Seeds

“ 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. ”

“ Also in fingering the seeds, you will know why some are slow in germinating: these are either hard and gritty, sandlike, like those of the English primrose, smooth as if coated with varnish, like the pansy, violet, columbine, and many others, or enclosed in a rigid shell like the iris-hued Japanese morning-glories and other ipomeas. Heart of Nature is never in a hurry, for him time is not. What matters it if a seed lies one or two years in the ground? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Some seeds will die if left to lie all winter in the ground. We say such seeds are not hardy. They are seeds that are not native to the place where they grow. Seeds are hardy in their native places.
Now you have seen how the seed germ grows to be a ripe seed. You have seen how the ripe seed sprouts into a plant. You know that plants grow. They increase in size. They put out more leaves. They have flowers and seeds. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now let us look at the structure of the ripe seeds [91] themselves, and see how they are fitted to go out alone into the world prepared to make a new plant. Seeds are all very much alike in the important points of their structure, although they vary much in the shape, size, and colour of their parts. We already know what beans are like from our careful study of them at the beginning of our work (see Chapter III.) , and beans show us particularly well all the important parts of a true seed, so that we may take them as being typical of one large family of flowering plants. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Regarding seeds it is interesting to seek advice from Didymus Mountain's "The Gardener's Labyrinth." "Every gardener and owner," he says, "ought to be careful and diligently to foresee that the seeds committed to the earth be neither too old, dry, thin, withered, nor counterfeited, but rather full, new and full of juice. ”

“ If so, plant the seeds at home.
When you have planted your seeds, unless you take them up every day, you cannot see how the little plants are behaving down under the soil. I want to tell you how you can know some things that the plants are doing without disturbing them.
Choose an ordinary glass (Fig. 299) , roll up a piece of blotting [460] paper so that it is a trifle smaller than the glass, and place it inside. Between the blotting paper and the glass, put a few radish seeds or any kind of seed such as you planted in the soil. Keep the blotting paper moist and watch what happens. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Some seeds are carried by animals; either as food—such as most edible fruits and seeds, acorns, nuts, apples, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, plums, grasses, etc.—or involuntarily, the seeds having hooked hairs or processes, such as burrs, cleavers, etc.
Some seeds are scattered by the plants themselves, as, for instance, those of many Geraniums, Violets, Balsams, Shamrocks, etc. Our little Herb Robert throws its seeds some 25 feet. ”

“ The seeds, or properly fruits, are contained singly in a stony involucre or bract, which does not open until the enclosed seed germinates. The young involucre surrounds the female flower and the stalk supporting the spike of male flowers, and when ripe has the appearance of bluish-white porcelain. ”

“ It is, I believe, generally admitted by physiological botanists, that the seeds of plants are never produced absolutely naked:—in other words, that the integument through some point or process of which impregnation takes place, cannot properly be considered as part of the seed itself. ”

“ The DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS is effected by the wind, the seeds being so exceedingly small and light. Many species moreover have peculiar, elater-like, fine, hygroscopic hairs in the ovary, which eject the seeds in a manner similar to the elaters of the Liverworts. ”

“ Suggestions.—Few subjects connected with the study of plant-life are so useful in schoolroom demonstrations as germination. The pupil should prepare the soil, plant the seeds, water them, and care for the plants. 10. Plant seeds in pots or shallow boxes. The box should not be very wide or long, and not over four inches deep. Holes may be bored in the bottom so it will not hold water. Plant a number of squash, bean, corn, pine, or other seeds about an inch deep in damp sand or pine sawdust in this box. The depth of planting should be two to four times the diameter of the seeds. ”

“ Such seeds as the elms and soft maples, which ripen in the early summer, are sown as soon as possible after they are gathered. Practical tests have shown that thick sowings of tree seeds give the best results. ”

“ The topmost place of all in the hierarchy of seed life, it seems to me, is taken by the feathery fruits and seeds which float freely hither and thither wherever the wind may bear them. An immense number of the very highest plants—the aristocrats of the vegetable kingdom, such as the lordly composites, those ultimate products of plant evolution—possess such floating feathery seeds ”

“ Big seeds require more covering than little seeds. Seeds like peas, beans, and corn may be thrust into the middle of your farm. Small seeds, like those of the petunia, [575] which are almost like dust, require only the gentlest sprinkling of soil. Seeds as large as those of the aster and the balsam should be covered with a layer of earth as thick as a lead pencil. I advise you to plant twice as many seeds as you wish to have grow. Many accidents may happen and if all grow, the surplus plants can be replanted later or thrown away. ”

“ With the larger seeds, as corn and beans, a seed may be dug up each day and examined, so [Pg 86] that the children may appreciate what is going on below ground. Drawings may be made of the seeds, showing the changes in appearance from day to day. After the seed leaves appear the daily growth may be measured and noted in the diary. ”

“ And that is when a single seed is planted, it grows up and produces a very great number of other seeds. If you plant a seed of wheat, it will produce 30, 60, or sometimes 100 other seeds. If you plant one sunflower seed it might produce as many as 4,000 seeds. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the seeds are ripe the pod splits down from above and spreads apart slightly, so that a few seeds are easily shaken out by a gust of wind. The inflorescence, though dead, may stand for a year or more, and the seeds that it bears may be scattered over a wide area. ”

“ In whatever position seeds happen to lie in the earth, the root makes more or less of a curve in order to shoot downwards. Mr. Hunter sowed a number of seeds in a basket of earth placed on an axis, by which their position was a little altered every day. ”

“ 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? ”

“ Some seeds fall by the side of the path and the birds who are following him as he walks, and who watch what becomes of every handful he throws, fly down and pick up all they can see, and eat it up.
But the sower passes on, and some of his little seeds fall on stony places, where there is very little good earth; and when the seeds spring up and begin to grow, there is not enough earth for them to flourish, or to feed the little plants; and the sun gets hot, and they are scorched, and wither away. ”

“ The use of the Seed-vessel is to protect the seeds till ripe, and then in some way or other to promote their dispersion, either scattering them by its elastic power, or serving for the food of animals in whose dung the seeds vegetate, or promoting the same end by various other mens. ”

“ Seeds vary in shape. You know how acorns and chestnuts look; they are seeds. Cherry-pits—stones, you call them, they are so hard—are round. A melon-seed is flat. Some seeds are three-cornered. Some have lines and dots as if they were carved. ”

“ Did you ever see a thistle or dandelion seed go sailing through the air? It looks like a little silver ship, or balloon. It has a fine little feather on it to keep it up. The reason why thistles and dandelions grow far and wide is, that their seeds are carried about on the breeze.
If you live in town, go and look at the seeds in the seed-man’s window. If you live in the country, suppose you collect all the seeds you can.
Did you ever think in how many ways seeds are kept from harm? What is a melon, or a pumpkin, but a big seed box? ”

“ Seeds are sown almost daily—flower seeds, such as annual carnations, petunias, antirrhinums, etc.; and vegetables, such as lettuce, leeks, onions, cauliflowers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. There are also the gathering and packing of forced flowers and rhubarb, and the forcing of these and other plants. When possible, seed-beds are prepared in the open. ”