8 ffiotanis 



plants is as needful to the life of man as air, light, 

 and water. 



THE UTILITY OF PLANT LIFE 



Why is the plant needful to the life of animals? 

 For food : Plant life must have preceded animal 

 life, because the original food of the animal is the 

 plant. Plants are the great food-making shops. 

 Only plants can take mineral substances from soil or 

 water and convert them into food stuff. Animals 

 cannot feed upon minerals; the niinerals must be 

 converted into vegetable material before animals can 

 assimilate them. The first food of the first animal, 

 whatever that animal w\as — some sea-creature of 

 simple form, probabl}- — was some small and simjile 

 sea-weed, w^hich had existed before the animal. 



The plant can live without the animal ; the ani- 

 mal cannot live without the plant. The plant can 

 take its food directly from soil, air, and water ; the 

 animal must have the plant for its middleman in 

 its dealings with nature. There are, it is true, car- 

 nivorous animals, creatures feeding upon flesh, either 

 living, dead or decayed. This flesh, however, is of 

 creatures that are vegetable eaters. The lion devours 

 the antelope, kid or giraffe. These are eaters of 

 herbs. We humans drink milk and eat meat, as 

 well as vegetable substances, but our animal food 



