CHAPTER VI 
What Plants are Made of 
There is no rhyme which asks what trees are made of. 
Suppose we make one for ourselves: 
What is the green tree made of, made of? 
You know very well, in the tree lives the cell ; 
Cells are what trees are made of, made of! 
Yes, trees are made of living cells, just as all other 
plants are, and just as animals are. Do you remember 
what we called the jelly-like stuff of which the cell is 
made? Not such a hard word: Protoplasm. Open 
your eyes and ears now, for I am going to tell you some¬ 
thing wonderful. 
Plant protoplasm and animal protoplasm are one and 
the same! 
All living things come from the same beginning. Has 
your mother not read to you from the Bible how 
“All flesh is grass.” 
I never knew what that meant until I learned about 
protoplasm, and found that animal protoplasm and plant 
protoplasm are one and the same. To me, this is a very 
friendly and comforting thing, this thought that all the 
birds and beasts and flowers and trees began their lives 
as I began mine. Walking through the fields on some 
early morning in Spring, have you not had a wild, shy 
