10 THE SWEET POTATO. 



abide good without perishing for a whole yeare, and 

 therefore they use to bring them to Sea with them 

 and call it Igname cicorero. ,The other will last 

 nothing so long."* The writer has not seen Scali- 

 ger's statement, but the name Igname coupled with 

 the statement that it keeps longer than the other 

 sweet potato, seems to point to the conclusion that 

 Scaliger refers to the yam. He then relates some- 

 thing about the methods of culture as practiced at 

 St. Thomas. He speaks of planting pieces of the 

 vines, and not tubers, and that the vines ran up 

 poles, like hops. Perhaps he had the accounts of 

 the sweet potato and the yam mixed, although some 

 of the varieties of the sweet potato are excellent 

 twiners. That he was not any too sure of his ground 

 is seen from his closing words: "This manner of 

 planting the Inhame favoureth something of that 

 of the Manihot or Yucca, whereof the Cassavi is 

 made, if there be not a mistake, it is wonderful that 

 the roots should be so propagated." 



In 1648 Marcgrav (Historia Plantarum, part II, 

 p. 16) gives a very good account of the sweet potato, 

 as cultivated in Brazil under the names of '' Jetica" 

 and "Quinquoa quianputu." He points out the 

 variability in the shape of foliage and tubers, and 

 illustrates it. He is familiar with the habit of the 

 plant to form tubers at each rooting joint, and states 

 also that it yields latex. According to Marcgrav the 

 Brazilians added a little water to the freshly macer- 

 ated tuber to make it ferment into an alcoholic drink. 



He has seen some tubers golden-white without and 

 clean white within, others red throughout (so much 

 so that on cooking they colored the hands), the out- 

 side dark red. Marcgrav remarks that a surface 

 freshly cut by a knife becomes black like ink. So 



