238 ANNUAL REPORT 



dry weather, stating he had realized $1,000 from a four-acre 

 patch. Mr. Harrison, of Painesville, had put in about seventy- 

 acres of tile last spring, at a cost of forty-five dollars per acre. 

 Prof. McKay, of Mississippi, thought drainage very essential, 

 especially in wet weather. Their tile-drained land had done as 

 well during dry weather as in the wet season. 



Mr. Te Mari, of Japan, read an interesting paper on "Vege- 

 tables in Japan," from which we extract the following: "When 

 I say a single root of burdock is sometimes worth twenty-five 

 cents in Japan, you will be surprised at the high price for such 

 a noxious weed, and imagine we have no vegetables; and when 

 we hear you pay that price for a quart of blackberries in this 

 country, we may think you may not have delicious fruits here. 

 But we have many culinary vegetables of good quality there, and 

 you have here an abundance of fruits. We have no vegetable so 

 extensively used as radishes. The roots are not small, nor 

 round, nor red in color, but mostly cylindrical, or club-shaped, 

 from one fourth of an inch to over a foot in diameter, from six 

 inches to over a yard in length, and are grown the year round. 

 Our carrots are smaller but longer than those of this country, 

 and of high color. Burdock comes third in general estimation, 

 and grows a foot in circumference, three feet in length; is soft 

 and delicious. We have turnips, white and red, used as rad- 

 ishes are in this country. Taroes (Colocassia) are grown and 

 used as potatoes. AUocassia, an ornamental foliage plant in 

 America, belongs to the same family, and possibly may be the 

 same species. Our annual product is estimated at over 6,000,000 

 bushels. Taro (Leucocassia gigantea) is grown for the stock, 

 used as salad. Konjak is grown on moist, shady ground, and is 

 made into gelatenous cakes for use. Onions are grown like 

 celery in this country, and have long, tender stalks. Varieties 

 of peas and beans are numerous. The most important among 

 our pulse is the soy bean, the annual product being about the 

 same as that of wheat, viz.: 11,500,000 bushels. Animal foods 

 are almost entirely excluded from our tables." 



Mr. Te Mari is a young man who appeared to be greatly inter- 

 ested in the proceedings of the meeting, but he speaks English 

 with considerable difficulty. 



Several papers were read in the afternoon, among the number 

 one by Mr. Grenier, of New Jersey, on "Transplanting;" one 

 by Mr. Lovett, of same state, on "Nut Culture;" one by Mr. 

 Hale, of Connecticut, on "Small Fruits." These papers elicited 



