Sec. 30.] 



GARDEN CULINARY VEGET.VBLES. 



405 



Peppers sliould be sown early in light, warm soil in a ecedbcd, aiiJ tran»- 

 pliiiited and iiiainircd with giuino water or hen-dung in solution. 



563. Jciiisalem Artichokes.— This plant, tbo JldiatUhus tubero»u«, slioald 

 have a small corner in every garden, or sonicwhore convenient about the 

 farmery, as it affords very agreealde food early in the spring, when sonjc- 

 thing i,s longed for fresh from the earth. It is one of the best antiscorbutics 

 known. It also affords a great crop of good pig feed. One uiau in Ohio 

 estimates the yield at the rate of 1,7U0 bushels an acre. "\\'o recon>na-n<l 

 this plant as altogether preferable for cultivation over the Chineso yam, 

 Dioscorea lutaias, about which so much has been written and said. All 

 that is necessary to bo known about that plant we give iu the ne.xt par- 

 agraph. 



504. The Chinese ram. — This new esculent has certainly been tested long 

 enough in this country to determine its true value for cultivation. That it 

 is palatable and nutritious, when j)roperly cooked, no one doubts. That it 

 would ever bo adopted as a substitute for the common potato (Solnnurn 

 tuberosum), or of the sweet potato {Convolvulus latataa), among those who 

 grow those roots as a sale crop, we have never believed, but have hoped that 

 it might prove a valuable addition to our family of food-i>roducing plants; 

 but as yet we have not the evidence that this will be the case. 



The London Gardeners' Chronicle of September, 1S58, says of the Clii- 

 nese yam {Dioscorea batatas) that — 



" Many excellent results were obtained last year in various parta of tlio 

 country, anil gardeners begin to understand the nature of this sti 

 duction, which, although ])rovideil for the food of man, naturally 

 the ground in such a way as to make it impossible for him to pull it up. it 

 is now, too, agreed that the quaUty of the root, when i)roiKTly cooked, U 

 excellent. 



" When first introduced to Europe by the French, this esculent wn« re- 

 garded as a mere curiosity, and maltreated accordingly; but eventually 

 such information concerning it was obtained from M. de Montiguy, Krcm-h 

 consul at Shanghae, as led to its receiving the attcutiou due to a root which 

 might some day be found good to eat. 



"The herbage of the Chinese yam is singularly like tliat of Tamu4 com- 

 munis, the common black bryony of this country, consisting of long, wi-ak, 

 angular, wiry, annual stems, covered witli heart-shaped thining leavi*. It 

 ordinarily begins to jnisli iU roots as soon as the ground tcD>l>cnHun< 

 rises to about 50 degrees, which, near L)iulon, c<.rn.,-]M.n.l» with t' 

 ning of May. Shortly afterward tho shooU api>ear an.l mhjh spi 

 the°surfuce,' not, however, with much vigor at first, nor, indeed, Ull Uic 

 month of August. The j-lant i.s evidently occuph.l f.-r somo wivk« m 

 making these true roots and preparing for tho singular dc\il..i.menl of that 

 false root, which is the yam itself— tho part to bo eaten. When U.e root* 

 and stems have attained tho necessary vigor, which wt-m* to bo when the 

 ground has become heated up to Gy degrees, or thereabout*, m Augu.t, thero 



