FOOD FOR PLANTS 
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plant foods which they get from the soil. A 
tree is such a big thing that it needs an enormous 
amount of food. It sends its roots out a great 
distance on all sides in search of nourishment. 
These roots are so greedy that they do not leave 
anything in the soil for the other plants. Smaller 
plants can be helped by using fertilizer. It 
supplies the minerals which plants need. We 
must use a generous amount of fertilizer in 
shady places because, of course, the tree will 
take some of that too. A good dose of bone 
meal once a year will do a great deal for plants 
that are struggling to grow in shady places. 
All honest plants make their own food and wh at p i ants are 
can be told by their green leaves. The plants pirates? 
which steal their food are pirates and have lost 
their green color. There are not a great many 
of these pirates or parasites as they are called. 
The mistletoe, which grows in the southern 
states, is one of these dishonest plants. It drops 
its seeds on the bark of trees and, instead of 
sending its roots into the ground as any honest 
plant would do, it sends them into the tree, 
