144 . 
3 
But before this broth is really quite fit for plant 
food, it needs even more preparation. 
Why do we eat and drink, do you supp®se°? 
“Because we are hungry.” Thatis\ tie direct: rea- 
son, of course. But we are made hungry so that we 
shall be forced to eat; for when we eat, we take into 
our bodies the material that is needed to build them 
up, —to feed the cells which make the flesh and bone 
and muscle. 
And this is just why the plant eats and drinks. It 
needs constantly fresh nourishment for its little cells, 
so that these can live, and grow strong enough to 
make the new cells which go to form, not bone and 
flesh and muscle, as with you children, but fresh roots 
and stem and leaves and flowers and fruits. 
If these little cells were not fed, they would die, and 
the plant would cease to live also. 
And now what do you think happens to the broth 
that has been taken in from the earth by the root 
hairs ? | 
As we have said, this broth needs a little more prep- 
aration before it is quite fit for plant food. What it 
really wants is some cooking. # 
Perhaps you can guess that the great fire before 
which all plant food is cooked is the sun. 
But how are the hot rays of the sun to pierce the 
earth, and reach the broth which is buried in the plant's 
root? 
Of course, if it remains in the root, the earth broth 
will not get the needed cooking. It must be carried 
to some more get-at-able position. 
