The Story -Book of the Fields 



reaches the leaves with a load of carbon, 

 taken from the body of an animal, from a 

 lighted cinder, or from putrefying matter ; 

 it gives this up to the plant and starts again 

 for a fresh harvest. 



It is in this way that the atmosphere 

 remains healthy, in spite of the immense 

 torrents of carbonic gas that are uninter- 

 ruptedly poured into it. The plant feeds 

 on the fatal gas. Under the influence of the 

 sunlight it decomposes it into carbon, which 

 it retains for its own substance, and into air 

 for breathing, which it restores to the atmo- 

 sphere. Wood, sugar, starch, flour, gum, 

 resin, oil, and everything else provided by 

 plants, come from carbon combined with 

 other substances. Thus the animal and the 

 plant provide mutual support ; the animal 

 produces carbonic gas which feeds the plant, 

 and the plant turns this noxious gas into 

 breathable air and food. In a double way 

 our life depends on the plants, for they 

 purify the atmosphere and provide our food. 



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