16 Southern Gardener^s Practical Manual 



own sphere but in perfect harmony with and depen- 

 dence upon the others. The microscope reveals the fact 

 that the growth of the plant is an intricate process of 

 cell -building. While the plant possesses no venal or 

 arterial system for the circulation of its vital fluids such 

 as animals have, it possesses a closely analogous inter- 

 cellular circulation. 



Plants take their food either in a liquid solution or 

 as gas — the former through minute root -hairs on the 

 growing parts of the roots, the latter through micro- 

 scopic openings (stomata) in the leaf surface. This 

 food is not assimilable when taken into the circulation, 

 but must undergo a process in the economy of the 

 plant similar to that of digestion in the animal. 



After the seed has been subjected to the requisite 

 influence of warmth, moisture and air to vitalize its 

 germ, the plantlet utilizes the material stored in the 

 seed-capsules in equipping itself with roots, stems and 

 leaves preparatory to performing all of the functions 

 of a complete individual plant. 



The following feeding process now takes place: The 

 minute root-hairs absorb, from the soil with which they 

 come in contact, moisture in which appropriate food has 

 been dissolved. This is conveyed by capillary force 

 through the cellular structure of the root and stem to the 

 leaves, where a part of the moisture carrying the solution 

 is exhaled into the air. The solution thus becomes more 

 dense than that entering the leaves, and the process 

 known as diffusion of liquids begins. The changes which 

 have taken place in the leaves have converted the crude 

 sap-fluid taken in by the roots into prepared, digested or 



