FOOD. 81 



211. The peculiar property of the cane is sweetness ; if 

 grown in the shade it is insipid and watery, and not much 

 better than a corn-stalk. By the influence of light and 

 heat its saccharine properties are fully developed. Thus 

 we see that tlie sunlight makes the aloe more bitter, the 

 cane sweeter, the lemon sourer, the melon more juicy, the 

 pepper more pungent, the vanilla more fragrant, the grass 

 greener, tlie wood harder. I have told you that cellular 

 tissue decays rapidly; so does the timber when this pre- 

 dominates. 



212. As light increases the growth of woody tissue, so 

 darkness develops cellular; consequently the mushroom, 

 which is composed entirely of cellular tissue, grows only in 

 the night; though it will never develop spores, or seed 

 vessels, without the agency of light.* 



CHAPTER X. 



Food, 



213. You have been told that the organs of nutrition 

 were the spongioles and leaves. The former take up food 

 from the earth, converting solids into fluids, which, mix- 

 ing with the sap, is conveyed to all parts of the plant, 

 w^hile the leaves take in through their pores gases and 



* 'What influence this fact has in the common practice of planting certain crop? in the in- 

 crease of the moon, and others in the decrease, may possibly be worth investigation. 



211. Give some examples of the effect of sunshine in developing peculiar pro- 

 perties. 



212. What tissue grows best in darkness ? Will mushrooms develop spores 

 (seeds) in the dark ? 



213. What have you been told of the organs of nutrition ? 



4* 



