ON GARDENING 



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 very vital 

 one between the plant and the animal. For no 

 animal 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 an hour 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. 



[25] 



