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“I wonder,” said Fred, “whether Norah could tell the name for those things, which we dig out of the ground.”
“Oh, you mean minerals,” replied Norah, “like chalk, and clay, and salt, and stone.”
“Quite right,” said Fred. “But teacher showed us some things that are not minerals, although we get them out of the ground. Think of all the pretty flowers in the beds, the carrots, turnips, beans, and potatoes in the garden, the green grass, and the great tall trees.
“We get them all out of the ground, but they are not minerals. They live and grow in the ground. We call them plants. We know they live, because if we treat them badly we can see them die. Minerals lie in the ground, but they are not living things, and they do not grow. Plants are living, growing things.
“Let us look at some plant in the garden. We shall find that one part of it is not at all like another part. Teacher broke a stone with the hammer, and we saw that one piece of the stone is just the same as another. All minerals are like the stone in this. They have no distinct parts. But each part of the plant is unlike any other part, and has its own work to do.
“Look at this plant, and tell us, Norah, what parts of it you can see.”
“I can see the part that comes out of the ground, and rises up into the air,” said Norah.
“Yes,” said Fred, “that is the stem or stalk.”
“Then,” said Norah, “I can see the green leaves on the stalk.”
“Quite right, but is there no other part?”
“Oh, I know,” said Norah, “you mean the root, which we can’t see, because it is in the ground.”
“Don’t forget then,” said Fred, “that every plant must have a root, a stem, and leaves. The root feeds the plant.
“Now come to the gate, where the sweet-peas are growing over the arch,” said Fred again. “Can you see anything here that we did not see in the others?”
“Oh yes,” said Norah, “there are pretty flowers on these.”
“So there are,” said Fred, “and besides the flowers there are pods with seeds in them. These plants have been growing much longer than the others.”
“I see,” said Norah, “as soon as they began to grow they had a root, a stem, and leaves. When they got big, the flowers and the pods with their seeds came.”
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