358 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



other species of stachys may come into cultivation in the kitchen garden, 

 the name might lead to confusion. I has seemed to me better to adopt 

 some aboriginal name of the plant if a simple one can be found, and I 

 have therefore ventured to use the Japanese name chorogi. This name 

 has been suggested in English journals, but does not appear to have been 

 adopted by any writer. Professor Geoegeson, who is well known as a stu- 

 dent of Japanese plants, and Mr. Takahashi, a Japanese student in the 

 Cornell College of Agriculture, both inform me that this name is the one 

 in use in Japan. The Chinese names for the plant are kan-lu and tsan- 

 yungtzu. 



Chorogi is a small perennial plant, with the aspect of peppermint or 

 spearmint. It belongs to the mint family, and to a genus (stachys) which 

 is well represented in this country. In fact, there is some doubt among 

 botanists as to whether it is really distinct from a common wild, 

 stachys (S. palustris) which grows in wet places over a large part of 

 North America. Its value to the gardener lies in the great number of 

 crisp white tubers which it produces just under the ground. These tubers 

 are thickened underground stems, like the potato tuber. Although the 

 tubers are small, they are so abundantly produced as to make the plant a 

 heavy yielder. We imported tubers in the winter of 1889-90. They were 

 in poor condition when planted, and the growth during 1890 was small. 

 The plants were allowed to remain without protection during the winter, 

 and this year they have spread so as to fill a row a foot and a half wide 

 and have produced great numbers of tubers. We have eaten the tubers 

 •in several ways and I do not hesitate to pronounce the plant the most 

 important acquisition to our list of secondary vegetables which has been 

 made in several years. The tubers can be cooked in a great variety of 

 ways, or they may be eaten raw. They are fried, roasted, baked, pickled, 

 preserved, stewed in cream and made into various fancy dishes. The 

 tubers may be dug as wanted during the winter, and ordinarily enough of 

 the plant will be left in the ground to propagate it the following year. 



The greatest fault with the vegetable is the fact that the tubers shrivel 

 and spoil if exposed to the air for a few hours. This will interfere with 

 their market qualities. They can be kept in earth, however, and the 

 French market them in moist shavings, or in sawdust. Much of their 

 value depends upon their crispness. 



This plant has been much advertised, and as it bids fair to become a 

 vegetable of some importance, I have collected here the experiences of 

 various growers with it. 



"The Stachys tuberifera, a so-called new vegetable from northern Africa 

 (China), was tested, but can not be pronounced a very great acquisition. 

 It belongs to the mint family, and produces small, fleshy tubers, which in 

 our trial only attained the size of acorns. Its table qualities were not 

 tested."— Professor Goff, before Western N. Y. Hort. Soc., 1889, 28. 

 Our opinion was much the same as Professor Goff's at the close of our 

 first season of test, but during the second year, the plants not having 

 been disturbed, the yield was wonderfully increased, and one plant yields 

 a mess sufficient for a family of four. 



"The tubers, which are the edible part, are produced in such an abun- 

 dance as to be truly wonderful, as many as 300 having been grown from a 

 single tuber in one season. * * * Their uses and best modes of pre- 

 paration for the table are not yet known. We find by mashing them and 

 preparing as we do egg-plant, that they closely resemble the latter, 



