The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-23
Growth of the Seed |.

| With the growth of the seed into a | plant the soil has really very little to do. 1 1t Is little more than retainer or mns. ture and a medium to absorb heat ana maintain an equable temperature. The germ probably takes nothing from 1t at | first, and does not need the strong 1000 of its soluble clements until it begins 10 | build up its plant fibre independent or l the structure of the sustaining seed. Tho period at which it begins to reach out | for food in the clements of the soil ca
 pable of assimilation probably varies in different plants.
 The infant plant can no more extract noarishment from the ground and digest
 1t than a human infant could subsist up-
 on garden vegetables and fruits. Its
 proper nourishment is found in the seed itself Packed away within it is a auan- | tity of milky or jellylike consistency known as vegetable adbumen. It could | not last very long in this condition, since | active fermentation would quickly set in
 which would destroy its value for food
 purposes. During the period of rest be- | tween the maturity of the seed and It's l development into new plant this aibu- men dries up and remains in this con 1 dition until again reduced to the jelly l or milky consistency by the absorption | of water. This albumen is the food re- | serve of the embyro plant, and out Of II the germ is formed during the period Lfncluded tn the growth of the mother riant. It Is not always stored around the | embyro but Is sometimes a part of II
 and frequently resides in what are known | as the seed leaves, in which case the seed consists of nothing but the em-
 byro wrapped in its encas ement of pro- l tecting shields.
 When the seed is pla nted under condi- | tons favoring its growth 1t begins to ab-
 so b water and to soften and swell. By 1 the water thus absorbed the afbumen, In | whatever form drying may have left It.. | Is resolved into the form needed as food
 for the germ. Coincldently with its soft | ening or hquifactton, as the case may | be, there is a chemical change by which
 the starch Is converted into sugar. as IS done artificially in the process or malting | grain. The infant plant, like the human | infant, needs its food sweetened little | to make 1t nutritious and palatable.
 One may think of a seed as If it were | a basket in which a mother, under the
 necessity of abandoning her offspring, had | laid it snugly to sleep. wrapped in warm | blankets, and with a full bottle of milk l 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.
 and does not need to depend upon formal | dehyde to preserve the food of her in- | fants from turning sour.
 First Sprout Downwafds.
 It is an interesting fact that however | a seed may be planted. it's first sprout l points downward. This is contrary to the I | tirm 1t as a truth which admits of no | exceptions. This down. tending sprout Is | the rudimentary root. and it keeps on
 going down. spreading. bifurcating. di- | verging. until 1t finds what 1t appears to | be looking for. Evidently the branching | of the roots of plant is not accidental | The fact that no two roots were ever ex- | dctly alike merely means that no two | roots ever had exactly the same function 1 to perform In exactly the same way | It Is equally true that. however the seed may lie. the sprout which is to form the | beginnings of its stem always points up- | ward even though it has to describe a curve to reach this direction. Like the | root. this has its food-quest to attend | to, and it pursues it toward the upper | air where it will find the carbon in the | form of carhonic acid out of which to | build it's woody fibre, and the light rays | from which to segregate. those clements representing actinic forces. by which | much of the subtle alchemy of plant life | Is performed. It breaks through the | ground very gently. but with a power
 which is often surprising. At this stage | 1t bears to the plant the same relation which the newborn infant bears to the | man. Physically, 1t is a complete plant, | with stem. root and rudimentary leaves | which quickly become real leaves and | begin to do their work. as a babys lungs | do their work in breathing.
 l It is now started on it's career, and
 barring such accidents as result from the