So this seed is really alive, though it doesn't seem
so."
"It looks like a little yellow stone--the kind that comes in sand," spoke
Hal.
"And yet it is alive," said his father. "It can not move about now, though
when it is planted it begins to grow and it can move. It can push its
leaves up from under the earth. Just now it is asleep, and has no life
that we can see."
"What will bring it to life and make it wake up?" asked Hal.
"The warm dirt in which it is planted, the sunlight, the air and the water
you sprinkle on it," said Mr. Blake. "If you kept this seed cold and dry
it might sleep for many many years, but as soon as you put it under the
warm, wet soil, and set the box of dirt where the sun can shine on it,
then the seed begins to awaken. Something inside it--a germ some call
it--begins to swell. It gets larger--the seed is germinating. The hard
outside shell, or husk, gets soft and breaks open. The heart inside swells
larger and larger. A tiny root appears and begins to dig its way down
deeper in the ground to find things to eat. At the same time another part
of the seed turns into leaves and these grow up.
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