POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 61 



the total rmm'ber of species of flowering plants utilized to any- 

 considerable extent by man in his civilized state does not exceed, 

 in fact it does not quite reach, one per cent. 



The disproportion between the plants which are known and 

 those which are used becomes much greater when we take into 

 account the species of flowerless plants also. Of the five hundred 

 ferns and their allies we employ for other than decorative pur- 

 poses only five ; the mosses and liverworts, roughly estimated at 

 five hundred species, have only four which are directly used by 

 man. There are comparatively few algae, fungi, or lichens which 

 have extended use. 



Therefore, when we take the flowering and flowerless together, 

 the percentage of utilized plants falls far below the estimate 

 made for the flowering alone. 



Such a ratio between the number of species known and the 

 number used justifies the inquiry which I have pro^Dosed for dis- 

 cussion at this name — namely, Can the short list of useful jDlants 

 be increased to advantage ? If so, how ? 



This is a practical question ; it is likewise a very old one. In 

 one form or another, by one people or another, it has been asked 

 from early times. In the dawn of civilization, mankind inher- 

 ited from savage ancestors certain plants, which had been found 

 amenable to simple cultivation, and the products of these plants 

 supplemented the spoils of the chase and of the sea. The ques- 

 tion which we ask now was asked then. "Wild plants were exam- 

 ined for new uses; primitive agriculture and horticulture ex- 

 tended their bounds in answer to this inquiry. Age after age 

 has added slowly and cautiously to the list of cultivable and 

 utilizable plants, but the aggregate additions have been, as we 

 have seen, comparatively slight. 



The question has thus no charm of novelty, but it is as prac- 

 tical to-day as in early ages. In fact, at the present time, in view 

 of all the appliances at the command of modern science, and 

 under the strong light cast by recent biological and technological 

 research, the inquiry which we propose assumes great impor- 

 tance. One phase of it is being attentively and sj^stematically 

 regarded in the great experiment stations, another phase is 

 being studied in the laboratories of chemistry and pharmacy, 

 while still another presents itself in the museums of economic 

 botany. 



Our question may be put in other words, which are even more 

 practical. What present likelihood is there that our tables may, 

 one of these days, have other vegetables, fruits, and cereals than 

 those which we use now ? What chance is there that new fibers 

 may supplement or even replace those which we spin and weave, 

 that woven fabrics may take on new vegetable colors, that 



