The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1891-10-30
EATERS OF cAssoM.

EATERS or CARBON.
Frees anA P1ants Grow Out OF the Ar
Not from the Ground.
Take IA ordinary seltzsr water siphonE
and empty It till only a fewdrops no
main in the bottom. Then the bottle IL
full Of gas, aud that gas. which viii
rush out with . spurt when you press
the knob. Il tho stun that plants eat.
raw material OF lie. both animal and
vegetable. Tho tree grows and hves By
taking In the carbonic acid from the iar'
and solidifying it, carbon; the animal
grows and lives BY taking the solidi6ed
carbon from the plant and converting e.
nee more into carbonic acid.
That, in its ideally simple form, Il the
Nad In . nutshell. the core and kernel
Of biology. The whole cycle Of lie f.
n eternal seesaw. First the plant col.
lects its carbon compounds from the air
In the oxidized state: IL deoxidixes and
rebuilds them. and then the animal pro
eeeds to burn them BY allow combustion
within its own body and to turn them
loose upon tbs air once more oxidized.
After which the plant starts again on
the same road ~ before. and the animal
also recom,nences da capo. And 70 on
I'D minimum.
But the point which ! want particu.
larly to emphasize here Is just this: That
trees and plants don't grow out Of the
ground ut all, ~ most people do vainly
talk, but directly out Of the air, and
that when they die or get consumed
they return once moro to tho atmosphere
from which they wers taken. Trees un-
denisbly eat carbon.
OF course. therefore, all the ordinary
unscientiHc conceptions Of how plants
feed are absolutely erroneous. Vegetable
physiology indeed got beyond those
conceptions q good hundred years ago.
But it usually takes . hundred years for
the world at large to make up its lee
way. Trees don't suck up their nutri-
ment by the roots, they don't derive
their food from the soil. they don't need
to be fed like babies through . tube with
terrestrial solids. The solitary instance
Of an orchid hung up BY . string In .
conservatory OF a piece Of bark ought to
be sufficient at once to dispel forever
this strange delusion-if people g
thought: but, Of course, they don't think
II mean other people.
The true mouths and stomachs Of
plants are not to be found in the roots,
but In the green leaves; their true food
is not sucked up from the soil, but " In
hailed through tiny channels from the
air: the mass of their material Is carbon
Is we can all sec visibly to the naked eye
when q log of wood is reduced to char
coal. and that carbon the leaves them
selves drink In by . thousand small
green mouths from the atmosphere'
around them.
Bnt how about the juice. the sap, the
qualities Of the soil. the manure required,
is tho incredulous cry of other people.
| What is the use of the roots, and espe-
cially Of the rootlets. II they are not the
mouths and supply tubes Of the plantss
Well. l plainly perceive l can get mo
forrader," like the farmer with his claret,
till I've answered that question, pro.
visionally at least; 80 I will say here at
once. without further ado, that the plant
requires drink as we'll as food and the
roots are the mouths that supply it with
water.
They also suck up q few other things
a. well, which are necessary indeed. but
far from forming the bulk Of the nutri-
ment. Many plants, however, ion't
need any roots at all. while none can
get on without leaves a. mouths and
stomachs-that ia to say, no true plant
like plants. for ON parasite plants are
practically to all iatents and purposes
animals. To put it briefly, every plant
has one set Of aerial mouths to suck q
carbon, and many plants have another
set Of s%ubterranean mouths a. well, to
suck up water and mineral constituents
-Cornhin Magazine.