THE CAMASSIA-WILL IT SUP 

 PLANT THE POTATO? 



AND OTHER TUBERS OF VALUE FOR FOOD 



FOR the most part plants are cultivated 

 for a single quality. 



If a plant produces beautiful flowers, we 

 do not usually demand that it shall also produce 

 valuable fruit. We do not ask that a plant which 

 produces a valuable fruit like the tomato shall 

 also produce tubers like the potato. It is only by 

 accident rather than by special design or selective 

 breeding on the part of man that a certain num- 

 ber of plants, notably some members of the rose 

 family, produce beautiful blossoms and delicious 

 fruits as well. 



The apple tree in full bloom is indeed a beau- 

 tiful object, but the apple would probably be 

 raised quite as generally as it is if its blossoms 

 were altogether unattractive. The Japanese, to 

 be sure, have developed the blossoms of their 

 fruits, but in so doing they have quite usually 

 neglected the quality of the fruit itself. 



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