POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 71 



Before asking specifically in wliat direction we shall look for 

 new vegetables I must be pardoned for calling attention, in pass- 

 ing, to a very few of the many which are already in limited use 

 in Europe and this country, but which merit a wider employment. 

 Cardon, or cardoon; celeriac, or turnip-rooted celery; fetticus, 

 or corn-salad ; martynia ; salsify ; sea-kale ; and numerous small 

 salads, are examples of neglected treasures of the vegetable 

 garden. 



The following, which are even less known, may be mentioned 

 as fairly promising : * 



1. Arr acacia esculenta, called arracacha, belonging to the 

 parsley family. It is extensively cultivated in some of the north- 

 ern states of South America. The stems are swollen near the 

 base and produce tuberous enlargements filled with an excellent 

 starch. Although the plant is of comparatively easy cultivation, 

 efforts to introduce it into Europe have not been successful, but 

 it is said to have found favor in both the Indies, and may prove 

 useful in our Southern States. 



2. Ullucus or ollucus, another tuberous-rooted plant from 

 nearly the same region, but belonging to the beet or spinach 

 family. It has produced tubers of good size in England, but 

 they are too waxy in consistence to dispute the place of the better 

 tubers of the potato. The plant is worth investigating for our 

 hot, dry lands. 



3. A tuber-bearing relative of our common hedge-nettle, or 

 Stacliys, is now cultivated on a large scale at Crosnes, in France, 

 for the Paris market. Its name in Paris is taken from the locality 

 where it is now grown for use. Although its native country is 

 Japan, it is called by some seedsmen Chinese artichoke. At the 

 present stage of cultivation the tubers are small and are rather 

 hard to keep, but it is thought that, '' both of these defects can be 

 overcome or evaded." f Experiments indicate that we have in 

 this species a valuable addition to our vegetables. We must 

 next look at certain other neglected possibilities. 



Dr. Edward Palmer, J whose energy as a collector and acute- 



* Commercial Botany of the Nineteenth Century. By John R. Jackson, A. L. S. 

 Cassell & Co. London, 1890. Mr. Jackson, who is the Curator of the Museums, 

 Royal Gardens, Kcw, has embodied in this treatise a great amount of valuable information, 

 well arranged for ready reference. 



f Gardener's Chronicle, 1888. 



X Department of Agriculture Report for 1870, pp. 404-428. Only those are here copied 

 from Dr. Palmer's list which he expressly states are extensively used : 



Ground-nut {Apios tubcrosa) ; Aesculus californica ; Agave amcricana ; Nwpliar 

 advena ; prairie potato (Psoralca esculenta) ; Scirpus lacustris ; Sagittaria variabilis ; 

 kamass-root {Camassia esculenta); Solanum Fendlm-i (supposed by him to be the original 

 of the cultivated potato) ; acorns of various sorts ; mesquite [Algarohia glandulosa ; 

 Juniperus occidentalis ; nuts of Carya^ Juglans, etc. ; screw-bean {Slrombocarpus pubescens) ; 



