1 56 THE FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower ; but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is." 
We cannot learn all about this little flower, but we 
can learn enough to understand that it has a real sepa- 
rate life of its own, well worth knowing. For a plant 
is born, breathes, sleeps, feeds, and digests just as 
truly as an animal does, though in a different way. 
It works hard both for itself to get its food, and for 
others in making the air pure and fit for animals to 
breathe. It often lays by provision for the winter. 
It sends young plants out, as parents send their chil- 
dren, to fight for themselves in the world; and then, 
after living sometimes to a good old age, it dies, and 
leaves its place to others. 
We will try to follow out something of this life to- 
day; and first, we will begin with the seed. 
I have here a package of primrose-seeds, but they 
are so small that we cannot examine them ; so I have 
also had given to each one of you an almond-kernel, 
which is the seed of the almond-tree, and which has 
been soaked, so that it splits in half easily. From 
this we can learn about seeds in general, and then ap- 
ply it to the primrose. 
If you peel the two skins off your almond-seed (the 
thick; brown, outside skin, and the thin, transparent 
one under it), the two halves of the almond will slip 
apart quite easily. One of these halves will have a 
small dent at the pointed end, while in the other half 
you will see a little lump, which fitted into the dent 
when the two halves were joined. This little lump 
