ON NEW FOOD PLANTS 



an inch or more in diameter. They contain less 

 of the bitter principle than do the leaf stalks. 



The stalks themselves, at their edible stage, are 

 about the size and form of an ordinary leaf stalk 

 of the rhubarb. Several of these Japanese bur- 

 docks have been grown on my grounds, where the 

 American burdock has also been cultivated more 

 or less for the last twenty years. I have noticed a 

 great variation in the bitterness of the stalks of the 

 plants. 



Under cultivation they have never become 

 troublesome weeds, as the common burdock has 

 become in the Eastern United States. 



They respond readily to the effort to improve 

 them, and I entertain no doubt that if a systematic 

 attempt were made to develop them along the 

 right lines a most valuable vegetable might be 

 produced, which would be appreciated by those 

 who live in a more favored climate. 



The lines of selection should look to the 

 production of a plant with large fine roots, or for 

 a reduction of bitterness, which is the most 

 objectionable quality of this plant. 



To anyone who has given little thought to the 

 subject it may seem more or less absurd to talk of 

 the development of useful qualities in such weeds 

 as these. But whoever has a clear conception of 

 the extent to which the vegetables now in our 



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