106 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



from Spain and the Canaries; and were used as a 

 confection rather than as a nourishing vegetable. A 

 more abundant supply of fruit of home growth has 

 caused the batata gradually to decline in favour, and 

 for many years it has ceased to be an article of impor- 

 tation into this country. 



This plant is an herbaceous perennial, which 

 sends out many trailing stalks, extending six or 

 eight feet every way; these are round, and of a pale- 

 green colour; at each joint roots are put forth, which, 

 in a genial climate, grow to be very large tubers, so 

 that from a single plant forty or fifty large roots are 

 produced. The leaves are angular, and stand on 

 long petioles. The flowers are purple. Several 

 varieties of this plant are to be found in the different 

 countries where it is cultivated, and which differ from 

 each other in size, shape, and the flavour of the roots. 

 The batata is propagated by laying down the young 

 shoots in <he spring; indeed, in its native climate it 

 multiplies itself almost spontaneously ; for if the 

 branches of roots that have been pulled up are suf- 

 fered to remain on the ground and a shower of rain 

 falls soon after they have been broken ofT, their vege- 

 tation will recommence. The roots are sweet, nour- 

 ishing, and though rather insiped, of no unpleasant 

 flavour. In warm climates the batata is of very 

 abundant growth, and easy of propagation; and there- 

 fore it is matter of surprise that, in Brazil, the man- 

 dioc should be cultivated in preference as food for the 

 negroes, the batata being raised more as a luxury for 

 the planter's table. 



In the national garden at Paris this plant is raised 

 in a hot-bed, whence it is transplanted at the latter 

 end of the spring into the open ground, and treated 

 like the common potato. In favourable seasons a 

 tolerable crop is produced; and hopes are entertained 

 that in the course of some years the batata will be so 



