22 REPRESENTATIVE PLANTS 



"artificial vegetative multiplication." What would happen 

 if you planted the seeds of a potato ? How are new 

 varieties of potatoes produced ? You ought to learn what 

 the schoolboy Burbank did. Why is this tuber called the 

 Irish potato ? What other plant rightfully might deserve 

 to have the name potato? Study the history of the potato 

 and determine its relation to other plants that form a plant 

 family, the Night Shades; also its original home and its 

 characteristics in a wild state. Read about the Night Shade 

 family, and find out the vegetables that belong to the same. 



Beginning at the bunch of eyes at one end, trace a line in ink 

 to the opposite end, following a series of e?/^'^' that are evidently 

 arranged in a line. Continue until all eyes are marked out. 

 What figure do you find marked on the surface ? 



Experiential application. Scrape several large potatoes 

 until you have a mass of pulpy " scrapings." Place them in 

 a large clean dish, pour on a large amount of water, and stir 

 vigorously for 10 minutes. Cover and allow the mixture to 

 remain for 24 hours. At the end of that period, pour off 

 carefully all the water with its ^floating debris. A layer of 

 starch will be found in the bottom. With improvement, of 

 course, but practically the same, this is the European 

 method of starch making. AVhy do the factories of the 

 United States make most of the starch out of corn ? Take 

 equal quantities of the potato starch you have made and 

 corn laundry starch. Examine with hp, test, and then add 

 boiling water in equal amount to each starch. Compare 

 with each other for consistency, color, stickiness, odor, and 

 any other features you may notice. 



Starch is the almost universal food. What per cent of 

 your food is starchy ? How often do you eat potatoes ? 

 What peoples depend largely on potatoes for food ? Or- 

 dinary potatoes are \ starch and f water. Could not your 

 experiment above made show this? What benefit would 

 an increase in starch have ? 



