HOW PLANT8 GROW 63 



CHAPTEB Nil. Hon Plants Gbow 



63. Water Enters the Plant Through Its Boots.— We 

 hare learned in the, last chapter! what kind of food 

 plants require and where they get it Now the question 



. Bow doei the plant take up its food from the 

 soil and air? Through its roots and leaves, of course, 

 but how? The roots have the power of sucking the 

 moisture from the soil, through their root hairs, as de- 

 BCribed on page 39. Each little root hair is a minia- 

 ture well from which the water rises into the plant 



64. Mineral Matter Enters the Plant Through Its 

 Roots. — Most of the mineral matter in the soil is in the 

 form of solids, and, before it can enter the plant, must 

 be dissolved. Under the head of teaching you were told 

 how rain water dissolves various substances in the soil 

 and carries them of! to the lea. The water which the 

 roots of plants take in contains dissolved in it much 

 mineral matter, usually in the form of salts. In this 



;he plant can drink in its food dissolved in water. 

 But not all of the mineral matter is taken up by *he 

 plant in this manner. All plants, you know, contain a 

 liquid called sap. No doubt you have all seen it oozing 

 out of a cut in mm tree or plant The sap which goes- 

 down into the roots can dissolve some minerals which 

 cannot, and it acts on the small fragments of 

 mineral with which the root hairs come in contact Fig. 

 8, page 41, shows how the root hairs are covered by fine 

 particles of mineral matter, which are being dissolved 



