Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-09-25
THE BABY BEAN.
Provisions of the Mother Plant for Her
Little Ones.

INV many bOlS anu girls WIZ 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 tell you how
TO find it, and how to watch its growth
from tiny, helpless infant to lusty
three-weeks-old plant
Get handful of beans and corn kerr
nels, such as can be found at the florists
also few peas, and let them soak in a
glass of water for several hours. The
tough outer covering or ''seed-coat' of
the bean will become wrinkled, and
will split in several places. Remove
the coat and you will find at one end
what looks like 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 a human baby, and can not
obtain food for itself until it has grown
few roots; so the mother bean of last
summer thoughtfully provided rich
store of food for the babies in the seeds
until they should be old enough to draw
their own nourishment from the 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 as as 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 baby 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 no resemblance to the
ordinary butternut or walnut leaf But
if you will plant butternut some fall,
and the next 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 a little each day.
In the course of a few days, if you are
curious you will dig up seed or two to
see what has happened. You will find
the little stem has grown stouter and
longer, and the lower end roots will
soon appear, while the seed-leaves
have opened little, allowing the
young bean within to grow up
ward. eThe little stem may be likened
to foot which the seed pushes down
into the ground, and the young plant to
an arm which it thrusts upward into the
light and air If you have planted a
seed the wrong end uppermost you will
be amused b see how the stem has
twisted and turned to get underneath.
The one is destined for the bright,
warm sunshine; the other 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 a help
less baby, has grown several inches be-
You'd them; little roots have appeared
at the end Of the stem, and the work of
the seed-leaves being done, they will
soon fall away.
But you will look in vain above the
ground for the seed-leaves of the pea.
Unlike the bean, the seed-leaves of the
pea remain under ground, where
they soon decay. The seed-leaf of the
corn-for it has but oae-also remains
below, in the kernel. At the end of
three weeks all should be vigorous
young plants, with their upper leaves
well formed
Let us look for moment at these
leaves. Hold one of the bean leaves up
to the light, and you will see little
lines running through it. Now close
your hand and look at the back of it.
The blue veins running under the skin
are arranged little like the lines in
the leaf-which are also called veins
The veins in our hands help to carry
the blood to different parts of our
bodies; while the veins of the leaf car
~ sap through the leaf. But if you hold
corn leaf up to the light you will
discover that all the lines in this leaf
run in the same direction, like the rails
of a street-car track; while the veins of
the bean leaf run in many differ |
emit directions, like the threads of
net; so we call the bean leaves net refined, |
and the corn leaves parallel refined
Now here is a conundrum for you.
Remembering that the bean with its |
taeo seed-leaves has net-veined leaves, |
and that the corn with its one seed-leaf |
has parallel-veined leaves, what kind of |
leaves ought the pea TO have? The |
boy or girl who can answer this question !
correctly, before looking at the pea
leaves is on the road to the discovery |
OF an important secret-one Of Natures /
tlaEs-a secret which shall not tell !