ae 
ot ear Ss eae 
CHAPTER III 
VARIOUS FOOD-PLANTS 
32. Classes of food-plants. Having in the last chapter 
learned something of the uses and importance of the cereal 
grains, we may now profitably compare with them other food- 
plants many of which are almost as valuable as cereals al- 
though in different ways. It will be convenient to study them 
under the following headings: nuts, pulse, earth-vegetables, 
herbage-vegetables, fruit-vegetables, fruits, and miscellaneous 
food-plants. 
33. Nuts have, like grains, an edible kernel; but this is 
generally much larger than in any grain, and is moreover 
protected by a much thicker and harder shell. The chestnut 
(Figs. 24-26), the filbert (Fig. 23), the walnut (Fig. 27), the 
butternut (Fig. 28), the hickory-nut (Fig. 30), the pecan 
(Fig. 29), the almond (Fig. 31), the peanut (Fig. 33), the 
Brazil-nut (Fig. 32), and the coconut (Figs. 34-36), plainly 
agree in possessing the peculiarities named, although they 
differ considerably from one another. 
In view of the fact that nuts possess such large edible 
kernels, and are some of them even richer than the cereals 
in proteid, the question naturally arises as to why, with us, 
nuts are so much less used for food than the grains. The 
many years which must often elapse between the time of 
planting and the fruit-yield, the much greater bulk in pro- 
portion to food-material which they occupy when stored, 
and the additional labor required for separating the nutritive 
from the inedible part, are doubtless the drawbacks which 
very largely account for the inferior rank of nuts in our 
market; but there are also chemical reasons which will be 
apparent upon consulting the chart on page 114. With the 
exception of the chestnut, all we have mentioned contain an 
35 
