194 ANNUAL EEPORT 



Minnesota. It grows about the bases of bluffs, in rather moist but soft 

 and rich ground. The plants resemble the sweet potato, and the root 

 is similar in taste and growth. In a letter to Hon. Thos. Ewauk, dated 

 Nov. 10, 184:9, a copy of which I have in my possession, Mr. 

 Prescott says: "It does not grow so large nor so long as the cul- 

 tivated sweet potato, but I should have thought it the same were it 

 not that the wild potato is not affected by the frost " The Indians 

 simply boiled them in water when being prepared for the table. I 

 have intended to have made experiments in the cultivation of the 

 mendo, believing they would bear civilization, and perhaps when per- 

 fected a new variety of sweet potato of great value would be added to 

 >our products. I regret much my negligence in this matter. 



The tip-sne-ah, or wild prairie turnip, grows on the high native 

 prairies, one or two together, in size from a small hen's egg to that of a 

 goose egg, and of the same form. They have a thick black or brown 

 bark, but are nearly pure white inside, with very little moisture. They 

 grow about six or eight inches below the surface, and the Indian women 

 used to digthera with a sharp pointed stick forced into the ground and 

 used as a lever. They were boiled and used by the Indians in the same 

 manner we use our turnips They were frequently split open and dried 

 for winter use by the squaws. When dried they resembled chalk. 

 Mr. Prescott thought that when thus dried they could be ground into 

 flour and that they made a very palatable bread. The pang-he, or ar- 

 tichoke, grows where the land is rich, near fallen or decayed timber. 

 It was (mly used for food when the Indians were very huogry. The 

 Omen-chah or wild bean was found in all parts of the valleys in the 

 old territory where the land was moist and rich. In regard to this 

 plant Mr. Prescott says : "It is of the size of a large bean, (with a rich 

 and very pleasaVit flavor When used in a stew. I have thought them 

 superior to any garden vegetable I had ever tasted." 



The Indians were very fond of them, and pigeons get fat on the pro- 

 duct in the spring. The plant is a slender vine, from two to four feet 

 in heighth, with small pods two to four inches high — with small pods 

 two to three inches long, containing from three to five beans. The 

 pod dries and opens, the beans fall to the ground, and in the spring 

 take root and grow again." There is no question in my opinion but 

 what this plant could be successfully cultivated and civilized. 



The psen-chin-chah, or swamp potato, was found — and I suppose it 

 is so to this day — in the mud and water about three feet deep. The 

 leaf is as large as the cabbage leaf. The stem has but one leaf, which 

 has, as it were, two horns or points. The root is obtained by the 



