The Camassia— Will It 



Supplant the 



Potato? 



And Other Tubers of Value for Food 



FOR the most part plants are cultivated for a 

 single quality. 

 If a plant produces beautiful flowers, we 

 do not usually demand that it shall also pro- 

 duce valuable fruit. We do not ask that a 

 plant which produces a valuable fruit like the 

 tomato shall also produce tubers like the potato. 

 It is only by accident rather than by special design 

 or selective breeding on the part of man that a 

 certain number of plants, notably members of the 

 rose family, produce beautiful blossoms and deli- 

 cious fruits as well. 



The apple-tree in full bloom is indeed a beau- 

 tiful object, but the apple would probably be raised 

 quite as generally as it is if its blossoms were alto- 

 gether unattractive. The Japanese, to be sure, 

 have developed the blossoms of their fruits, but 



[Volume VII— Chapter VIII] 



