XXII 



THE MENTALITY AND SPIRITUALITY OF PLANTS 



And 'tis my faith that every flower 

 Enjoys the air it breathes! 



WORDSWORTH. 



I 1ST the preceding chapters numerous characteris- 

 tics of members of the plant kingdom have 

 been considered in comparison with similar charac- 

 teristics of the human kingdom. It has been shown 

 that plants eat and drink, sleep and wake, climb, 

 walk, run, swim, fish, hunt, and set traps ; that they 

 see, hear, feel, taste, and smell ; that they keep and 

 pay servants, own slaves, and employ many kinds 

 of fighting forces; that they have their courtships 

 and marriages, and systematically reproduce their 

 kind; that they have strong parental instincts, and 

 care and provide for their children; that they have 

 developed to a science the arts of bribery, mimicry, 

 and trickery; that they carry on a continual ex- 

 change and barter, and work according to business 

 contracts ; and, finally, that they leave behind them 

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