THE EDIBLE WILD ROOTS OF THE FARM 59 



thing good to eat is buried in the earth, trust to a normal 

 pig to find it. The wild ruminants also dig to a certain 

 extent with the hoofs of their fore feet. 



Digging for roots has been in all ages an important and 

 necessary occupation of mankind. Once it was done by 

 everybody. For ages it was the work of women, while men, 

 in the division of labor, assmned the more dangerous and more 

 exciting tasks of hunting and fighting. Now it is coming to 

 be the work of machinery, handled by men. Once all the 

 roots were wild roots, and they were used in very great 

 variety. Now comparatively few, which have been selected 

 and improved, are cultivated. The majority of those that 

 have served as human food are neglected. But they may 

 still be found in the wildwood. Nature made them hardy and 

 fit. They are still with us unimproved — and unsubdued. 



These roots, which are nature's underground food stores, 

 are, many of them, botanically speaking, not true roots at all : 

 they are merely the underground parts of plants, that have 

 been developed as food reserves : and they are primarily for 

 the benefit of the plant species producing them. They are 

 the products of the growth of one season, stored up to be used 

 in promoting the growth of new individuals the next season. 

 Some, like the potato and other tubers, are modified under- 

 ground stems; others, like the onion, are bulbs. They con- 

 tain food products far more watery and less concentrated 

 than the nuts and the grains. Their flavors are less choice 

 than those of the fruits ; they are of the earth, earthy. There 

 are few of them that we consider palatable without cooking. 

 Many abound in starch, like the potato, and some, in sugar, 

 like certain beets. 



Of true roots that are fleshy, there are many to be found 

 wild, but few of these are edible. The wild carrots and 

 parsnips are insignificant as compared with cultivated 

 varieties: the fleshy roots of weeds like the docks are 



