SOME OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 627 
cabbages, while other kinds, with large branching leaves which never 
form heads, are distinguished by the name of borecole or kale. 
“In some kinds the flower stems have been so modified by culture 
as to become transformed into a thick, fleshy, tender mass, the growth 
and enlargement of which are produced at the expense of the flowers 
which are absorbed and rendered abortive. Such are the broceolis 
and cauliflowers.” 
But this plant has other transformations. ‘In other kinds the leaves 
retain their ordinary dimensions, while the stem or principal root has 
been brought by cultivation to assume the shape of a large ball or tur- 
nip, as in the case of the plants known as Kohl-Rabi and turnip-rooted 
cabbage or Swedish turnip. And lastly, there are varieties in which 
cultivation and selection have produced modifications in the ribs of the 
leaves, as in the Couve Tronchuda, or in the axilary shoots (as in Brus- 
sels sprouts), or in several organs together, as in the marrow kales, 
and the Neapolitan curled kale.” 
Here are important morphological changes like those to which Prof. 
Bailey has called attention in the case of the tomato. 
Suppose we are strolling along the beach at some of the seaside re- 
sorts of France, and should fall in with this coarse, cruciferous plant, 
with its sprawling leaves and strong odor. Would there be anything 
in its appearance to lead us to search for its hidden merits as a food 
plant? What could we see in it which would give it a preference over 
a score of other plants at our feet? Again, suppose we are journeying 
in the highlands of Peru, and should meet with a strong-smelling 
plant of the night-shade family, bearing a small, irregular fruit of sub- 
acid taste and of peculiar flavor. We will further imagine that the 
peculiar taste strikes our fancy, and we conceive that the plant has 
possibilities as a source of food. We should be led by our knowledge 
of the potato, probably a native of the same region, to think that this 
allied plant might be safely transferred to a northern climate, but would 
there be promise of enough future usefulness in such a case as this to 
warrant our carrying the plant north as an article of food? Suppose, 
further, we should ascertain that the fruit in question was relished not 
only by the natives of its home, but that it had found favor among the 
tribes of South Mexico and Central America, and had been cultivated 
by them until it had attained a large size, should we be strengthened 
in our venture? Let us go one step further still. Suppose that having 
decided upon the introduction of the plant, and having urged every- 
body to try it, we should find it discarded as a fruit, but taking a place 
in gardens as a curiosity under an absurd name, or as a basis for pre- 
serves and pickles; should we not look upon our experiment in the in- 
troduction of this new plant as a failure? This is not a hypothetical 
case, 
Was 
