The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-11-03

just near the purple cover
Now l'stfn-here are one, two, three
Wee little letters, don't you see?-
Their names are ID and and q:
They speN-now guess-Old Rover?
-SUdney Doyre, IN ~. Nicholas.
Plants and Anima s-Their ID ference.
If the question were put to you sud-
denly, what is the difference between
"A plant md an animal?" How do you
think you would answer? Stop minute,
and think. Do not be satisfied with say
ing that plant has leaves, and an ami
nal has not. Look deeper, and answer
more thoughtfully. There are many
plants which have no leaves, nos roots,
nor flowers, and there are some animals
which seem to have all these things. In
some cases they are so much alike that
it has taken the most careful study to
decide whether they are plants or AMI
mails.
Look up into the bright blue sky, md
then down at the solid earth beneath
your feet-you do not find any d 'fficuity
in telling, without taking moment to
think, which is sky and which is earth;
but if you are so happy as to live in the
Wiut open tounblys vi hCt'h bho 'Ses' VI
on lofty hill, look off and off aud of
until you see only the del cate bue
haze, like smoke, which divides the
heaven from the earth You can often
see the same thing by looking from the
upper windows of high house. You
will find that many and many time
you can not tell which is earth and
, which is air.
Just so it is in the world of nature.
You may look at a group of cows stand
ing under the trees, or watch the merry
little grasshoppers skipping about in
the weeds, or catch bee at his early
drink in morning glory bell, and you
would laugh il anybody would ask you
il YOU could tell the animal from the
plant. But get far enough away from
the common things, and study the ami
mails and plants that need your miCo-
scope to see them, and You would find
things so much alike that you could not
tell which was which. Many of these
plants have no roots nor leaves, no
flowers nor seed, and many of the ami
ma have no heads nor legs, no eyes,
nor mouths, nor stomachs. Now how
do you suppose anybody knows this?
People who study these things do not
guess-they know. The real difference
lies in what these tiny little creatures
do, not all how they are formed.
About three-fourths of the kinds
of sea-weed, for instance, are found to
be animal-not one animal, but a colo
ny The other fourth are vegetables.
All these used to be considered vege-
tables SO did the sponge and the coral
and the sea-anemones, and they ere all
now known to be amin is. Every time
you play the game of Twenty Cues
tons" you have to think and decide
whether the particular thing you have
chosen is animal, vegetable or miner
al" Have you any notion what makes
the real difference between them?
/ imagine that, sooner or later, You
will think and say the difference is that
animals can move and plants cannot.
That will be very sensible conclusion
if you do come to it, though not n cor
rect one, for plants do move, some of
them very much rs animals do; others,
and the greater number, in another
way; which all seems very wonderful,
| and which I want to talk over next time.
What makes the real deep. down diff
ference is this: Plants can live on min
eral matter alone, on earth and water
and air, and these things they can
change into their own flesh and blood,
their stems and sap and fruit. Ami
mails can only live on what the plants
have already turned from dead into liv-
ing material. We need water-that is
| ,,,l,o1>
minerals too, if we keep alive and well.
But we cannot live on these things
a one; we should soon die if we had no
! food and all really nourishng food, all
that keeps our blood warm and makes
us grow, has once been vegetable. Not
one bird, or fish, or animal, not one
single human being, could ever have
| lived on this earth. in the air, or in the
water, if the plants had not come first,
and prepared the earth for us to live in.
These are "sure enough" fairies that
are forever working their wonders for
us. The roots, like elves, grope down
in the earth, and gather it's treasures
the leaves stretch ont into the air, and
gather its riches, and out OF what they
have collected they weave the beautiful
flowers and delicious fruits and golden
grain.
should like to make very clear just
the way they do this; is very won
derful to study how they work their
spells. First, the root, rs we have seen
before, with it's little helmet, bores $
way down into the earth. If it finds
no water or damp earth it soon willis
and dies, but if it finds wet place Il
begins to soak up moisture. Beside
the water. it sncks up all the parts of
the earth that are dissolved in the
water. The water IT must have, and 1t
will manage to live while on that alone,
as DIR. Tanner did. but it can not live so
very long. Poor ground means ground
that has little or no plants or nc plant
food in it. l4h &c.,
You know, il Won ever did any gar
dening work, that you can stick q cut
ting of geranium or begonia into pure
sand that has no nourishmert at oil in
it, and that if you keep 1t well watered
the cutting will strike out roots and
bear leaves. This is, in fact, the best
way to start cuttings, for mold is lit
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