NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
linens, as sizing for the warp before it is 
woven; for finishing the goods after they have 
been woven, bleached and dyed, and, in the 
form of dextrine, as a thickener or vehicle 
for applying the colors to a fabric. The dex- 
trine, or British gum, is used a great deal also 
in the manufacturing of mucilages. 
But the potatoes in use for starch manufac- 
ture in the United States are very often poor in 
quality, made up of culls, immature tubers, or 
those injured in digging and sold as waste. 
The starch is quite likely also to be low in 
grade and lacking in uniformity, greatly vary- 
ing from day to day. Still, notwithstanding 
this, for use in textile arts, the potato starch 
commands nearly double the price of corn 
starch. 
Attempts have been made to increase the 
supply of starch by the use of fertilizers, but 
Mr. Burbank’s plan is better than this, for it 
begins with the source of the supply itself and 
works directly upon the starch in the plant, as 
is the case in the breeding of corn for a larger 
starch-content. The potatoes which show a 
somewhat larger amount of starch are selected 
for further testing, and here again the supreme 
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