The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-05-14

known as vegetable albumen. 1t could
not last very long in this condition,
since active fermentation would quick
ly set in which would destroy its value
for food purposes. During the period
oferest between the maturity Of the
seed and its development into new
plant this albumen dries up and re-
mains in this condition until again re-
duced to the jelly or milky consisten-
cy by the absorption Of wate.. This
albumen is the food reserve Of the en-
bryo plant, and out Of it the germ is
formed during the period included in
the growth of the mother plant. tits
not always stored around the embryo,
but is sometimes part Of it and fre-
quently resides in what are known as
the seed leaves, in which case the seed
consists of nothing but the embryo
wrapped in its cncasemcnt of protect
ing shields.
When the seed is planted under
conditions favoring it's growth it be-
gins to absorb water and to soften and
swell. BY the water thus absorbed.
the albumen, in whatever form drying
may have left it, is resolved into the
form needed as food for the germ. Co.
incidently with its softcning or liquc-
faction, as the case may be, there is a
chemical change by which the starch
is converted into sugar, as is done ar
tifcially in the process of mailing
grain. The infant plant. like the hu-
man infant, needs its food swcetened
little to make it nutritious and palata-
BILE.
One may think Of seed as if it
we're n basket in which a mother, un-
der the necessity of abandoning her
offspring, had laid it snugly to sleep,
wrapped in warm blankets, and
with full bottle of milk beside
it from which to meet its needs on
awakening. The chief difference be-
tween Dame Nature and the human
mother is that the former does
things very much better and more
thoroughly, aud does not need to de-
pend upon formaldehydc to preserve
the food Of her infants from turning
sour.
FIRST SPROUT DOWNwARDs.
is an interesting fact, however
that seed may be planted, its first
sprout points downward. This is con.
trary to the general impression, but
the botanists affirm it as truth which
admits of no exceptions. This down
tending sprout is the rudimentary
root, and it keeps on going down,
spreading, bifuroating, diverging, un.
til it finds what it appears to be look
;cg for. Evidently the branching of
the roots of plant is not accidental.
The fact that no two roots were ever
exactly alike merely means that no
two roots ever had exactly the same
function to perform in exactly the same
way.
II is equally true that, however the
seed may lie, the sprout which is to
form the beginnings of it's stem always
points upward, even though it has to
describe curve to reach this direc.
tion. Like the root, this has its food
quest to attend to, and it pursues it
toward the upper cir, where twill
find the carbon in the form of carbon
ic acid out of which to build its woody
fibre, and the light rays from which to
segregatc those elements representing
actinic forces, by which much of the
subtle alchemy of plant life is per-
formed. 1t breaks through the
ground very gently, but with a power
which is often surprising. At this
stage it bears to the plant the same re-
lation which the new born infant bears
to the man. Physically, it is a com
pletc plant, with stem, root and ru-
dimcntary leaves, which quickly be-
come real leaves and begin to do their
work, as baby lungs do their work
in breathing.
1t is now started on its career, and
barring such accidents as result from
the appetite of beasts, birds and
creeping things, is able to take care of
itself. 1t devotcs itself to the practi-
cal business Of growing both ways, as
boy appears to do when his panta-
looms refuse to,meet his shoe tops and
his sleeves terminate somewhere be-
tween his elbows and wrists. The
roots push dow ard, multiplying
rootlets, each of which increases the
channels. 'os absorption. What they