. Elements of agriculture, southern and western. Agriculture; Agriculture. THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS 55 The rich protein compounds in beans, peanuts, and cotton seed are primarily to support young plants. In one sense we are robbers of the plant kingdom, and must be in order to live. Roots, Stems, and Leaves. — Plants have roots to hold them upright in the soil and to gather moisture and food from the soil. The stems serve to hold the leaves up to sun and air. The stems, as you have seen, also contain ; little channels through which plant food and water are carried from the roots upward to the l
. Elements of agriculture, southern and western. Agriculture; Agriculture. THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS 55 The rich protein compounds in beans, peanuts, and cotton seed are primarily to support young plants. In one sense we are robbers of the plant kingdom, and must be in order to live. Roots, Stems, and Leaves. — Plants have roots to hold them upright in the soil and to gather moisture and food from the soil. The stems serve to hold the leaves up to sun and air. The stems, as you have seen, also contain ; little channels through which plant food and water are carried from the roots upward to the leaves. Then the finished chemical compounds made by the leaves pass back into every part of the plant. Tlie leaves, as we have seen, give off water, and take in carbonic acid gas. Plants as Chemists. — By means of the chloro- phyll, or green coloring matter, and sunlight, the leaf is able to make starch out of carbon and water. No human chemist can do this. Then the plant readily turns its starch into sugar. Cliemists can perform this feat, but they cannot turn sugar back into starch. The plant can do this. To the starch or sugar the plant makes, it adds a little sulphur, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which come up in the soil Fig. lO. —Fibrous Roots of Corn. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Welborn, W. C; Ness, H; Sanborn, Charles Emerson, 1877-; Marstellar, R. P. New York, The Macmillan company
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