539 



Superintendent of Public Gardens. "The root is formed of a 

 number of simple cord-like fibres, several feet in length, 

 stretching under the surface of the ground, bearing in their 

 course a succession of tubers. The beans are poisonous, but 

 the root affords a very plentiful supply of very wholesome 

 food. The produce of three plants is usually sufficient to 

 fill a bushel basket. The tubers may either be boiled plain, 

 in which state they are a very good substitute for yams and 

 other roots in common use; or they may be submitted to a 

 process similar to arrowroot, and a starch obtained. This 

 starch is pure white, and is equal in every respect to 

 arrowroot. To the taste it is very palatable, is easily di- 

 gested, and is employed for custards and puddings. Even the 

 trash left after obtaining the starch, and which in the prep- 

 aration of arrowroot is lost, may, when thoroughly dried, be 

 formed into a palatable and wholesome flour. A very excellent 

 flour may also be obtained by slicing the tubers, drying them 

 in the sun, and then reducing to a powder. This plant is 

 deserving of being more generally cultivated than it has 

 hitherto been. It ought in a great measure to supersede the 

 arrowroot in cultivation. It can be planted at any season of 

 the year, and the roots are fit for digging in the course of 

 four or five months; the return is infinitely greater than 

 that from arrowroot, and the proportion of starch also is more 

 abundant, so that it can be brought to market at so cheap a 

 rate, as to admit of being employed by the calico-printers in 

 place of potato-starch. Dr. Trimen, pointed out that the pods 

 when young are not poisonous, but may be eaten like French 

 beans, being superior in the absence of any fibrous string 

 along the sutures of the pod. The large size is also an ad- 

 vantage, as they are often 10 to 12 inches long. In Jamaica 

 the seeds are generally sown in March or April, but they can 

 be sown at any time. At Hope Gardens seeds were sown in 

 September. The pods are ready for use as French beans 7 months 

 after sowing and when pods are quite ripe, 9 months after 

 sowing, the yams are fit to dig. From one seed sown at Hope 

 Gardens 5 yams were dug weighing altogether 14 pounds. They 

 generally vary in size from one foot to eighteen inches long, 

 and 4 to 6 inches in diameter." (Harris, Bull. Bot. Dept. 

 Jamaica, 44:4(1893). F or distribution later. 



CORYLUS AVELLANA. (Fagaceae.) 33234. Plants of hazel nut 

 from Granada, Spain. Procured from Mr. Pedro Giraud, through 

 Mr. Walter T. Swingle, of this Department. "Rouge ronde. 

 Spain furnishes the bulk of the hazel nuts that enter into the 

 world's commerce, whole regions being given up to this re- 

 munerative culture in the north of Spain. It is said to pre- 

 fer rather light, cool soils and to grow well with more or 



