STEMS 



I2 3 



with twigs of several kinds of trees and soft green 

 plants, as elm, maple, sunflower, corn, etc. It will 

 not be possible to blow through these twigs, but the 

 red water will rise through them by osmose, and in 

 a few hours will appear at the upper ends. If some 

 lea'ves are left on the stems the colored water will 

 appear in them. Some white flowers can be colored 

 in this way. 



In this manner the stem carries plant food dis- 

 solved in water from the roots to the leaves, and 

 after the leaves have digested it carries it back to 

 various parts of the plant. 



The stem then serves as a conductor or a passage 

 far food and moisture between roots and leaves. 



Visit a strawberry bed or search for wild straw- 

 berry plants. Notice that from the older and larger 

 plants are sent out long, slender, leafless stems with 

 a bud at the tip. These stems are called runners. 

 Find some runners that have formed roots at the 

 tip and have developed a tuft of leaves there, form- 

 ing new plants. Find some black raspberry plants 

 and notice that some of the canes have bent over 

 and taken root at the tips sending up a new shoot 

 and thus forming a new plant. You know how rap- 

 idly wire grass and Bermuda grass will overrun the 

 garden or farm. One way in which they do this is 

 by sending out underground stems which take root 

 at the joints and so form new plants. 



Another use of the stem then is to produce new 

 plants. 



On the farm we make use of this habit of stems 



