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e\9im to notice Ihan the two last of these vegetables, if, at the same 

 lime, it is readily propagated. Of all the plants cited, the Camassia 

 is the only one which may be compared with the Liliacea3 of Siberia, 

 which have for a very long time served as food to the inhabitants, and 

 which therefore merit greater attention among horticulturists. The 

 large flowered variety of the Erythronium Dens-canis is generally 

 grown in the middle of Eastern Siberia, aud is there prized as a most 

 excellent article of food. Formerly, indeed, it was the custom to send 

 an annual supply to the Court of St. Petersburg. Its propagation 

 from seed is very easy and sure, and the plants always produce plenty, 

 but they require three years before the bulbs attain their full size. 

 Its local name is kaudyk. The lilies receive the name of Saraua ; 

 and it is especially the Lilium tenuifoliura, and the L. Kamschatika 

 (Saraua Kamschatika, F.), which ai'e the esteemed edible species. L. 

 spectabile is equally employed as a nourishing article of food. These 

 three plants are propagated with great facility. L. tenuifoliura is pro- 

 pagated almost exclusively by seed, the two others also by the scales; 

 and it appears that every one of the scales of the bulb, which are long 

 and pointed in L. spectabile, thick, short, and roundish in the Saraua 

 of Kamschatka, forms a new plant. This mode of propagation is even 

 essential for the Saraua of Kamschatka, as it rarely bears seed. There 

 is also at Kamschatka a lily which comes near L. canadense, but 

 which I name L. avenaceum, after the name which it bears in the 

 country, and from the form of the scales of the bulb resembling large 

 seeds of corn. This species is not yet introduced to gardens. In 

 its native country it is eaten like the ordinary Saraua, which is how- 

 ever preferred to it. In no part of Siberia are these useful plants 

 cultivated ; everywhere it is the bulb of the wild plants which is ga- 

 thered, and it is gathered in abundance. L. tenuifolium and L. spec- 

 tabile are first met with in the eastern part of the government of 

 Tomsk, and extend around Baikal ; and in all Siberia, in the same 

 direction (Daouria), as far as the eastern ocean. The Saraua of 

 Kamschatka is found along the shores of the eastern ocean, and also 

 at Kamschatka, as well as on the islands lying on the eastern side of 

 America. It is only with very careful culture that any satisfactory 

 results are obtained in improving it. In the south of Russia the 

 heaths and waste lands are covered in the spring with tulip-flowers. 

 Among these tulips there is one known well enough on the banks of 

 the Don, in Russia, and which, perhaps, does not differ essentially 

 from Tulipa suaveolens, and which is eagerly sought for and eaten by 

 Vol. in. 2 c 



