But it was not satisfied to do all its growing below. Its upper part now straightened itself out, and started right up into the air. From a hoop it turned into a stem which lifted the bean clear above the earth (Fig. [89]).
This bean was no longer the round object we usually call by that name; for its two halves had opened and spread outward, and from between these two halves grew a pair of young leaves.
As these leaves grew larger, the two half-beans began to shrink, growing smaller and more withered all the time (Fig. [90]).
Why was this, do you suppose?
To make clear the reason of this, to show just why the two halves of the bean grew smaller as the rest of the young bean plant grew larger, I must go back a way.
Turn to the picture of the peony seed (Fig. [84]). There you can see how the baby plant is packed away in the midst of a quantity of baby food. And in the picture of the morning-glory seed (Fig. [86]) you see the same thing.
You remember that day by day the baby plant ate more and more of this food, and kept growing stronger and bigger, and that all this time the store of food kept growing smaller and smaller.
Now, if you cut open the bean, you do not see a tiny plant set in the midst of a store of food.
Fig. 90