PLANTS AND MEN 
Fodder plants, calculated to furnish food for 
man’s domestic animals, were the next to re- 
ceive attention, and following those, medical 
plants, edible fruits, garden vegetables and 
aromatic leaves and seeds, such as Tea and 
Coffee, came to the fore. 
When we consider that plants display 
superior powers in so many directions and, as 
F. L. Sargent says, “do to perfection so many 
things we cannot do at all,” it is really remark- 
able that man has so completely subjected them 
to his will. Because of their static condition, 
they are quite helpless in his hands. He levels 
their grandest forests and purns their widest 
prairies. Certain plants he makes his pets, fight- 
ing their enemies and nurturing them in the 
most careful way. The tender Wheat would 
never be able to occupy the vast stretches it 
does through its own strength. Under man’s 
guidance and protection, its volume is increased 
a thousand fold. 
The vast changes which human efforts make 
in the surface of the earth have a correspond- 
ingly important effect on vegetation. Every 
time a tract of woods is cut down, every time a 
[217] 
