Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-10-22
eATGRs o. cARgoN.
frees aud riant. Grew Ont ~ the Air.
Not from tho GrauHd.

frees aud Plants Grow ont ~ tho Az.
Sot from tho Ground.
Take au ordinary aeltzcr water 6lphon
snd empty u till only u icw drops ~.
main in tho bottom. Then the bottle d,
full Of gas. aud that ga. which will
rush ont with a tpurt when you press
tho knob, Is tho stun that plauts eat
raw material Of life. both animal and
vegetable The trco grows gud lives by
taking IN tho carbouic acid from the air
aud Hohlifying "a carbon, the animal
grows aud lives by taking tine solIdihcl
carbon from the plant and converting It
once more into carbonic acid
That. Ia it, Ideally simple form. Is the
HAD IN nutshell the core and kernel
q biology. The whole cycle OF life Is
one eternal sceiaw First tho plant col
lccts rs carbon compounds from tho air
In the oxilizod state. II dooxidizes and
rubuilds them, and then the animal pro
cceds 20 bGrn them by slow combustion
within ith own body aud 20 turn them
loose upou tho air onee more oIidizcd
After which the plant starts again on
the same ronl o. before, and the animal
also tcoomnonoo, da capo, Aud 20 on
al inluitmn.
But the point which I want pariicu.
larly 10 emphasize hero IS just thia, That
trees aud plants don't grow out Of the
ground at all. ~ most people do yaiuly
talk, hut directly out Of tho air. and
that when they die or get consumed
thoy return once more to tho atmosphere
from which they were taken. Trees an.
doniably eat carbon.
OF course, therefore, all tho ordinary
unsciontihc conceptions OF how plants
feed are absoluiely erroneous. Vegetable
physiology indeed got beyond those
conceptions u good hundred years ago.
But IL usually takes a hundred ycara for
the world ut large to make up IT, Ice.
way. Trees don't fuek up their nutri.
ment by the roots, they don't derive
their food from tho soil. thoy don't neod
TO be fed like babies through tube with
terrestrial solida The solitary instance
Of an orchid hung up by string In u
conservatory on piece Of bark ought 10
bo sufficient ut onco to dispel forever
this strange dolusion-if people ever
thought; but. OF course, they don't think
i mean other people.
The true moutha and stoinachs Of
plants are not 20 be found In the roots,
but Ia the green leaves; their true food
Is not sucked up from tho soil, but IL In.
hailed through tiny channels from tho
air; tho mas of their material Is carbon,
as We can all SEQ visihly 10 tho naked eye
when a log Of wood Is reduced to char
coal. and that carbon tho leaves them.
selves drink In by thousand small
green mouths from the atmosphere
around them.
But how about the juice, the sap, the
qualities Of the soil, the manure required.
is tho incrodulous cry Of other people.
What Is the use Of tho roots, and espe.
clally Of tho rootlets, II they are not the
mouths and supply tubes OF tho plantsl
Well. plainly perceive | can get mo
forradcf," like tho farmer with his claret,
till I've answered that question, pro
yisionally At least - | win say here at
once, without further ado, that the plant
requires drink as well as food. and the
roots arc tho mouths that supply 1t with
water
They also suDN up few other things
~ woll. which arc necessary indeed, but
FAR from forming tho bulk Of the nutri.
ment. Many planu, however. don't
need any roots at al. whilo mono can
got ON without loayea as mouths aud
siomacha-that Is 90 say, no true plant.
like plants, for some parasite plants ARE
practically 10 an iuthnts and purposes
animgls To put 1t briefly, avery plant
has one VET Of aerial mouths to suck q
carbon, and many plants have another
set Of sub,orranean mouths as well, to
suck NJ water aud mineral constituents