“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.” Tom made a rough sketch of it, and showed it to his uncle. “That is the baby plant, and the great mass above it is plant-food,” said his uncle. “Come on, Frank. Don’t let Tom do all the finding out. What have you to say?” “The maize seed has only one mass of plant-food, and it does not seem to have two seed coats like the bean,” Tom replied. “You are right,” said Uncle George; “but if you look again you will see that there is a thick layer of food stuff outside, which is of a different colour from the rest. “This is like the bran layer which is round the food store in the wheat grain. “This food store is starch, or, as we call it, _flour_. “Now, let us look at the growing seeds. We will take a few seeds out of each box and see how they differ. “The seeds in this box, the last sown, are just a week old. You see the root and shoot are just beginning to show. “Make a sketch, drawing it as large as you can, and write under it, ‘Maize seed after a week’s growth.’ “Do the same with a seed from each of the other three boxes, and when you have drawn them all, tell me of any differences you notice between the growth of maize and that of the bean.” “They do not grow in the same way at all,” said Frank, as he drew his last sketch. “In the maize seed the baby plant seems to be stuck on to one of the flat sides of the seed.” “What about the roots, Frank?” “Oh yes, I see that,” Frank went on. “The root branches out all at once in the maize seed. In some of these seeds the main root has scarcely grown at all. Their roots are all branch-roots.” “And, in the oldest plants, one great leaf rolls round the shoot and hides it,” said Tom. “In the bean shoot we saw two leaves quite plainly.” “Quite right, Tom. Now, boys, compare your drawings with those you made of the bean. I will grow a maize and a bean seed together, so that you can watch the growth of both, and compare them day by day.” Uncle George then got an empty pickle bottle, and poured some water into it. Then he took a soaked bean seed, and, having run a thread through it with a needle, he hung it inside the bottle. He then corked the bottle, and placed it in the window. He next took an old lamp chimney, and made a roll of blotting-paper to fit the inside of it. This roll of paper was stuffed with moss. A few maize seeds were pushed in between the glass and the paper, and the lamp chimney was placed in a saucerful of water in the window. [Illustration: Plants that grow like Maize. These plants have but one food mass in each of their seeds.] [Illustration: The Horse Pond in Spring.]