6 Our Food Mollusks 



eties of cabbages, cauliflowers, brussels sprouts, kales, and 

 kohlrabis, that are so different from each other and from 

 their common parent, in the character of stem, root, leaf, 

 and flower, in size, and in color, that it is difficult to be- 

 lieve what is known to be true concerning their relation- 

 ships. Great changes equally useful to man, have also 

 been made in animals on which he has come to depend, 

 numerous examples of which will occur to any one. 



But these great results have been worked out on the 

 land. Is it possible to hope that the waters also may be 

 made productive in any similar manner? The available 

 land area will soon be occupied, but here is an immense 

 expanse of shallow water along our shores that has al- 

 ways yielded a large amount of food. Is it possible that 

 this also may be converted into fertile and productive 

 gardens and pastures ? 



Though man domesticated food organisms long before 

 recorded events began, as some prehistoric remains prove, 

 he has not yet seriously given his attention to the possi- 

 bilities of sea farming. It is true that along certain lines 

 immensely important results have been obtained, but that 

 it would be possible greatly to extend them is not to be 

 doubted. The whole subject is one that has been in- 

 sufficiently considered. It might be urged with some 

 show of reason that as yet there is no necessity for the 

 development of sea farming, because our land area is still 

 sufficient to meet all requirements of food production. 

 But within the next decade or two all of the wheat land 

 and probably all of the arable soil of the North American 

 continent, not covered by forests, will be occupied, and 

 while this is capable of supporting a population very much 

 larger than the present one, it would be the part of wis- 

 dom now to turn to the sea, in order to determine to what 



