192 STEMS 



because internal or external conditions or both cause such 

 doing. So far as we know, its responses are automatic ; 

 certainly they are not guided by any intention of the 

 plant's own. 



Some expressions have been used in this book which may 

 have misled you in this matter. Such, for example, is the 

 expression in the preceding section, " the plant appears to 

 prepare for spring," or, farther back, " the plant seems 

 to be trying to save its life." The only thing which saves 

 such expressions from being wrong is the use of words like 

 seems or appears, and even with such quahfication such 

 expressions are apt to be misleading. Yet we find it diffi- 

 cult to speak or write about plants without using such ex- 

 pressions. The things we observe about plants look to 

 us as though they were intended by the plant, but this is 

 chiefly because we are in the habit of judging the behavior 

 of plants by the behavior of animals, including ourselves. 

 We do this unconsciously. We have our own relation to 

 the world in mind instead of theirs, but the world is a very 

 different place to a plant from what it is to us. In attempt- 

 ing to explain plants, we take our own point of view instead 

 of theirs, yet even to suggest that plants have a point of 

 view is to make a wrong implication. However, it is not 

 important that our speech about plants should be abso- 

 lutely free of expressions which imply wrong conceptions. 

 The thing which is important is that -we should not have the 

 wrong conceptions which our speech may imply. 



B. Substances Accumulated. — -If a plant manufactures 

 more food than it uses, or if it takes in more water than it 

 uses or gives off, under such circumstances food or water 

 or both necessarily accumulate. Sometimes such surplus 



