I used to think, when I first learnt this beautiful lesson, that every part
of a plant was useful in purifying the air, and also that plants are always
busy at this purifying work, and so I liked to keep geraniums and fuchsias
in my room at night, for I thought that while I was asleep they would keep
the air fresh and sweet. But now I know--for as long as we live in this
world we can always be learning--that it is only in the daytime, when there
is light, that a plant can keep the air pure, by using up what we have
spoilt for our own use, and giving away what is good for us to breathe; and
also that, it is only the green part of it that has the power to take out
of the air the carbonic acid which we are constantly breathing into it,
using the carbon for its own food, and giving the oxygen back into the air
for our use; the parts which are not green, such as the roots and flowers,
breathe just as animals do, and spoil the air for us instead of making it
more fit for us to breathe.
You never thought, did you, that you help to feed the trees, and to keep
them alive and green, and that the trees and grass in their turn help to
keep you alive?
We were saying the other day how a ray of light will come through a little
round hole in the shutters when they are closed, or by any cranny through
which it can force its way. As long as that one ray is shining into the
darkened room you may watch the little grains of dust, like bright specks,
dancing up and down in it.
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