CHAPTER I 



PLANTS 



Plants and Animals. Everybody can tell a typical plant 

 from a typical animal. Maize is a typical plant ; so is 

 a tree or a bush. The carabao is a typical animal ; 

 dogs, birds, and insects are other typical animals. 



Plants cannot Move. Plants live all their lives in one 

 place ; while animals walk, or fly, or swim, or crawl. 

 Everybody knows why animals move. They move to 

 get food. 



Plants are living things, just as surely as animals are; 

 and since they are living things, they, too, must have 

 food. The food of plants must be made up of things 

 which are where the plants grow; or else the plants, 

 because they cannot move to get their food, would 

 starve. 



Foods of Plants. Water is one of the most impor- 

 tant foods for plants. There is water in the soil, and 

 the roots get this water for the plant. Dissolved in 

 this water are other foods which plants need. Plants 

 also get much food out of the air. One of the sub- 

 stances which make up the air is carbon dioxid. This 

 substance is injurious to animals, but a most important 

 food for plants. It is being formed all the time, by 

 the breathing of living thinirs, and bv the burninir of 



*> *D O - O 



wood, coal, and oil. 



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