The Magic Window (June 4, 1954)

hi did you know what I have here on the table today little box it's filled with dirt and there are all sorts of plants growing out of it see them all along in here well do you remember the other day when we put the dirt in this box and we planted the seeds and put the little markers down here at the end with the look seed packages on so that we would remember just what it was planted in each roll well just look at how beautiful plants have grown up from those little seeds this roll right over here is radishes and this grow over here right along here these are flower plants and their zinnias but they're a lot smaller than the radishes aren't they see how tall radishes are and the flowers the seniors or a little bit shorter they're about that much shorter and one of the reasons that they're not quite as big and tall yet as the radishes is because the genius took a day longer before the little shoots came up through the ground they didn't start to grow as soon as the radishes did and there's another reason to the other day I took a piece of paper and I completely covered the role of flowers I covered up all the zenith just like that and what this piece of paper over them no light could get to them you know we talked about some of the things that plants and flowers needed to grow and one of those things were slight wasn't it do you remember what the rest of you were they needed light and they needed dirt so if they can get minerals from the soil and then you get water to grow and they needed air and when I put this piece of paper over this role of zinnias it cut out all the light and they just didn't grow as fast and something else happened to them to you can't see it very well but all the radishes over here are very dark green all the leaves are green and perhaps if you look very carefully here genius you'll notice that they look a little bit lighter and lighter than the other plants do do you know why that is what plants need sunlight to make them nice and green and healthy looking and because all the Sun was taken away from this roll right over here didn't get that lot did it son didn't get to them and so they didn't turn a nice pretty color of green instead in our places right here on some of the leaves that are yellow and that's what happens to flowers if they're in the dark all of time maybe your mother has a plant that she would that you take and you could put it maybe in a paper sack and instead of in the closet somewhere of course you have to remember to keep watering them but still if you leave it in the dark for two or three maybe even four days and take it out and look at it all the leaves instead of being a pretty dark color of green will be all yellow well now let's look at some other things here did you notice wait let me turn this back you notice how all these little plants here are leaning over this way do you know why that is that has something to do with light to if your mom has some flowers in the house sitting along the window sills and things you take a look at them and see which way their leaves are pointing I think probably that you'll find that all the leaves and the plants that would be sitting in a windowsill would be pointing right out the window and that's because they're trying to get at the light and with this box here was in the house the closest window was right over here on this side of the box right here where my hand is all doubled up and that's where the Sun came in right over here and these little plants wanted to get as much sunlight as they possibly could so they all lean way over here just reaching for the light just as hard as they could so that's another thing that you can check on your plants that are growing in the house well now let's go back and talk about this first row right here of radishes remember how about the little seed look like when we before we planted them it was just very tiny wasn't about the size of a pinhead if you do you remember what they look like they were round and then when we plant and look what happened they sprouted out of the ground and they grew and they grew when they grew and now they're getting little tiny leaves on them and pretty soon these leaves will begin to grow too but what happens to a radish if we let grow and grow and grow gross up like this and the little leaves come out and they get bigger and bigger and pretty soon the top of the plant the part that we can see will stop growing or not altogether but it won't get any taller and then the rest of the growing goes on down in here inside the box or down in the ground the ribs work their way down into the ground just like this and they spread out because they're looking for the water and that's where they get the water the water goes right up all these roots that are down here in the bottom of the box and with a radish because you know what happens here are some radish plants here that are full-grown and I'll show them to you the leaves are the parts that we would see growing above the ground now of course these leaves right here look just like this and they're great big ones now aren't they and now pick off a leaf of the of the radish that's growing and lay it right here beside it and you can look and see how small that one is it has a long way to grow yet doesn't it but then we'll get there pretty soon and then the woods will be growing too and here is what will happen after a while to the roots of the radish plant that's where the radish comes right at the base of the stemmed rose and it gets all red and they start out being very little too here's a little tiny one right here see how tiny this is this is the way the radish first starts out it's red right here right between my fingers are spread from here down to here and then there are some roots on the end of the radish too and pretty soon it will grow and grow and then it'll be that big right there from this one that one and it'll get a little bigger it goes right up to that size and if we would let them keep right on going we would get a great big radish look like that one right there isn't that a great big one you know you probably be having radishes for supper some night and you just take a look at them no there's a rip right here it doesn't stop you know just because the radish is growing the roots don't stop because the roots still have to feed the plant and look what a long rook is on the end of this radish right here see how long it is I'll put it down here on the table we can see it it also very long and there's a lot of little tiny lists that are coming out from this great big main tap earth that goes way down it keeps getting dinner dinner that's funny no before we eat them know we usually cut off the tops right up here we cut this part off and we cut off the root part 2 because we don't eat that and then they're very good to eat but you know if you have a garden with radishes growing in it you go out and help your mom pull up the radishes you should remember that we don't want to eat and then you should take them in the house and wash them off with water so we won't get all sorts of dirty things into our mouths but looking at these radishes and seeing how big they are it makes us wonder each one of these is a little plant in here here I'll show you one here is a radish plant just beginning and pretty soon it will have a radish on the end of it just like that well no do you think there would be room for all these radishes in this box here we planted a lot of seeds didn't we and I think all of them grew and so you know we're going to have to do now since there won't be room for all these little platts in here when they get bigger and start radishes start growing at the end of the route there will be room for all those radishes so we're going to have to pull some of them up and thin them out so let's do that right now let's pull them up and perhaps we can take a look at the plant as we pull it I'm going to wash the dirt off of this one right here and we'll just see if we can see the roots of this little tiny radish class right now they haven't gone very far down into the ground but I think roll bigger vehicle down farther right there now if you look very carefully you see this one little hair it's coming off here on the end right there that little tiny white hair that's the beginning of one of the smaller groups that goes off the big one let's see if we can't find another one that has longer routes on it oh here's one with a great big long route this little Platts just sunk its roots rain down into the soil and I'm going to run more some of the dirt off here cuz with the dirt on a little plat it's hard to see it as it so come on dirt you all here I'll take a look at me here there this is where it started to grow underground only this much of this little plant include up ground that great big wide white space there and all the rest of it way down in the box I want a long way down didn't this so if it keeps growing like that in no time it'll be waved down deep in the soil so we'll have plenty of water and what was Denny needs out we have to remember about the size if the radishes will get to be so we're going to have to put a lot of them up now I'm just going to pull them out I'll lay them over here and then eat I can either take them outdoors and plant them again or I'll just have to throw them away now i'm going to leave this little plant right over here and i'm going to leave some room around it and then i'm going to separate them currently another one and i'm going to pull up all the rest that are growing around there so little there will be plenty of room around a little rash these are some things that we have to do even in an outdoor garden sometimes we plant the seeds too close together so we have to go out and have to decide how far apart they should be unusually on the back of the packages you got the seed in it will tell you how far apart fuel plant tesco sleep and this is about an inch apart so very careful when you leave plenty of room between them pull the rest of them right up shake the dirt off the roots and pack it back down around the rest of the plant sometimes I'll fall over like this one here so I'll push it down in the air which all the dirt up around it there and it means over now but in a couple of days it would be growing right straight up again to pull these out here see how we're spinning them out there's more can come out from here and nope when you pull them up see how much dirt hangs onto the end of the plant that's because all the little roots go out and they hold this dirt together see we can't go through the whole Road day really thin them out there's not nearly as many enough to rule before I'm leaving enough in there and I hope that if I keep watering them and give them enough sunlight be sure that the soil is all loose around these little plants that maybe later on in the summer I can eat radishes out of my own little garden dispose my goodness I hope so there got a whole handful of an that time I think that's not enough I can do the rest of later my hands are all dirty so I'm going to have to wash them but let's look at this plant just before it's time to go it's dead isn't it you know what happened no water so we want to remember to water all of our plants hope you've had fun watching me thin out the radishes you