18 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



China, which experimentists say possesses all the requirements of the 

 potato, and may take the place of that plant as a culinary vegetable. 

 Specimens have also been introduced in England, where they thrive 

 well. It has been domesticated and is perfectly hardy in Paris. Its 

 root is bulky, rich in nutritive matter, eatable when raw, easily cooked 

 either by boiling or roasting, and then having no other taste than that 

 of flour. 



An attempt is about to be made to introduce the Angora goat into 

 Cape Colony, South Africa, an enterprise which promises great success. 



A new species of silkworm, from Assam, Southern Asia, has been 

 introduced within the past year into Malta and some parts of Italy. 

 It feeds on the leaves of the castor oil plant. 



During the past year the Earl of Clarendon, Foreign Secretary, 

 has not only introduced into Great Britain numerous living plants of the 

 " Argan " tree of Southern Morocco, (celebrated for yielding fodder 

 for cattle in the husks of the fruit, oil similar to olive-oil in the nuts, 

 and a beautiful wood in its trunk,) but he has also imported, in the 

 finest state for germination, large quantities of seed, which have been 

 freely distributed throughout the country and in the Colonies. 



At the last Annual State Fair of New York, three Cashmere goats 

 were exhibited by Dr. Davis, of South Carolina. It is the animal of 

 Ayhich the Cashmere shawls are made, the value of which does not 

 depend, as many suppose, upon their rarity, but upon the fact that the 

 material surpasses every other like article in its capacity for wear. 

 The Cashmere goat was introduced into South Carolina several years 

 ago, by Dr. Davis, from the interior of Asia Minor, and the breed has 

 since been carried into the adjoining States of North Carolina, Geor- 

 gia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida, and mixed with the native 

 goat. The hair of the animal, which is pure white, is most beautiful. 

 It somewhat resembles in appearance the finest portion of the fleece 

 of the Chinese sheep, a few of which are on exhibition. It is curly, 

 soft in texture, and brilliant in appearance. The animal is extremely 

 delicate in shape, though hardy. A sock made from the hair was 

 shown with the goats. We learn that the meat is white and deli- 

 cate, and is preferred in the parts of South Carolina where they are 

 reared to mutton. A herd will protect itself against dogs, which con- 

 stitutes a great advantage over sheep in localities where dogs are 

 troublesome. Throughout South Carolina the ordinary animal has 

 risen largely in price from the facility with which the breed is im- 

 proved by this cross. 



The Garden of Plants, at Paris, has also recently received for the 

 purpose of acclimation and propagation in France a number of Yaks 

 from China an animal which Buftbn says " is more precious than all 



