HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 
11 
all around the world. How long seeds will live is uncertain. The stories of seeds 
growing which have been preserved for two or more thousand years with Egyptian 
mummies, are not to he believed. But it is well known that Sensitive Plants have 
been raised from seeds over sixty years old. Few kinds of seeds will grow after 
keeping them for five or six years ; many refuse to grow after the second year; 
and some will not grow at all unless allowed to fall at once to the ground. There 
is no way of telling whether the germ of a seed is alive or not, except by trying 
whether it will grow, that is, will germinate . 
26. Germination and Early Growth. Germination is the sprouting of a plant from 
the seed. Having just illustrated the parts of a plant by the Morning-Glory, from 
the root up to the seed and the embryo in the seed, we may take this same plant 
as an example to show how a plant grows from the seed. If we plant some of the 
seeds in a fiower-pot, covering them lightly with soil, water them, and give them 
warmth, or if in spring we watch those which sowed themselves naturally in the 
garden the year before, and are now moistened by showers and warmed by sun¬ 
shine, we shall soon see how they grow. And what we learn from this one kind 
of plant will be true of all ordinary plants, but with some differences in the circum¬ 
stances, according to the kind. 
27. The seed first imbibes some moisture through its coats, swells a little, and, 
as it feels the warmth, the embryo gradually wakes from its long and deep sleep, 
and stretches itself, as it were. That is, the tiny stem of the embryo lengthens, 
and its end bursts through the coats of the seed; at the same time, the two leaves 
it bears grow larger, straighten themselves, and so throw off the seed-coats as a 
loose husk; this allows the seed-leaves to spread out, as leaves naturally do, and 
so the seedling plantlet stands revealed. Observe the whole for yourselves, if pos¬ 
sible, and compare with these figures. Fig. 19 is repeated from p. 9, and repre¬ 
sents the embryo taken out of the seed, straightened, enlarged, and the two leaves 
a little opened. Fig. 16 and 17 show how the embryo lies snugly packed away in 
the seed. Fig. 20 shows it coming up, the seed-leaves above just throwing off the 
coats or husk of the seed. Fig. 21 is the same, a little later and larger, with the 
seed-leaves spread out in the air above, and a root well formed beneath. And Fig. 
22 is the same a little later still. 
28. At the very beginning of its growth, the end of the little stem which first 
comes out of the seed turns downward and points into the earth. From it the root 
is formed, which continues downwards, branching as it grows, and burying itself 
