372 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



salts. From 70 to 83 per cent, of the bulk of the potato is 

 water ; of starch, from 12 to 18 per cent. ; sugar, from 3 to 

 10 per cent. ; of mineral salts, chiefly potash, from 1 to 3 

 per cent. 



Cellular tissue is the framework of plant growth, and 

 forms, in many vegetables, very valuable food material. 

 " Cellular tissue," says Miller, " constitutes the ground- 

 work of every plant, and when obtained in a pure state its 

 composition is the same, whatever may have been the nature 

 of the plants which furnished it, though it may vary greatly 

 in appearance and physical character. Thus, it is loose and 

 spongy in succulent shoots of germinating seeds, and in the 

 roots of plants, such as the turnip and the potato ; it is 

 porous and elastic in the pith of the rush and the elder ; it 

 is flexible and tenacious in the fibres of hemp and flax ; it is 

 compact in the branches and wood of growing trees ; and 

 becomes very hard and dense in the shells of the filbert, the 

 peach, the cocoanut, and the phytelephas or vegetable ivory." 



Roots furnish valuable foods, such as the carrot, parsnip, 

 turnip and beet. They all have nitrogenous matter, cellular 

 tissue, starch, sugar and mineral salts. They are cooked 

 by boiling or steaming to soften the cellular tissue and cook 

 the starch. They have about 83 per cent, of water and a 

 varying amount of starch, sugar and salts. 



The herbaceous foods, like the cabbage, spinach, rhubarb, 

 onion, asparagus, lettuce and celery, are valued for their 

 succulent character and the vegetable salts they contain. 

 Some are eaten raw, like the lettuce and celery ; others are 

 boiled. 



Fruits and berries are of great value as accessory foods. 

 Our markets are supplied, in their season, with the common 

 varieties gi'own in our climate, and those from warmer lati- 

 tudes and the tropics. Green, unripe and over-ripe fruits 

 are unhealthy, but when ripe and eaten in moderation they 

 promote health and comfort and are a luxury. Fruit has 

 in its composition from 87 per cent, of water in the straw- 

 berry to 74 per cent, in bananas ; of vegetable acids, .07 per 

 cent, in ripe pears to 2.5 per cent, in currants. They also 

 contain tannin and insoluble pectose. As ripening proceeds 

 the acids are oxidized or changed by physiological chemical 



