CHAPTER III. 
WHY PLANTS GROW, WHAT THEY ARE MADE FOR, AND WHAT THEY DO 
261. We have now become acquainted with all the organs of plants, both those 
concerned in their life and growth, or vegetation, and those concerned in multiplying 
their numbers, that is, in reproduction. The first being the root, stem, and leaves ; 
the second, the flowers (essentially the stamens and pistils), with their result, fruit 
and seed. We have learned, also, how plants grow from the seed, produce part 
after part, branch after branch, and leaf after leaf, and at length blossom and go to 
seed. We see that plants, with their organs, that is, instruments, are a kind of liv- 
ing machines at work ; and it is now time to ask, How they operate, What they bring 
to pass, and What is the object or the result of their doings. Such questions as these, 
young people, with their curiosity awakened, would be likely to ask, and they 
ought to be answered. To understand these things completely, one must know 
something of chemistry and vegetable anatomy,* — which we do not propose here 
to teach. But a general account of the matter may be given in a simple way, 
which shall be perfectly intelligible, and may give a clear idea of the purpose which 
plants were created to fulfil in the world, and how they do it. Let us begin by 
considering 
262. Tile Plant in Action, Take any living plant, — it matters not what one, — 
and consider what it is doing. For greater simplicity, take some young plant or 
seedling, where vegetation goes on just as in a full-grown herb or tree, only on a 
smaller scale. The plant is 
263. Absorbing, or drawing in what it lives upon, from the soil and the air. This 
is moisture, air, and other matters which the rain, as it soaks into the ground, may 
have dissolved on its way to the roots. It is by the roots, lodged in the damp soil, 
that most of the moisture which plants feed upon is taken in, and with this they 
always get some earthy matter. This earthy matter makes the ashes which are 
left after burning a piece of wood, a leaf, or any part of a plant. Moisture is 
* After studying this chapter, the pupil will be ready to learn more of the subject in the Lessons in 
Botany and Vegetable Physiology. Lessons 22, 23, 24, and 25 treat of Vegetable Anatomy; and Lesson 
26, of the Plant doing its work. 
