106 
FIRST BOOK 
stem, and root. The food on which it will live 
at first is there, stored up in the two thick, fleshy 
seed-leaves. 
4. As the bean is large, we can see the parts 
plainly; but many other seeds are formed on this 
plan, some of them, like the 
tobacco seeds, being very small. 
5. Some seeds, however, have 
only one seed-leaf. If we soak a 
grain of corn to soften it, and 
then cut it into halves, we find 
the baby plant lying in the mealy 
part of the corn. This meal^ 
which we use so much for our 
own food, is stored in the corn 
for the baby plant to feed upon. 
6. With a knife we may take 
out the young plant, and find in 
it the tiny bud and root, but 
only one seed-leaf This seed- 
leaf is not thick and fleshy like 
those of the bean, for it does not hold the food. 
In the corn seed the food is not laid up in any 
part of the baby plant, but is placed around it, 
filling up the grain. 
7. We find, then, that some seeds have two 
seed-leaves, while others have only one. So we 
sort the flowering plants into two great classes, 
The Young Bean Plant, 
with its two seed-leaves. 
