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of the cassava plant furnish the cassava flour and tapioca, 
while those of coontie yield coontie flour which is quite sim- 
ilar to sago, and those of the sweet potato plant furnish sweet 
potato flour. The rootstocks of the common potato plant 
abound in potato flour, while those of the arrow-root plant 
yield arrow-root flour. The stems of some of the sago palms 
and those of some of the true palms are the sources of sago 
flour. The fruits, both dry and fleshy, of a great variety of 
plants, contain starch; for example, those of the several 
grains, wheat, rye, and corn; while those of the banana yield 
the less common banana flour. The seeds of some plants 
are used as a source of starch, as for instance, those of the 
chocolate plant. 
Cork and Paper. Cases 48 to 50.—Cork is the light 
outer bark of the cork oak, a tree indigenous to southern 
Europe. The substance, as we are accustomed to see it, is 
prepared by means of boiling the cork bark and scraping off 
the rough outer portion. The crude cork and many manu- 
factured articles are shown in case number 49, and a large 
jacket of crude cork is exhibited near by, just as it was 
stripped from the tree. 
Wood fiber, especially that obtained from the trunks of 
the spruce and poplar, enters largely into the manufacture of 
paper. In cases 48 and 50, the fiber is shown in its crude 
condition and in the various stages of refinement, as well as 
the various qualities of paper into the structure of which it 
enters. Here also are the several stages and substances con- 
nected with the production of straw paper. 
Foods. Cases 51 to 68.— The very important section of 
vegetable foods occupies the cases on the north side of the 
west hall, opposite those containing the fibers. Here may 
be seen the various plants and parts of plants commonly 
used for food. Ina few instances nearly the whole plant is 
available, as in the mushroom, the morel and the truffle. 
Usually, however, certain parts only are nutritious or desir- 
able; a few examples of these are as follows: sweet potatoes, 
horseradish, carrots, and beets are roots: onions, potatoes and 
