CHAPTER XXVI 
LIFE STORY OF THE OAK 
The oak. In the autumn, when the leaves begin 
to fall, the acorns fall, too, from the oaks. They nestle 
in the grass or roll down into the furrow or ditch, 
or strike on the leaf floor of the forest, according to 
i the tree happens to be. ‘The rains beat on 
the soil, and some of the 


HR acorns become partly buried 
y fa, VY wr e “ 
| Lies ye ais in the ground. Some are 
Ka Vf LAr eaten by insects, others are 
ss Rye Hf AY sn ys ‘ 7 . 
X Gey ge i ae d by ] 
SONNE LAE 2 carried away by squirrels 
RA if} r ; 
any : and other animals. Some 
aus a Boi iy fe <i 
a = = Te _.,,. are left to grow. 
= : | As we have seen in our 
study of the germination of 
the acorn, the root and stem 
parts of the embryo back out of the shell at the pointed 
end. The great fleshy cotyledons remain inside. The 
root pushes its way further down into the ground. 
The young stem grows out from between the cotyledon 
stalks. This often begins in the autumn. It continues 
in the spring among those seedlings which survive the 
194 
FIG. 233. Oak in autumn. 
