The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-06-10

selves otherwise than by menas of sex
ual organs. There are in fact as we
shall see upon careful examina ton, a
somewhat large number of cryptogamic
"a 1owerless) and phaneogamic Tor
howering) plants which have in the
course of time either entirely lost their
sexual organs or have let them become
functionless, but which, nevertheless
multiply and reproduce themselves, and
on the other hand the development of
sexual organs depends upon favorable
conditions raraly met with, while vege-
tative propagation occurs abundantly.
The seed while developing itself, the
membranes which surround it store
themselves with albumen or starchy
matters to be used by the embryo dur
ing the process of termination. The
seed is protected by several external
envelopes, called the tesla. a small eye
or scar Chilum) upon the side of the
seed indicates when the umbilical chord
GumcuIus) proceeding from the parti-
ton of the ovary (placenta) was at
tached to the seed. In the conifera Tor
cone bearing plants and cycadaceae Tor
palms,, however, neither the seed nor
the ovule is ever invested with any
covering.
1t would be useless for me to attempt
to treat of all the varieties of seeds, for
they are too numerous, suffice it to say
that we have them in every imaginable
form from the littleSt grass seed to the
| cocoanut, which is about as great a
contrast as one could imagine. Ma
ture has provided every means possible
for the protection and distribution of
seeds. Some are enclosed in a coat
that is very bitter and disagreeable to
the taste of animals, and this seems to
have been a provision for their protec-
ton; examples Of these are the walnut
and the lemon, etc. On the other hand
some have their outer covering devel-
oped into a fieshy pulp that is very
agreeable to the taste, and are eaten
and thus the SeadS are conveyed from
on place to another, and are in this way
distributed very widely. This class is
found in the fruits and berries
In studying the plants and their re-
production it is hard for one to draw
the line of demarcation. We have seen
that the ferns are reproduced by means
Iof spores, but when we consider the
highest forms of spores those which
contain one or more distinct coverings
and remain in state of quiescence
for period before terminating it is
hard TO draw the distinction line be-
tween these and some forms of the true
seed, but we see that there is a. re-
semblance and that they shade imper
ceptibly into one another.
Seeds are very small things COMPARE
lively speaking, and are often passed
over in the study of plant life, as if
they were of little Importance. But
when studied thoroughly they prove to
be very interesting, and though seem
! ingly small and insignificant, they are
very complex in their structure, and of
very great worth. Indeed the study of
what has seemd of little worth has Of
ten proved the most interesting and the
most instructive. We must remember
| that it is due to the little seeds that
we owe the existence of our great for
ests, our grain fields, and meadows.
Therefore, though mere trifies they
may seem, they are worth careful study
and consideration.
J. w. HOPES.