inner part of an acorn 
are the cotyledons, which contain reserve materials 
for the maintenance of the young plant. When 
they absorb water the pericarp (or outer skin) 
bursts at the pointed end, and the radicle pushes 
its way out, bends downwards, and penetrates verti- 
cally into the ground, becomes the root, and sends 
out on all sides root-fibres which pick up nourishment 
from the soil. Meanwhile the plumule has appeared 
from the same opening; rising slowly and pointing 
upwards, it becomes the stem of the future tree. It 
grows from the part known as the hypocotyl, and 
elongates into a slender stem upon which at first scale- 
leaves appear. When it has attained about three inches 
delicate-lobed foliage-leaves unfold. For some time the 
plumule and the radicle draw their nourishment from 
the cotyledons, which rapidly dissolve in’ order to 
supply the demand. When wholly exhausted the coty- 
ledons disintegrate and fall away from the hypocotyl. 
At the end of the first year the primary root will 
have attained a length of about fifteen inches, and the 
young stem be about six inches high. 
If it is desired to keep the little trees, they should 
be removed from the pot and each replanted in a 
separate pot or put in open ground. A most interest- 
ing study may be enjoyed if one or two acorns each of 
Q. pedunculata, Q. sessiliflora, Q. cerris, and @. Ilex be 
