120 
MANUAL OF NATURE) STUDY. 
SIXTH GRADE. 
A .— Plant Life. 
1. Provision of nature for matured seeds. 
(a.) Nature provides a store of nourishment for 
each seed so as to give the new plant a start in 
life. 
The seed-leaves, or cotyledons, as in bean, pear, 
pumpkin, etc., are packed with food, which occu¬ 
pies the entire space inside the coats of the seeds. 
Examine these seeds after they have been soaked 
in luke-warm water over night. 
The cotyledons will easily separate, revealing 
the plumule and radicle. The cotyledons, plumule 
and radicle are together called the embryo. All 
the food there is in such seeds as those just men¬ 
tioned is crowded into the embryo. Let the pupils 
mention as many seeds as they can think of that 
have the food stored in the embryo. Next, let the 
children observe other seeds—corn, for example, 
after they have been soaked sufficiently long to be¬ 
gin to germinate. The children will notice that 
the food is around the embryo, like the albumen 
of the egg around the yolk. Hence the name al¬ 
buminous* seeds, that is, seeds whose embryo is sur¬ 
rounded by food supply. The bean, pea, com, 
*The word endosperm would be a more scientific term. 
