DIOSCOREA 



Propagation 



THE INDIAN YAMS 



Sanskrit Name. 



Aboriginal 

 Names. 



of edible roots. " These were called in the language of the islanders of 

 St. Domingo, Ages (Ajes) and Yuca." The last mentioned is Manihot 

 and may be dismissed from further consideration, but the former (it is 

 nearly certain) was a species of Dioscorea. This the Spaniards (being 

 ignorant of the language of these islands) called name, niame, inhame 

 African Habitat, corruptions, it is supposed, of an African name (with which they were 

 already familiar) for a similar edible tuber. Clusius (Hist. Exot. PL, 1605, 

 237-8, reprinting Garcia de Orta, 1563, Coll, xviii., 3) speaks of the 

 African slaves of Portugal eating the tubers of a Colocasia which they 

 called inhame. Hence that name had, at an early date, reached Europe 

 and India. Some of the companions of Columbus had doubtless seen the 

 inhame tubers of Africa, and were thus ready to assign that name to the 

 West Indian tuber when their attention was drawn to it. To this cir- 

 cumstance is accordingly due the constant use (by 16th and 17th century 

 writers) of inhame (or, as it ultimately became, ihame and finally yam) as 

 a generic denomination for any and every edible (starch-yielding) tuber. 



There would seem little doubt that the Indian word dlu (in Sanskrit 

 and Hindi and ala in Sinhalese) originally denoted a starch-yielding edible 

 tuber, possibly in its earliest signification the edible species of Dioscorec,, 

 though in later usage it came to mean AmorphophaMiis and even 

 Colocasia. A prefix was employed to denote the separate species. 

 Hence we have in Sanskrit the danddlu (elongated dlu), madhvdlu (sweet 

 dlu), pinddlu (round dlu) and raktdlu (red-aZw). In the Sanskritic ver- 

 naculars we have similarly chupridlu, guraniya-dlu, kanta-dlu, kham-dlu, 

 mau-dlu, pindalu, ratdlu, and sasnidlu. But in the aboriginal languages 

 there is a vast assortment of names not only perfectly distinct from each 

 other and in no way traceable to the Sanskrit, but which have either a 

 direct specific or in some cases even a generic signification : ato sang, 

 bengo-nari, bir sang, gun, genasu, kalangu, kullu, kniss, kris, myauk, piska, 

 taguna and tar (or tarar). Most of these names (many others might be 

 given) denote knowledge prior to the Aryan conquests of India and thus 

 leave no room for doubt that the cultivation of yams is quite as ancient (if 

 not more so) in India as in any other country. Indeed from the fact that 

 names are given in the West Indies and other tropical countries, traceable 

 to the Sanskrit, or to some Indian vernacular, there would seem no doubt 

 that some of the best-known cultivated forms in other regions were derived 

 originally from India. And what is more curious, not a few of these are 

 being brought back to India to-day as special West Indian plants, oblivious 

 of the fact that, just as with the improved rice brought from Carolina and 

 the superior wool-sheep from Australia, they had been procured in the 

 first instance from India. 



Propagation. The yam may be propagated either by means of 

 aerial tubers or small underground tubers or portions of large tubers. If 

 the former be employed, the first year's crop is poor but the second 

 excellent. It is preferable to use sets of the underground tuber weighing 

 about half a pound. The best soil is a deep friable sandy loam. 

 Stiff heavy soils are unsuited, as the tubers cannot expand properly and 

 good drainage is essential. The selected land should be dug to a con- 

 siderable depth and fairly well manured. It is then lined, 3 to 4 

 feet apart, and the seed tubers set on the ridges at distances of 18 

 inches. Some cultivators prefer to start the seed tubers in a nursery and 

 to transplant to their permanent position when a foot or so in height. 



496 



Seeds. 



Sets. 



Soil. 



Tillage. 



Planting. 



