“I’m afraid not,” said his uncle. “But that is no reason why we should sulk. We have those maize seeds to look over, you know, and by the time we have done that perhaps the rain will have stopped.”
While Frank and Tom were bringing the boxes of seeds, Uncle George and Dolly were busy getting out knives, glasses, mounted needles, and the books they made their notes and sketches in.
There were four small boxes in all. Each box had been sown with maize or Indian corn at times a week apart, so that the plants in one box were five weeks old, in the next four weeks old, and so on.
“We will begin as we did with the bean. Let us cut the seed open first.” As he spoke, Uncle George laid some soaked maize seeds on the table.
“If you look at these seeds carefully, you will notice a large mark on one of the flat sides of each.”
“I see it,” said Frank. “It is shaped something like a cone, and its broad end is at the narrow end of the seed.”
“It is lighter in colour than the rest of the seed,” said Tom.
“You are both right,” said their uncle. “Now I want you to cut the seed longways, right down through the middle of that mark. Then use your glass, and tell me what you see.
“Look closely,” said Uncle George, “first into one half and then into the other.”
“Oh, I see something like a tiny plant,” said Tom. “It is shut off from a great mass of what looks like plant-food, just like our wheat grains.”