Tut. Right. I will draw down the keel gently, and you shall see them.
Har. How curious!
Tut. Here are a number of chives joining in their bodies, so as to make a round tube, or cylinder, through which comes out a crooked thread, which is the pistil. I will now with a pin slit this cylinder. What do you see within it?
Geo. Somewhat like a little pod.
Tut. True—and to show you that it is a pod, I will open it, and you shall see the seeds within it.
Har. What tiny things! Is this, then, what makes the bean-pod afterward?
Tut. It is. When the blossom drops, this seed-vessel grows bigger and bigger, and at length hardens as the seeds grow ripe, becomes black and shrivelled, and would burst and shed the seeds, if they were not gathered.
Geo. I have seen several burst pods of our sweet-peas under the wall, with nothing left in them.
Tut. And it is common for the field peas and beans to lose a great part of the seeds while they are getting in.
Har. At the bottom of this pea-stalk there are some pods set already.