1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



37 



with hand mowers. For the accomplishment of 

 the most work in the least time I have found the 

 Philadelphia to excel. 



THE 



DIOSCOREA BATATAS 

 CHINESE POTATO. 



OR 



BY GENL. jSTOBLE, BRIDGEPORT, COlStN. 



The late Wm. R. Prince, of Flushing, in his 

 fanciful advertising style, declared that in the 

 Dioscorea "had been discovered the alimentary- 

 basis of the Chinese Empire." Whether it fills 

 so vast a space in food product may well be 

 doubted. Rice and chopsticks are generally 

 supposed to furnish a pretty big part of sub- 

 stance to the "heathen Chinee." The plant, 

 however, even in Republican soil, goes for a 

 basis deep down towards the Chinese Empire. 

 I have, in a made soil, dug tubers full three feet 

 long, and in the largest part full four inches in 

 diameter. 



The Dioscorea is a very toothsome vegetable. 

 Baked or boiled its flesh is white and very deli- 

 cate ; not exactly mealy but much softer and 

 more pulpy than the common potato — in fact, 

 very much of the consistency of the latter, 

 when boiled, mashed, well mixed and buttered, 

 and browned in its dish in an oven. My family 

 and friends consider this immense tuber a great 

 curiosity, and a great treat when cooked. 



If one desires a patch, and is not very nice 

 about the order of their coming, he never need 

 plant but once. Thereafter it takes care of the 

 business itself. From either a last year's root 

 left undug, or from some of the little tubers 

 which are strung plentifully along its tendrils, it 

 gives you a crop every year. I have not failed 

 in twenty years of an annual supply without 

 care since my first planting. 



The best way is to confine its growth to some 

 deep, rich soil, studded with tall and stout cedar 

 poles. There Dioscorea will climb up and fes- 

 toon from one to another, with the most ram- 

 pant vigor. 



My special purpose, however, in this note, was 

 to mark the peculiar fitness of this plant for 

 many situations and duties as an ornamental 

 climber. It is almost as comely a bloomer as 

 the Madeira vine, and has very much its style of 

 growth and leaf. Its flowers have a most 

 honeyed perfume. But the Dioscorea is the more 

 rapid grower, has larger leaves, and stretches 

 out to greater length. Its foliage is larger and 

 darker, and much of it wears a greenish purple 

 hue. 1 think too it stands the drouth much better. 



This climber has -the merit over, othei's, that 

 when the season of leaf and bloom have gone, 

 you can get "a good square meal" out of its 

 deep-growing tuber. A relish for the repast is 

 made keen and toothsome by the three-fool, 

 shaft, which you must mine along side of the 

 Heathen Chinee, into Avhich to slide the un- 

 broken bulk of his " alimentary basis." 



Of late there is a variety of this Dioscorea 

 which I have not seen, growing a more rounded 

 tuber at a reasonable depth. Of one or the 

 other kind, I think it would pay all having the 

 room, to try a few plants. On our rich prairie 

 land it would yield and enormous product. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Shabe Trees of Washington. — The 

 Parking Commission of the city of Washington, 

 consisting of Messrs. W. R. Smith, Wm. Saun- 

 ders and John Saul, have planted many miles 

 of streets, and it is conceded to be one of the 

 plantmg jobs which will challenge competition 

 with any similar task in the United States for 

 low cost and great success. This comes from 

 having men who know what they are doing, 

 and of high personal character, in the manage- 

 ment of such things. 



Already 40,000 trees have been planted, 

 some thirty kinds being used, the bulk, however, 

 being of ten kinds. These, named in the order 

 they are valued by the commission, are the fol- 

 lowing : Silver or White Maple [Acer dasycar- 

 pum), then American Linden (Tilia Americana), 

 American Elm [Ulmus Americana), Scarlet Ma- 

 ple {Acerrubrum),Box^\(\er {Negundoaceroides), 

 Sugar Maple {Acer sacchari7iU7n), Ameriain White 

 Ash [Fraxinvs Americana), English Sycamore 

 [Acer Pseudo-Platanus), Button Ball {Platanus 

 orientahs), Tulip Tree [Liriodendron Tulipi- 

 /era), Honey L,o(;nst [Gleditschia triacaathos), and 

 Norway Maple {Acer platanoides). 



Roses on the Manetti Stock. — Thirty 

 years ago the Manetti Rose was used as a stock 

 to bud the finer roses on. They throve amaz- 

 ingly for a while, till the numerous suckers had 

 it all their own way, when rose-growers voted it 

 more plague than profit, and it was banished 

 from American gardens. Not one nurseryman 

 in a thousand at this time knows what a Manetti 

 Rose is. But as Ave threw it out of our gardens, 

 it was found by English rOse-growers, and has 

 had a rapid run in England. But at length, as 

 we learn from the Gardener's Magazine, they are 



