Seed

“ The planted seed consigned to common earth,
Disdains to moulder with the baser clay;
But rises up to meet the light of day,
Spreads all its leaves, and flowers, and tendrils forth;
And, bathed and ripened in the genial ray,
Pours out its perfume on the wandering gales,
Till in that fragrant breath its life exhales. ”

“ Said one amateur gardener to me when I gave him this advice: "Why should one be so particular about the seed? It's the culture that you give the plant that counts. Plant any kind of seed that happens to be handiest and take good care of the plants that grow from it and you'll have good vegetables." To some extent what he said was true, but he had yet to learn that there is a vast difference between ordinary seed and seed that has bred into it by careful culture the superior qualities which characterize the choicest varieties of all our garden plants. ”

“ And the seed is the Word of God, so strangely able to work below the surface of human life, invisible at first, yet vital, and grasping from within and without, from secret thoughts and from circumstances, as from the chemical ingredients of the soil and from the sunshine and the shower, all that will contribute to its growth, until the field itself is assimilated, spread from end to end with waving ears, a corn-field now. ”

“ The seed of the elm, as a learned author observes, affords a remarkable instance of the prolific power with which the vegetable creation is endued, to multiply its different species. “This tree produces one thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds; and each of these seeds has the power of producing the same number. How astonishing is this produce! At first one seed is deposited in the earth; from this one a tree springs, which in the course of its vegetative life produces one thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds. ”

“ Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed—a, to me, equally mysterious origin for it. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders. ”

“ The seed is not only one of the smallest, being so little that it can slip unnoticed from your grasp, and hide within the crevice of a clod, mocking your solicitous search, but it is of most rapid growth. Within a fortnight it will overshadow the garden, and before the season is ended will tower twelve to fifteen feet in height, its sturdy branches affording shelter, and protected nests, for many birds. Divine thoughts within the brain are capable of this marvelous development. ”

“ Does it not strain the imagination to the breaking point to believe that the oak, the cedar, the pine and the palm are all the progeny of one ancient seed and that this seed was also the ancestor of wheat and corn, potato and tomato, onion and sugar beet, rose and violet, orchid and daisy, mountain flower and magnolia? ”

“ OF THE SOWER.
Behold a sower going forth To scatter o'er his field,
The seed that in the harvest time A rich return will yield.
And as he sow'd some precious seeds, Were by the way-side thrown;
The fowls of heaven descried them there, And soon the seed were gone. ”

“ I am going to talk a little this afternoon about seeds.
"Any reliable seed house can be depended upon for good seeds; but even so, there is a great risk in seeds. A seed may to all appearances be all right and yet not have within it vitality enough, or power, to produce a hardy plant.
"If you save seed from your own plants you are able to choose carefully. Suppose you are saving seed of aster plants. What blossoms shall you decide upon? Now it is not the blossom only which you must consider, but the entire plant. Why? Because a weak, straggly plant may produce one fine blossom. ”

“ If a seed like that is planted, it may make a tree like the root part of the one from which it came, or it may make a tree like the upper part, or it may make something different from either one. No one can tell what that seed will bring. So fruit growers [149] plant a great many such seeds each year, and once in a great while some new peach, or apple, or plum, or cherry, finer than anything ever grown before, comes from one of those seeds. ”

“ A seed may serve, and many do mightily serve, for the food of man, when boiled, crushed, or otherwise industriously prepared by man himself, for his mere sustenance. But the husk of the seed is prepared in many cases for the delight of his eyes, and the pleasure of his palate, by Nature herself, and is then called a 'fruit.'
3. The varieties of structure both in seed and husk, and yet more, the manner in which the one is contained, and distributed by, the other, are infinite; and in some cases the husk is apparently wanting, or takes some unrecognizable form. ”

“ Growth from the Seed. Phanerogamous plants grow from seed, and their flowers are destined to the production of seeds. A seed has a rudimentary plant ready formed in it,—sometimes with the two most essential parts, i. e. stem and leaf, plainly discernible; sometimes with no obvious distinction of organs until germination begins. This incipient plant is called an Embryo. ”

“ Every form of plant-life, from the giants of the forest, the oak, beech, fir, and others, to the tiniest moss, has its beginning in the seed. Every plant has its flowers, its fruit, and its seeds. It is in the seed that vegetation is preserved in a thriving condition through the ages; it is by the seed that every tree, every shrub, every blade of grass propagate their kind and leave a numerous progeny. [130]
“Who would not like to know,” continued Uncle Paul, “something about the formation of the seed that is sown in the ground to become either a little plant or an enormous tree? ”

“ It thus appears, that the state of the plant from which the seed is taken, has the strongest influence. in forming the character of the seedling plant produced from it, and that it is of the utmost importance, that, when plants are to be propagated by seed, the parent should be in the healthiest state, and the fruit in the highest degree of perfection. ”

“ CHAPTER III. SELECTING AND SOWING SEEDS.
All individuals of the vegetable world are so created as to reproduce themselves from seed or its equivalent. Every plant that grows seems to possess the power to perpetuate its kind. All kinds of flowering plants can be grown from the seed, providing good, sound seeds are obtained, and they are placed under the proper influences to make them germinate and grow. ”

“ XL. In the first place, the seed, which is the principle of all germination, is of two kinds, that which is not appreciable by our senses and that which is. Seed is hidden from us when it is disseminated in the air, as the physicist Anaxagoras holds, or is distributed over the land by the surface water, as Theophrastus maintains. The seeds which the farmer can see should be studied with the greatest care. ”

“ This short account of the germination of seeds may suffice to shew, to the inquisitive in the wonders of nature, what preparations and means nature uses to produce a single plant. When, therefore, we see a seed that we have placed in the earth sprout, we shall no longer consider it as beneath our notice, but shall rather be disposed to regard it as one of those wonders of nature which have excited the observation and attention of some of the greatest of men. ”

“ The food of a young seedling.—When such a seed as that of a bean is germinated in damp sawdust or wet clean sand, and kept in a warm and light place, it puts out a radicle, which grows downwards and becomes the main root, and a stem which grows upwards and bears green leaves. ”

“ A clump of these in the garden, if held in check, is simply stunning. How can they be held down? The only way is to let no flower heads go to seed. The little, clinging, persistent, numerous seeds are seeds of trouble. This lovely bother grows in any sort of soil. ”

“ The plants which you put out in your garden will have been started under glass from seed, so that, indirectly, everything depends on the seed. Good seeds, and true, you must have if your garden is to attain that highest success which should be our aim. Seeds vary greatly--very much more so than the beginner has any conception of. ”

“ After a while the cloth is removed, and the seed is found to have sprouted, and an inch or so of the stem and the first green leaves are seen to be sprouting from the earth. The illusion is perfect, and the onlookers are more taken up with gazing in wonder at the miraculous growth and discussing it one with another than with critically examining the seed and the sprouting plant. ”

“ PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
TO form the seed seems to be the chief end of the plant. When in the vigor of its own maturity, and when receiving the sun's strongest rays and the earth's richest nourishment, the plant gathers all its resources, and devotes them to the building of the seed. When done, the seed itself, the embryo, commonly possesses little substance and serves little use beyond its primary purpose, the reproduction of the plant. ”

“ Take four pounds of the seed of the plant which you mean to raise from its ashes; the seed must be thoroughly ripe. Pound it in a mortar, put it in a glass bottle, perfectly clean, and of the height of the plant: close the bottle well and keep it in a moderate temperature. 2. Expose the pounded seed to the night dew, chusing for this operation an evening when the sky is perfectly clear; spread it upon a large dish that the seeds may be thoroughly impregnated with the vivifying virtue which is in the dew. ”

“ Will the seed from the variety carrying but one natural head produce seed that will reproduce true to the parent?
Your sunflowers are probably only playing the pranks their grandfathers enjoyed. If seed is gathered indiscriminately from all the heads which appear in the crop, succeeding generations will keep reverting until they return to the wild type, or something near it. ”

“ Part II—Young Plants HOW THE BABY PLANT LIVES When these little seeds at last find a good resting place, what do you think happens to them? They grow into new plants, of course. But how does this come about? How does a seed turn into a plant?
I could hardly expect you to guess this, any more than I could have expected you to guess how the apple flower changes into the apple fruit. I will tell you a little about it; and then I hope your teacher will show you real seeds and real plants, and prove to you that what I have said is really so. ”

“ Before the seeds are ripe write to a several seed men and tell them what you have; ask if they want any, at what price, and on what date. Some trees ripen their seeds in the spring, shake them off, and let the wind scatter them. ”

“ It is manifest, then, that the plant which springs from a bud is as really a new plant as that which springs from a seed; and it is equally true, that a seed may convey the weakness and diseases of its parent with as much facility as a bud or a graft does. ”

“ These peculiarities, like the soil upon which the seed falls, may accelerate or retard the growth of the seed, may supply satisfactory or unsatisfactory nutriment, may furnish free scope for development or may choke the desired growth with tares—but the character of the fruit depends on the character of the seed. ”

“ Though it is of advantage to be the first upon the ground, it is of immense importance that the seed which [Pg 217] falls in an opening produce a seedling which thrives in the sun-glare,—which grows without shade. ”

“ While this is being done, food for the little baby plants to live on while only a day or two old, is being stored up in the seed. In such seed is the tiny beginning of a future plant. The seed ripen in the pod. The pod bursts open and the seed fall upon the ground, or men gather them, and later plant them in the soil. ”

“ Soak some seeds of broad bean (or pea) and maize (or wheat) for twenty-four hours. Plant some in damp sawdust. 2. What do you see when you open a bean seed? 3. Pick off the little baby plant, and try to draw it big. 4. Cut down through the centre (flat side) of a maize seed. Try to make out the little seed plant and the food store. 5. Every third day dig up a growing seed and draw it. Put the date beneath each drawing. Keep your drawings carefully.
30 V.—HOW A PLANT GROWS.
Every day the boys watched their buds and seeds bursting into life. ”

“ When living tree seeds are exposed to proper amounts of moisture, warmth and air in a fertile soil, they will sprout and grow. A root develops which pushes its way down into the soil, while the leaf-bud of the plant, which springs from the other end of the seed, works its way upward toward the light and air. This leafy part of the seed finally forms the stem of the tree. But trees may produce plenty of seed and yet fail to maintain their proper proportion in the forest. ”

“ Gathering seeds can be a delightful pastime. The following are most beneficial: seed heads of seeding grasses, Plantain, Chickweed, Shepherd’s Purse, Dock Groundsel, Clover, Teazle, Queen Anne’s Lace, Charlock, Smartweed, dandelion and thistles, except Burdock. These seeds are particularly good at moulting and mating times and a few are always relished as a treat. ”

“ For while man lives in the body, the seed is in corporeal ground and among underbrush and thickets which are scientifics and gross pleasures, also cares and anxieties. But when these things are cast off, as is the case when he enters the other life, the seed is freed from them and shoots forth, as the seed of a tree when it springs out of the ground, shoots forth into a shrub and then into a large tree, and is afterwards multiplied into a garden of trees. ”

“ It is said, "Whose seed is in itself upon the earth," in allusion to the natural fact of the tree producing fruit in which is seed and from whence new trees spring forth to the production of still other fruit, again producing seed, and thus, as it were, in a circle perpetually. ”

“ As a rule we plant about a peck of seed every year, and out of that peck of seed it probably brings us 10,000 seedlings, and out of this 10,000 we get one good seedling, and this is the only good seedling that we have produced this year. ”