110 THE GARDEN OF EARTH 



What about Silk? It is woven by the Silkworm, 

 which feeds entirely on green leaves. What about 

 Linen? It comes from the Flax-plant. And the list 

 might be widened to any extent in other directions. 

 What about Bass for the use of gardeners ? It is pro- 

 cured from the Lime-tree. What about Camphor ? It 

 is distilled from the wood of the Camphor-tree. 



So we see, just a little, what an immense debt we owe 

 to the manufacturing work of plants. And I have not 

 named a hundredth part of the whole; no, nor a 

 thousandth part. 



Not all useful to us, you may say. Very likely not. 

 Man is not the only being on Earth to be considered. 

 Certain growths, which are useless for ourselves, may 

 have other uses, not known to us. At the least, when 

 they die they help to enrich the soil. 



And some which we might hastily condemn, counting 

 them worse than useless, are not really so. There are 

 plants which manufacture berries full of deadly poison ; 

 and if a child eats one or two of those berries, he will 

 die. Yet that same poison, given in very tiny quan- 

 tities at the right time and in the right manner, to 

 some one who is dangerously ill, will act as a powerful 

 medicine, and may save his life. 



V — Ocean Food 



One thing more. How about Fishes, Crabs, Lobsters, 

 Shrimps ? Do we here owe anything to our vegetable 

 friends ? 



Yes, a great deal; though we cannot speak in quite 

 such certain terms with regard to ocean-creatures as 

 with regard to land-animals. Ocean-life is so enormous, 



