How plants help us: observing things about us. (1954)

foreign [Music] steve was not very fond of plants one of his jobs was to weed the lawn and it was a job that steve didn't like very much the harder it was to get the weeds up the less steve liked them and the more he thought that plants were just a terrible nuisance but then who should come along with the mailman now there was nothing so unusual about this but today there was a postcard for steve steve began to feel happier until he read the card dear steve do you remember our talk about helpful plants one of mine has a fine present all ready for you come and visit the farm soon uncle ben helpful plants that was just like uncle ben steve knew there was nothing helpful about weeds he didn't think there could be such a thing as a helpful plant but if we look around steve's front yard we can find quite a few helpful plants can't we well by the time steve had done his weeding for the day he was curious about what uncle ben had for him so with mother's permission he started off to uncle ben's to find out about that helpful plant but he was still pretty cross about the weeds so he didn't even notice all the useful plants he was passing on the way by the time steve reached the edge of town he was pretty hot so he decided to stop and cool off in the shade of a big tree shaved that's what trees are good for steve thought and for climbing and of course he knew that a tree is a plant the tree he could see mrs jones working in her garden of course that's hard work but these are helpful plants aren't they vegetables for us to eat and look some of them are for sale let's see we eat the roots of some vegetables potatoes and carrots and beets and the leaves of others cabbage and lettuce some vegetables grow seeds that we eat such as beans and corn we eat the stems of broccoli and celery and these vegetables we eat are really the seed pods of plants steve decided that vegetables are pretty helpful plants he wondered if uncle ben was going to give him some vegetables well he just had to go on and find out but he went slower now and he kept watching for ways that plants help us look a new house a house made of wood and wood you know comes from trees what else could steve see that was made of wood there's a picket fence and the telephone poles then steve thought of another way trees help us did you know that paper and cardboard are made from wood yes trees are useful in many ways aren't they but surely uncle ben didn't mean to give steve anything made of wood or paper so he wrote on thinking about helpful plants why look bicycle tires are made of rubber does rubber come from a plant rubber trees grow in faraway lands where it is hot and moist rubber is made from the sap of these trees do you know what plant this is this is cotton when the fluffy balls of cotton have been combed they are spun into thread and woven into cloth cotton is made into all sorts of clothing and strong long-wearing play clothes too can you think of other kinds of cloth that come from plants well steve didn't think long about cloth he saw some cows in a pasture and he began to think about milk now milk doesn't come from plants but what are the cows eating why grass of course and grass is a plant pigs furnish us with meat and what do they eat corn that's a plant and chickens that give us fried chicken or scrambled eggs they eat grain from plants by the time steve reached uncle ben's farm he was thinking that plants can be mighty helpful how many ways do you see that plants are helpful here the table is made of wood from uh what steve drank milk from a cow that ate what and he ate fresh bread made from do you know how bread is made well one of the things uncle ben grows on the farm is wheat when the wheat is ripe it is harvested the hard dry seeds are taken from the stalks at the mill the wheat seeds are poured into huge machines they are cleaned and crushed and ground into tiny tiny bits of flour at the end we can see the sack being filled with flour from the mill at the bakery the flour is mixed with milk and butter and yeast then it is baked into bread so you see we need plants so we can have bread too but steve was enjoying his bread and milk so much that he almost forgot why he had come to the farm but when uncle ben came over from the barn steve remembered what was uncle ben going to give him well first they looked around the farm together they looked at the cornfield where uncle ben grew food for his cows for next winter but steve didn't want any corn they looked at the apple orchard and saw how many apples there were on the trees steve would agree that the apple tree is a helpful plant but it wasn't the one uncle ben wrote about then they looked at some new trees uncle ben had planted but he didn't give steve a tree finally uncle ben showed steve some plants he had never seen before they didn't look like much to steve they didn't have any berries or seed pods do you know what they are peanuts so that was the present one of the helpful plants had for steve there were enough peanuts here for a couple of boys so after steve had roasted the peanuts at home he and his brother enjoyed them [Music] and that's how steve learned about some of the many ways that plants help us now can you think of other ways [Music]