26 NEW PUBLICATIONS, 
ever, be obtained yearly by planting corms of the size of a good-sized egg; but : 
i prefer the other mode. At the second year, the plants not having been dis- _ 
urbed, are up much earlier, and become much finer and healthier plants than 5 
fu planted one year for the other, and produce much finer corms for the 
next planting. To obtain a first-rate crop, the soil needs to be rich and well 
manured. If this is done at the time of planting, the more rotten and decayed | 
the manure is, the better. .If, however, you prepare your soil early the previr a 
ous spring, you can turn in manure in its ordinary state. The manure in 
cases is spread upon the soil and forked in. 
“This plant seems to delight, like our common Arum maculatum, in rich ii 
vegetable mould ; and, like it, seems to do best in large clumps or close patches. — 
This was what first suggested to me the propriety of planting thick. The pro- 
duce of this plant is enormous ; from 1} perch I manufactured one year sixty 
pounds of arrow-root, which I sold at the rate of 1s. per pound, being at the E 
rate of £78 per Guernsey vergée, or £193 sterling the English acre. This was $ 
planted with corms the size of an egg, in rows one foot apart and three inches 
in the rows. That was a remarkably good year for bringing the plants to per- 
fection; I have never suceeeded so well since. It has never failed, however, in 
some years it has been attacked with a disease peculiar to the plant. Early in 1 
spring I have found the leaves and stalks acquire a rusty appearance, and this 
gradually spreading, until the plant disappeared ditógclber. On digging the 5 
corm, it was perceived that it had stopped its swelling from the time of attack. 
I have observed this same disease in the common aye and in Arum 
taria, which I have also in my garden. 
* With regard to the extraction of the fecula, this opo t is performed just 
in the same way as weinen is obtained, and therefore does not need any 
m: explanation he There resides in this, as well as in the common 
Arum of our hedges, an pie principle, which would make it very dangerous 
if eaten in its undried state. By drying, nt its po mee qualities en- 
tirely disappear by evaporation, and in this state it becomes really superior 
to the potato. This has led me to believe that if ra mii was kiln-dried, it — 
might afterwards be stored and used as potatoes the winter through. I have 
not yet, however, made the experiment, save with a few roots dried before a 
fire, and so far proving perfectly successful." 
—— Sppe- 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
Handbook of the British Flora. By George Bentham, F.R.S. With i 
—— from Original Drawings by W, Fitch. Part I. Reeve . 
and C 
Bagliah Bolesy: Third edition : revised by J. T. Boswell Syme, F.L.8., 
with Popular Descriptions by Mrs. Lankester. No. 1. Hardwicke. 
A person unacquainted with the opinions of living botanists as to the 
EOM VU UMURT er VS ERN SENEC Sh | 4 
5 
