PRODUCTIVE GARDENING 85 



plant, unlike the animal, has provided a special 

 mechanism — a unique laboratory — through which 

 it is able to manufacture from the crude salts in 

 watery solution, with the aid of another element 

 taken from the air, a new compound which will 

 serve the protoplasmic cell with food. 



That is to say, the plant organism as a whole 

 comprises a laboratory for compounding the 

 crude elements, which by themselves cannot be 

 used as nourishment, into a substance that can 

 be used as nourishment. 



Stated in slightly different terms, every well- 

 organized plant has a food factory as part of its 

 regular equipment. 



Here, indeed, is a difference and a vital one 

 between the plant and the animal. For no ani- 

 mal is equipped with such a food factory as this. 



And when we add that the food factory of the 

 plant is the only place in the world where food- 

 stuffs are manufactured, and that no animal of 

 any kind could live without nourishment that 

 was originally manufactured by some plant, the 

 vital importance of the matter will be manifest. 



The Plant's Food Factory 



Now, of course the plant in operating its won- 

 derful food factory is functioning to supply its 

 own needs. 



