SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS. 
63 
softens and swells, so that the double skin which 
covers it can be easily removed. 
4. Then we see that the bean is chiefly made up of 
two white fleshy portions, filling nearly all the space 
within the skin. Put a pin between them to force 
them apart, and then you see a little white body, 
fixed to both of them, and hinging them together, 
Bean, with outer skin 
removed. 
Bean, split in two halves, showing 
radicle , r 
which is really the bud, stem, and root of a baby 
plant. 
5 . The upper part of it, curving inwards to the 
fleshy halves of the bean, is the bud, and in it you 
may even see the tiny leaves; the lower part is 
called the radicle, and from it grow the roots. 
We find, then, that a seed is a living thing, in 
which rest the beginnings of root, stem, and leaves; 
it is, we may say, a baby plant slumbering in its 
cradle. 
6. But what are the two thick, white portions be- 
tween which the bud lies nestled? They are the 
first leaves of the young plant — “ nursing-leaves ” 
we may call them, for they hold a store of food for 
