New-York tribune., 1909-05-02

r-rs,1- wear when the earth feels the thrill Of
srring great many wonderful things happen most
OF which We never notice We see the flowers uh-
foId and the fields turn green and the trees cover
themselves with foliage but We don't think very
-,ucb hort how they do these things One Of the
strange things that usually never notice Is the
way ne seeds sprout It is very wonderful, when
We stoD 10 think about It. that these dead-locklnS
things should all Of sudden become so alive, and
the more we know about it the more wonderful it
seems.
Inside every seed. TO matter how small, a baby
rlant lies sleeping has tiny stem, with one or
two leaves and the beginning Of q root, which we
call The radicle Qttle roc). Rolled inside the single
leaf OF inclosed within the pair OF leaves is bud
which later on will develop into other leaves, and
sCrnetiues extra leaves already formed. Round
the plant IS packed supply Of food for 1t TO eat
when II wakes UP. and outside this are warm wrap
pings 70 protect from the damp and cold OF win
ter. Sometimes the little plant is large enough
so that We can take II out of the seed, and some
times the whole seed is the plant, with the food
stored inside the leaves Peas and beans belong to
this last class, and two halves the two leaves
The radicle IS curled around end and
easily be seen beneath the outside wrapping if the
seed is soaked in water for little while Il is this
little root that we sometimes see floating around
in soup.
The stem OF the sleeping plant is called the
caulicle Grom the Greek kaulCs. stem. and tEe
leaves that inclose the bud called cot-yIe-dons
cotyledon comes from a Greek word meaning a
cup shaped hollow. and probably given to the
seed leaves Of plants because when they first come
Up they form hollow Of this kind II seems a
very big name for little leaf, but It is just
easy 10 say cotyledon seed leaf, when get
used IT, and Il is q very important word for
70 remember, because botanists divide Towering
plants into two great classes, according to whether
they have one or TWO cotyledOns- Those that have
two seed leaves called dicotyledons, and those
that have only called monocotyledons
There is also e class OF polycOtyledons-flaytng
many cotyiedons-but they like the dicotyle-
dons that most botansts put the two in the same
class.
We wouldn't think It made so much difference
whether a plant began life with one two leaves
but bota1ists have found that it does and as soon
es plant puts its head above ground We can
tel great about its future. even If we haven
idea what kind OF seed it sprang from The
eotyledons quite unlike the other leaves but II
there are two OF thsm We know that the leaves
that the plant carries through life will have the
veins arranged IN a network like the leaves OF q
maple II there IS only one, the later leaves VIII
be long and narrow, and have veins running paraI-
lei to each other that IS botanists call them par-
lei, in reality they come together at the point
We also know that the plant with two cotyledons
viii add g layer TO its stem every year or
oftener. and thus get thicker and thicker as long
# lives, while the plant with only one cotyledon
will grow from the inside and soon get as thick
as It IS going TO be- And. finally. We know
that the plant with two cotyledons will have the
parts OF their fowers-petals and sepals and sta
mens-arranged in aves fours, while the mono
cotyledon will have these parts arranged in threes
numbers that can be divided by three. Nearly
al trees and all this part OF the world. are di-
ootyedons Most of the bearing trees are poly
cotyledons. All our grasses and grains are mono
cotyledons The lily is a monocotyledon, and the
rose which had only five petals before the garden
ers made II grow double, is a dicotyledon-
The little plants that sleep in the seeds are in
great hurry get outdoors in spring, Just as little
boys and girls are but most of them, alas, die in
their cradles because there are e very great many
OF them more than the world has room for, and