The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-10-09
HOW THE BEAN GROWS.

-saTHH Il. howard, IN Our Little Men ana
Women.
HOW THE BEAN GROWS.
Provisions Of the Mother Plant for Her
Lite Ones.
How many boys and girls who are
fond Of that good old New England dish
called 'succotash" can tell how the
young bean or corn plant grows? How
many have looked for the baby bean in
the seed? | would like to tel you how
to find it, and how to watch it's growth
from tiny. helpless infant to lusty
three-wceks-old plant
Get y handful OF beans and corn kcr-
nels, such as can be found at the florists.
also fcw peas, and let them soak in
glass Of water for several hours. The
tough outer covering or ''>eed-coat" o.
the bean will become wrinkled, and
will split in several places Remove
the coat, and you will find at one end
what looks like a little stem bent down
upon the seed. Open carefully the
halves Of the bean at the other end, and
you will discover the baby bean tucked
away between two warm. thick blankets.
These blankets are really leaves-very
curious leaves, you will think: SO thick
and round: and. indeed. they do not
look much like an ordinary leaf. When
the young bean starts in life it Is as
helpless as q human baby, and can not
obtain food for itself until it has grown
. few roots: SO the mother bean OF last
summer thonghtfully provided a rich
store OF food for the babies in tho seeds
until they should be old enough to draw
their own nourishment from tho soil.
This food the mother plant stored away
in the seed-leaves. and that is why they
are SO much thicker than ordinary
leaves. Long ago some clever man found
out that they are food for MS rs we'll, and
the next time you have beans or peas
for dinner you will like to remember
that you are eating. not only the food
provided for the Eaby bean, but the baby
bean itself!
Perhaps you do not know that the
rich. oily meats OF the butternut and
walnut are seed leaves SO altered as to
bear little or NJ resemblance to the
ordinary butternut or walnut leaf. But
ii you will plant butternut some fall,
and the mex, spring dig it up, you will
discover marvellous change-the kernel
will have become green and leaf-like,
and you will no longer think of eat
ing it.
Having found the young bean and pea
in the seed. plant the other seeds in
earth or sand in shallow pots, taking
care to water them q little each day.
In the course Of few days. if you are
curious, you will dig up seed or two to
Sc. what has happened. You will find
the little stem has grown stoutcr and
longer, and the lower end roots will
soon appear. while the seed-leayes
have opened little, allowing the
young bean within to grow up-
ward. The little stem may be likened
10 foot which tho seed pushes down
into the ground. and the young plant to
an arm which it thrusts upward into the
light and air. II you have planted
seed the wrong end uppermost You will
10 amused to see how the stem has
twisted and turned to get underneath.
the one is destined TO- the bright,
warm sunshine; the othc. for the dark,
moist earth; each knows its mission,
and each may be trusted to find its
rightful place.
At the end OF another week let us
look again at our little friends. No
longer hiding out Of sight, they have
boldly pushed their way into the upper
world, the bean bringing up its seed
leaves, somewhat battered and brown.
TO be sure, but still clinging to the
young plant, which, no longer help
loss baby, has grown several inches be-
ycnd them; little roots have appeared
at tho end Of the stem, and the work of
the seed-leaves being done, they will
soon fall away.
Bus you will look in vain above the
ground for the secd-leaycs of the pea.
Unlike the bean. the seed-leaves OF the
pea remain under ground, where
they soon decay. Tho seed-leaf of the
corn--for it has but 0ne-also remains
below, in tho kernel. At the end of
three weeks all should be vigorous
young plants, with their upper leaves
we'll formed.
Let us look for moment at these
leaves. Hold one of tho bean leaves up
10 the light. and you will see little
lines running through 1t. Now close
your hand and look at the back Of it.
The blue veins running under the skin
arc arranged lit,lo like the lines in
the leaf-which are also called veins.
The veins in our hands help to carr
tho blood TO different parts of our
bodies; while the veins Of the leaf car
ry sap through tho leaf. But If you hold
corn leaf up to the light you will
discover that all the lines in this leaf
run III tho same direction, like the rails
Of a street-car track; while the veins of
tho bean leaf run in many differ
ent directions. like the threads Of
net; SO we call the bean leaves net reined
and the corn leaves parallel refined
Now, hero is conundrum for you.
Remembering that the bean with its
firo secd-lca.es has net-yeined leaves,
and that the corn with its one seed-leaf
has parallcl-veined leaves, what kind OF
leaves ought the pea to hayeo The
boy or girl who can answer this question
correctly, before looking at tho pea
loaycs. is on tho road TO the discovery
Of IN itnportan. secrct--one OF Natures
great laws-a secret which shall not tell
you, but leave you to discover for your
selves. Easter Ives. in Christian Union.
CURIOUS SHOES.
The Many Uscs to Which the FIoilan,lers
Tut 7 heir EOOt-liaar.