NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



a potato may be bred to increase or decrease 

 its chief characters. The average potato is 

 composed of about seventy -five per cent 

 water and twenty -five per cent dry matter. 

 This latter is, broadly speaking, composed of 

 starch, protein and fat; though these two 

 latter elements are present in but small quan- 

 tities, the main body of the dry matter being 

 the starch. In the growing potato vine there 

 is a very large proportion of starch, larger than 

 either rice or corn, approximately eighty per 

 cent. 



Before considering the immediate plans of 

 Mr. Burbank in the improvement of the po- 

 tato as a table food, it will be of interest to 

 show something of the practical bearing of 

 his work upon the manufacturing possibilities 

 of the potato in the line of starch. The 

 seventy-five per cent of the potato which con- 

 sists of water may, from the manufacturing 

 point of view, be considered as largely waste, 

 or, if not waste, at least of no commercial 

 value. Very much of this waste may be re- 

 stored, negatively speaking, by driving out the 

 water and putting starch in its place. Mr. 

 Burbank's investigations have shown that it is 





