LEAFLET XXVIII.
HOW A SQUASH PLANT GETS OUT OF THE SEED.[38]
By L. H. BAILEY.
If one were to plant seeds of a Hubbard or Boston Marrow squash in loose warm earth in a pan or box, and were then to leave the parcel for a week or ten days, he would find, upon his return, a colony of plants like that shown in [Fig. 189]. If he had not planted the seeds himself or had not seen such plants before, he would not believe that these curious plants would ever grow into squash vines, so different are they from the vines which we know in the garden. This, itself, is a most curious fact,—this wonderful difference between the first and the later stages of nearly all plants, and it is only because we know it so well that we do not wonder at it.
Fig. 189. Squash plant a week old.
Fig. 190. Squash plant which has brought the seed-coats out of the ground.
Fig. 191. Germination just beginning.
