ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE. 675 



and vegetable products depends on the number of domestic 

 species and on the number of specialized varieties within the 

 species. 



M. I. Geoff roy Saint-Hilaire had shown, at the time of found- 

 ing the Society of Acclimatation, that most of our animal and 

 vegetable products had come to us through that process as the 

 prime source. While no one could deny the advantages that had 

 been derived from it in the past, some were skeptical as to its 

 utility in the future. But, as M. Quatrefages has said, man is 

 constantly developing new wants ; so that the luxury of the even- 

 ing becomes the necessity of the morrow. He reminds us that 

 the turkey was first imported as a fancier's bird, and the dahlia 

 as an eatable plant ; and I. Geoff roy Saint-Hilaire spoke of the 

 guinea-pig, which the experimental physiologist has found so 

 valuable, as useless. 



I begin the list of the recent trophies of acclimatation with 

 the great Australian eucalyptus, a few seeds of which planted 

 in 1856, in Provence, produced good trees, showing that the spe- 

 cies could be grown on the Mediterranean littoral. It is now at 

 home in Corsica, Algeria, Italy, and Spain, and is distinguished 

 by the properties of rapid growth, making marshy places sani- 

 tary, and having a hard wood impregnated with a peculiar essen- 

 tial oil, the presence of which insures its durability. The indus- 

 trial cultivation of the bamboo was begun in 1861 in the Basses 

 Pyrenees, under the direction of M. Garique. The plantation of 

 four hectares is now very remunerative. Following M. Garique's 

 example, the Southern Railway Company is using the bamboo to 

 fix the taluses of its embankments and adorn its lines. The mili- 

 tary administration contemplates using it also on the taluses of 

 its fortifications, where it will have the further advantage of 

 making the works difficult of access. By cutting the stems on a 

 slanting line the ground can be converted into a tract of stiff, 

 sharp stubble that no one will be able to walk over. This has 

 been done in Tonquin. 



The Stachys affinis, to which M. Pailleux has given the name 

 crosnes as a common name, is a labiate plant, allied to sage and 

 mint, and is cultivated in China and Japan for its eatable tuber- 

 cles. Specimens of it received by the Societe d' Acclimatation in 

 1882 were cultivated by M. Pailleux, who finds that the tubercles, 

 cooked about as beans are cooked, have the flavor of the arti- 

 choke, and possess the advantage of offering a fresh vegetable in 

 December, January, and February, when such foods are scarce. 

 Thus, in less than ten years, an edible plant has been imported, 

 experimented upon in cultivation, experimented upon in con- 

 sumption, and definitely acclimated. 



The soja, a kind of oleaginous pea from China, which, not con- 



