XII 



VEGETABLES 



*HE word ** vegetable" unquestionably means 



JL something very definite to everyone who comes 

 upon it, anywhere at all — but to define just what a 

 vegetable is, is not so simple a matter as it would seem. 

 Indeed it is likely to become very involved, the deeper 

 one gets into it, yet to cultivate them intelligently we 

 should know pretty accurately what they are. 



Suppose that a start is made with the declaration 

 that a vegetable is an edible plant; here is the common- 

 est vegetable of them all — the potato — to prove at once 

 that the statement is wholly inadequate, for the potato 

 is not a plant at all, but only the root of a plant. And 

 squash is actually a fruit, while green corn is a seed ! 



It is amusing, by-the-way, to note that the law has 

 taken a fling at this puzzling question, and declared 

 solemnly that a "vegetable" is one of the plants eaten, 

 either raw or cooked, during the principal part of a meal, 

 while a " fruit" is one eaten as dessert. In which event 

 cranberry sauce, coming with the roast, must be a 

 vegetable, while rhubarb, served in delectable pie 

 form, is a fruit. 



77 



