THE WORK OF THE VASCULAR BUNDLE 269 
absorbed from the soil by the root hairs, is passed by osmosis 
to the slender cells in the roots, and from there up through the. 
stem and to the leaves, where it is used in photosynthesis. 
After the food made by photosynthesis^ is digested and 
thereby made ready for the use of the plant, some of it is 
carried down through the phloem part of the vascular bundle 
to such parts of the plant as need it. There is in this a like¬ 
ness to the circulation of animals in which fresh blood is 
carried in one set of vessels and blood that needs renewing 
in another set. The liquid which is carried in the vessels 
of plants is commonly called sap, and when a plant is broken, 
and the sap exudes, we speak of it as bleeding. 
HOME WORK —STEMS 
1. Examine the house you live in to learn, if possible, the kinds 
of lumber used for the floors, for the casings, and for the doors. What 
kinds do you like best ? Why ? 
2. Examine all the wooden furniture and answer the same 
questions. 
3. Examine the different kinds of matting. Of what is each 
made? Examine linoleum. Of what is it made? 
4. Examine the wicker furniture. Of what is it made? What 
is rattan? Bamboo? 
5. Examine your “straw” hat. Of what is it made? How? 
6. Examine the doormat. Was it made from any part of the 
stem of a plant? 
7. Examine the clothes-basket and the market-basket, and the 
sewing-basket, and try to decide from what each was made. 
8. Examine a trunk, a box, a barrel, a pail, a picture-frame, a 
harness, a wagon, an automobile, a fence, telegraph poles, paving 
blocks, corks, and toys of various kinds, to find what parts of them 
are made from wood, and what kinds of wood are used. 
9. Make a list of all the other things, as spools, that are made of 
wood. 
10. What substitutes for wood do you find? In what respects 
are they better? in what respects inferior to wood? 
11. How is paper made? 
12. What is celluloid? 
13. Where is thatch used? 
