74 
THE GARDEN OF THE WORLD 
What is a seed? 
see that the seed is given a good start in life. 
First of all, the seed has a hard outside coat. 
This is strong enough to protect it from heat, 
frost, dryness, or too much moisture. Secondly, 
it has a supply of food which the seed uses when 
it begins to sprout. It takes quite a while for 
the baby plant to push through the earth to the 
light. As soon as it reaches the light and gets 
some green color in the stems and leaves, it can 
make its own food. Before then, it must use 
that which was stored in the seed. 
Every seed has two inside parts, the food 
supply, and the baby plant, which is called the 
embryo (pronounced em'bri-o). In many 
seeds the embryo is too small to be seen with¬ 
out a microscope, but in others it can be seen 
very clearly. If a peanut is split into its two 
halves the little embryo can clearly be seen up 
in one corner. Looking closely, a little stem 
and the beginning of leaves can be seen. The 
two halves are the storage places for food. 
There are two kinds of seeds: those whose 
storage rooms are split in two, like peanuts, 
