630 SOME OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 
ing facts relative to the food plants of our North American aborigines. 
Among the plants described by him there are a few which merit care- 
ful investigation. Against all of them, however, there le the objec- 
tions mentioned before, namely: 
(1) The long time required for their improvement, and 
(2) The difficulty of making them acceptable to the community, in- 
volving 
(5) The risk of total and mortifying failure. 
In the notes to this address the more prominent of these are enumer- 
ated. 
In 1854 the late Prof. Gray called attention to the remarkable rela: 
tions which exist between the plants of Japan and those of our Kastern 
coast. You will remember that he not only proved that the plants of 
the two regions had a common origin, but also emphasized the fact that 
many species of the two countries are almost identical. It is to that 
country which has yielded us so many useful and beautiful plants that 
we turn for new vegetables to supplement our present food resources. 
One of these plants, namely, Stachys, has already been mentioned as 
rather promising. There are others which are worth examination and 
perhaps acquisition. 
One of the most convenient places for a preliminary examination of 
the vegetables of Japan is at the railroad stations on the longer lines, 
for instance, that running from Tokio to Kobe. For native consump- 
tion there are prepared luncheon boxes of two or three stories, pro- 
vided with the simple and yet embarrassing chopsticks. It is worth 
the shock it causes one’s nerves to invest in these boxes and try the 
vegetable contents. The bits of fish, flesh, and fowl, which one finds 
therein can be easily separated and discarded, upon which there will 
remain afew delicacies. The pervading odor of the box is that of aro- 
matic vinegar. The generous portion of boiled rice is of excellent 
quality, with every grain well softened and distinct, and this without 
anything else would suffice for a tolerable meal. In the boxes which 
have fallen under my observation there were sundry boiled roots, shoots, 
color and even in flayor; being exceedingly acid, almost unpalatable until they are 
bitten by frost of autumn, when they are sweetened and their flavor delicious, hav- 
ing to the taste much the character of grapes, and I am almost to think would pro- 
duce excellent wine.” (George Catlin’s illustrations and manners, customs, and con- 
dition of the North American Indians, vol.1, p. 72.) 
For much relative to the food of our aborigines, especially of the western coast, 
consult the Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, by H. H. Ban- 
croft (New York), 1875. The following, from vol. 1, p. 538, indicates that inacecura- 
cies have crept into the work: ‘* From the earliest information we have of these 
nations” (the author is speaking of the New Mexicans), ‘‘they are known to have 
been tillers of the soil; and though the implements used and their methods of eulti- 
vation were both simple and primitive, cotton, corn, wheat, beans, and many varie- 
ties of fruits which constituted their principal food were raised in abundance.” 
Wheat was not grown on the American continent until after the landing of the 
first explorers. 
