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Fig. 30.—Muskmelon Seedlings, with the unlike seed-leaves and true leaves.
case-knife bean, acorn, horse-chestnut. Squash seeds are excellent
for germination studies, because the cotyledons become green and
leafy and germination is rapid. Its germination, as also that of the
scarlet runner bean, is explained in "Lessons with Plants." Onion
is excellent, except that it germinates too slowly. In order to study
the root development of germinating plantlets, it is well to provide
a deeper box with a glass side against which the seeds are
planted. 12. Observe the germination of any common seed
about the house premises. When elms, oaks, pines, or maples are
abundant, the germination of their seeds may be studied in lawns
and along fences. 13. When studying germination, the pupil
should note the differences in shape and size between cotyledons
and plumule-leaves, and between plumule-leaves and the normal
leaves (Fig. 30). Make drawings. 14. Make the tests described
in the introductory experiments
with bean, corn, the
castor bean, and other seed
for starch and proteids. Test
flour, oatmeal, rice, sunflower,
four o'clock, various nuts, and
any other seeds obtainable.
Record your results by arranging
the seeds in three
classes, 1. Much starch (color
blackish or purple), 2. Little
starch (pale blue or greenish), 3. No starch (brown or yellow).
15. Rate of growth of seedlings as affected by differences in temperature.
Pack soft wet paper to the depth of an inch in the bottom
of four glass bottles or tumblers. Put ten soaked peas or beans into
each. Cover each securely and set them in places having different
temperatures that vary little. (A furnace room, a room with a
stove, a room without stove but reached by sunshine, an unheated
room not reached by the sun.) Take the temperatures occasionally
with a thermometer to find difference in temperature. The
tumblers in warm places should be covered very tightly to prevent
the germination from being retarded by drying out. Record the
number of seeds which sprout in each tumbler within 1 day; 2 days;
3 days; 4 days, etc. 16. Is air necessary for the germination and growth of seedlings? Place damp blotting paper in the bottom of a
bottle and fill it three fourths full of soaked seeds, and close it
tightly with a rubber stopper or oiled cork. Prepare a "check
experiment" by having another bottle with all conditions the same
except that it is covered loosely that air may have access to it,
and set the bottles side by side (why keep the bottles together?).
Record results as in the preceding experiment. 17. What is the