V.—HOW A PLANT GROWS.
Every day the boys watched their buds and seeds bursting into life.
It was slow work; but, as winter passed slowly away and they were able to go out for walks more often, they had much to amuse them. They brought home all sorts of curious things, and soon had quite a host of living things to watch.
Four Stages in the opening of Horse-Chestnut Buds.
Three weeks passed before the horse-chestnut buds showed any signs of opening. By this time they had swelled out very much. First the sticky scales moved apart, then folded themselves backwards out of the way, and at last fell off altogether.
This moving apart of the scales was caused by the shoot or branch inside the bud, which was growing rapidly.
Before the scales fell off, it had burst its way through them. It was now a large mass of thick leaves all folded together, and covered all over with a sort of wool.
Soon these thick leaves moved apart, the woolly covering came off, and what a month ago was a little woolly body, so tiny that it had to be picked apart with a needle, was now a large stout branch, smooth and green, and bearing beautiful broad leaves.
Some of the buds brought forth small clusters of little green balls. These the boys at first thought were berries, but they afterwards found out that they were flowers.