PLANT INTELLIGENCE 
fledged root, feels and-pushes its way through 
the earth in a marvellous fashion searching 
out water and traveling around obstructions 
with unerring exactness. The slightest pressure 
will serve to deflect it; aerial roots have been 
observed to avoid obstacles without actually 
coming in contact with them. The plants use 
their roots to feel their way to moisture and 
nourishment just as a man would feel his way 
with his hands. The great Darwin, himself, 
wrote many years ago: “It is hardly an exag- 
geration to say that the tip of the radicle thus 
endowed, and having the power of directing 
the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like 
the brain of one of the lower animals.” 
In the same way, plant tendrils seek and 
search out the best supports, after the manner 
of animal tentacles. When fully wound around 
a prop, they drag the body of the plant up after 
them. 
Practically all plants show a full knowledge 
of the importance of sunlight to their life pro- 
cesses. They usually strain all their energies 
and exert all their ingenuity in an effort to 
display as great a leaf surface as possible. That 
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