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 Pamper. 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. In a 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 



