—Lucy Larcom.
As is the case with our own babies, the first necessity of the infant plant is food close at hand to sustain this tiny speck of life until it shall be large and strong enough to provide for itself. If we study any seed whatever we shall find some such motherly provision for the plant baby or germ. Sometimes the germ is a mere speck with a large amount of food packed around it, as is the case with the nutmeg; sometimes the baby is larger and its food is packed in a part adjacent to it, as is the case with the corn ([Fig. 279]); and sometimes the mother stuffs the baby itself so that it has enough to last it until its own little roots and leaves bring it mature food, as is the case with the squash seed. In any case this "lunch put up by the mother," to use Uncle John's words, is so close at hand that as soon as favorable conditions occur the little plant may eat and grow, and establish itself in the soil.
Nature is remarkable for her skill in doing up compact packages, and in no other place is this skill better shown than in storing food in seeds for the young plants. Not only is it concentrated, but it is protected and of such chemical composition that it is able to remain fresh and good for many years awaiting the favorable moment when it may nourish the starting germ. People often wonder why, when a forest is cleared of one species of trees, another species grows in its place. This often may have resulted from the seeds lying many years dormant awaiting the opportunity. This preservation of the food in the seed is largely due to the protecting shell that keeps out the enemies of all sorts, especially mould. And yet, however strong this box may be, as it is in the hard-shelled hickory nut, it falls apart like magic when the germ within begins to expand.
Fig. 279. Section of kernel of corn, showing the embryo, and the food supply at one side of it (at the right)
Brain rather than brawn is the cause of man's supremacy in this world. Of all the beings that inhabit the earth he knows best how to use for his own advantage all things that exist. His progress from savagery to civilization is marked by his growing power to domesticate animals and plants. Very early in his history man learned the value to himself of the seeds of the cereals. He discovered that they may be kept a long time without injury; that they contain a great amount of nutrition for their bulk; that they are easily prepared for food; that, when planted, they give largest return. Thus, we see, the advantages the plant mother had developed for her young, man has turned to his own use. That the food put up for the young plant is so protected and constituted as to endure unhurt for a long time gives the cereal grains their keeping quality. That it is concentrated and well packed renders it convenient for man to transport. That the "box" is easily separated from the "lunch" makes the preparation of food by crushing and sifting an easy matter for man. That every mother plant, to insure the continuation of the species, develops many seeds, so that in the great struggle for existence at least some shall survive, makes the cereals profitable for man to plant, and harvest the increase. Think once, how few ears of corn it requires to plant an acre.
Because of all these things there has grown up between domestic plants and man a partnership. Man relieves the plant of the responsibility of scattering its seeds, and in return takes for himself that proportion of the seeds which would have died in the struggle for existence had the plant remained uncultivated. This partnership is fair to both parties.
Different plants store food materials in different proportions in their seeds; the most important of these food substances are starch, oil, protein, and mineral matter. All of these materials are necessary to man as food. In the cereals the seeds contain a large proportion of starch, but in the nuts, like the butternuts and walnuts, there is a predominance of oil. Let us for a moment examine a kernel of corn and a kernel of wheat and see how the food is arranged. [Fig. 279] is a kernel of corn cut in two lengthwise; at the lower left-hand corner are the root parts and leaf parts of the young plant (the embryo); above the embryo is the loose starch material. Now we have the baby corn plant lying at one side, and its food packed about it. However, this food is in the form of starch, and must be changed to sugar before the young plant can partake of it and grow. There lies a connecting part between the germ and its food, the scutellum. This is so constituted that when soaked with water it ferments the starch and changes it to sugar for the young plant's use.
