LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. oO]

fd, So they are. I think them alike now.

#. That is the consequence of examining closely.
Now, let us strip off all the leaves of this bean-flower
but the keel. What do you think this boat contains ?

G. It must be those little things you told us are in
all flowers. |

1, The chives and pistil.

Z. Right. Twill draw down the keel gently, and
you shall see them.

ff, How curious!

Z. Here are a number of chives joining in their
bodies so as to make a round tube, or cylinder,
through which comes out a crooked thread, which is
the pistil. I will now, with a pin, slit this cylinder.
What do you see within it P

G. Somewhat like a little pod.

L. ‘True—and, to show you that it is a pod, I will
open it, and you shall see the seeds within it.

Hf, What tiny things! Is this, then, what makes
the bean-pod afterwards P

7. Itis. When the blossom drops, this seed-vessel
grows bigger and bigger, and at length hardens as the
seeds grow ripe, becomes black and shrivelled, and
would burst and shed the seeds, if they were not
gathered.

G. I have seen several burst pods of our sweet-peas
under the wall, with nothing left in them.

7. And it is common for the field-peas and beans to
lose a great part of the seeds while they are getting in.

ff, At the bottom of this pea-stalk there are some
pods set already.

Z. Open one. You see that the pod is composed of
two shells, and that all the seeds are fastened to one
side of the pod, but alternately to each shell.

G. Is 1t the same in beans ;

7. Yes, and in all other pods of the papilionaceous
flowers. Well, this is the general structure of a very
numerous and useful class of plants, called the legu-
minous or podded, OF these, in this country, the