THE MORNING-GLORY FAMILY 
the fact that it bursts into flower with the appearance of 
the sun and converts the back fence into a tapestry of 
brilliant bloom. Cousin Sweet Potato, on the other hand, 
rarely shows any flower at all. 
At some time in the past these two plants were doubt¬ 
less one and the same. That which was to become the 
sweet potato found itself living under conditions that 
made it hard for it to bloom, to make seed, and so to keep 
its kind alive. Throughout Nature there are many ex¬ 
amples of marvels that are performed that animals or 
plants may survive. This plant learned to lay up stores 
of food in its roots and to grow new plants from them 
rather than from seeds. Having done this, it found it 
no longer necessary to bloom. It stopped doing so. Yet 
sometimes a potato grower will find that one of his vines 
has put forth a flower. That flower is strangely like the 
bloom of a morning-glory. 
The morning-glory makes no potatoes and stores no 
food at its roots. It produces an abundance of seeds and 
has always lived under conditions where these were quite 
sufficient to keep it going. It has found its place in the 
world, as has its cousin. It contributes beauty, while its 
cousin provides food. If it could speak it would perhaps 
express scorn for its relative in the greengrocery busi¬ 
ness, and this practical member of the family doubtless 
would answer in kind and brand its cousin a mere idler, 
given only to fancy-colored apparel. 
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