THE COAL FOODS (_Continued_) STARCHES Sources of Starch.

The starches are valuable and wholesome foods.

They form the largest part, both in bulk and in fuel value, of our diet, and have done so ever since man learned how to cultivate the soil and grow crops of grain.

The reason is clear: One acre of good land will grow from ten to fifteen times the amount of food in the form of starch in grains or roots, as of meat in the shape of cattle or sheep.
Consequently, starch is far cheaper, and this is its great advantage.
Our chief supply of starch is obtained from the seed of certain most useful grasses, which we call wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, and corn, and from the so-called "roots" of the potato.

Potatoes are really underground buds packed with starch, and their proper name is tubers.
Starch, when pure or extracted, is a soft, white powder, which you have often seen as cornstarch, or laundry starch.