BREAD-FRUIT — YAM. 231 



although little nourishing-, it is a wholesome aliment. A few- 

 trees only are met with in the island, and yet it would form an 

 invaluable resource for the poor ; or, at least, it might serve to 

 feed or fatten swine. The bread-fruit tree thrives in good or 

 even poor soils, and requires very little or no attention. It is 

 very prolific — each tree bearing, every season, from seventy-five 

 to one hundred and sixty pods, and each pod affording sufficient 

 for a meal for two persons. They sell at about two cents each. 

 It is propagated by cuttings from the roots ; the root is severed 

 from the tree, and raised from under the ground ; after about 

 three weeks, buds begin to appear on the part thus raised ; it is 

 then taken up and separately planted. Incredible as it may 

 appear, the poorer classes profess a great contempt for this 

 article of food : it is only good, they say, for pigs ; and cooks in 

 respectable houses object to buying bread-fruits at the markets ; 

 it is a vulgar vegetable. 



Tubercles (Dioscoreacece) . — Yam {Dioscorea). — This is the 

 most important of colonial tubercles. It is farinaceous and 

 wholesome, containing, according to Payen, twenty-seven per 

 cent, of nitrogenous principles. It may be used as a substitute 

 for bread, either boiled or pounded after boiling, or dressed with 

 meat : another advantage is that it keeps for several months, 

 provided it be laid. up in some dry place. There are two species 

 of Yams — Dioscorea Triphylla, and Sativa, the hard and the 

 soft leaved. Amongst the former, the Portuguese and Guinea 

 Yams are the best varieties, and most farinaceous. The Guinea 

 Yam gives the best and quickest return, but it germinates early 

 in March. The Portuguese sort comes in later and preserves 

 better, but does not give so good a return. Both varieties also 

 resist the attacks of the parasol-ants much better than any other 

 kinds. 



The different varieties of water yams, or the soft-leaved 

 species, are more prolific but not so delicate : they come in later, 

 and keep until the middle or end of July. With proper care and 

 attention yams grow well in any land, but they thrive best in 

 good soils, particularly in loam and on hills. The soil must be 

 well prepared for the reception of plants ; generally, large holes 

 or trenches from eighteen to twenty-four inches deep and two 

 feet in diameter are dug, and filled with decaying vegetable 

 matter, or trash, then covered with earth and the plant placed 



