1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



485 



oC this beautiful bird. I really envied the Dutch 

 the r hnppiuess in this particular. 

 London, May 10. 1839. 



NOTK ON THE JALAP PLANT OF COMMKRCE. 



By D. Beaton. 



From Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. 



At the last November nieetin;;? of the Botanical 

 Socieiy of Edinburgh, Dr. Graham slated thai 

 fpomcBd purga is now believeil to be the plant 

 wliich produces ilie true jalap ol>ommerce. That 

 he received a tuber ol'it liom Dr. Ciniplison, which 

 (lowered freely in a stove, and proved to be ([uite 

 distinct from the IpoiiKza a hitherto in cultivation 

 in onr stoves as the jalap plant. In the u'/nnals of 

 Natural History for this month, in which I read a 

 notice of the above meeting, the authoriiy lor the 

 s|)ecific name purga is not stated, and 1 cannot 

 iind it in any work to which 1 have access. The 

 true Ipomaa, or Convolvulus Jalapa, was culti- 

 vated in the Chelsea Botanic Garden in Miller's 

 time. After his death, the plant was lost to that 

 garden, and to the collections of this country. 

 Someiime afterwards Jpomaa inacrorhiza usurped 

 the place of the jalap plant in our stoves. Curious 

 collectors latterlv had each iiis jala|) plant in his 

 stove. At Halfieli', we had our jalap plant, but 

 not /poincca macrorhiza, 



My present esteemed employer received a kw 

 toilers last year from his Mexican collector: tht'v 

 were li'om Xaiapa ; and from the appearance of 

 their Ibliige, when thf\v began to grow, I took 

 Uiein 10 be a species ol' Dloscorca, (the venation of 

 the leaves in tliat genus tieinix no index to its bo- 

 tanical alfmity), and paid little attention to them. 

 One ! kept nil the season in the Cacti house where 

 it (loiu-ished well, and seemed qui'e at home, but 

 did not flower; another i planted in the open 

 garden, against a rhododendron bush, a good plati 

 ior all duplicate novelties fiom such a country as 

 Mexico, li-om which both hardy and tender species 

 have been received. 'J'his latter plant showed a 

 considerable number ol' flower buds in September, 

 in twos and threes on short peduncles in the axils 

 of the leaves. Only one of these, however, ex- 

 panded, owing to the lateness of the season ; and 

 it had a long narrow tube, and a spreading me- 

 dium-sized limb of a delicate violet color; and 

 the plant aliogether appeared a graceful climber. 

 You may guess my surprise, on sending this flower 

 to one of the first botanists of the aire, to be told 

 that it was the plant which pioducedihe true jalap 

 of commerce, Convolvulus Jalapa. I thiidc Irom 

 this statement we may safely inlijr that the true 

 jala|) plaiit will flower betttr in a cool house than 

 in the stove. I expect our [ilant will flower well 

 out of doors this seasoti, beiiiix pre[)aringit now lor 

 '.hat purpose, it was received last year in May, 

 ani, of course, lost much time of the arowmu sea- 

 son. If this is diflerent from the Edinbmgh I. 

 purga I shall be ixlad to send ii dried specimen of 

 it to the Botanical Society there ; but 1 shall learn 

 this "time enough" from Mr. JNl'Nab, I am hap- 

 py to see, is one <>f the councillors of liiat society. 



Kingsbury, jlpril 6. 1839. 



TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Columbus, Ga. 

 Some time last fall, as well as I now recollect, 

 one of your Virginia correspondents aeked for in- 

 formation upon the subject of kee|)ing eweet pota- 

 toes through the winter; and perhajjs the writer 

 was desirous to obtain Virginia practice; butil our 

 Georgia plan shoiild not be altogether applicable 

 to your region, (I know of no reason why it should 

 not be,) your correspondents may derive some 

 useful bins therefrom ; and though I give our 

 plan loo late for any praciical use the present sea- 

 son, it will, if at all, be of service tlie coming one. 

 There are various modes adopted in Georgia for 

 saving potatoes, but as the one I practice, in com- 

 mon with many others, lias always been sosuccess- 

 IliI, I shall describe that only. As soon as the liost 

 slightly affects the potato vines in the fall, (about 

 llie middle of October here,) I begin to make pre- 

 parations for digging ; aiul by the time the vines 

 become tlioroughly killed, I am prepared for ilie 

 harvest. I select an elevated piece of ground, and 

 throwing up circular mounds, or hills, twelve or 

 fifteen inches above the common surface, the di- 

 ameter of which should be about ten feet, to con- 

 tain sixty bushels of jiotatoes. 'I'he situation and 

 the elevation of the hills are objects of impor- 

 tance, to prevent the possibility of the potatoea 

 getting wet. In order to make the potatoes lie on 

 the hill the better, the edges should be somewhat 

 elevated by drawing the earlh from the centre, 

 givinii It sliirhily the appearance of a bowl. Com- 

 mon pine heart boards are now placed on the 

 earth, radiating fiom the centre to the circumfer- 

 ence of the hill ; and on these a layer one fi)ot 

 thick, of dry |)i!ie leaves. The hill being now 

 ready to receive the potatoes, 1 select diy, mild 

 weather, and commence digging in the morning, 

 and stop time enomgh in the afternoon to haul up 

 all dug during the day; liir il le!t out at night, the 

 li-()st, if any, would injure them. If possible, the 

 hills should' be filled and completed the same day, 

 but if not, the potatoes should be well covered 

 with straw to protect them at niuht, and uncoveicd 

 next morninir. When the i>ile becomes two or 

 three tiH>t hiirh, place a pole horizontally across, 

 ofsufliitient length to pass entirely through the 

 hill. A better ventilator would lie an oblong box 

 four or five inches scjutirc, vvitl; several auger 

 holes in it. The potatoes nuiy now be put on till 

 the pile is about five feet high, and left in a conical 

 Ibrm. Next, procure dry pme leaves ;ind lay them 

 all over the potatoes, at least six inches thick. 

 Pine heart boards like those ucied at the bottom of 

 the poiiiloes, are now placed over the straw, and 

 a covering of earth six or eight inches (hick, is 

 put over the whole, and patted t-mooth with a 

 s|)ade. A small aperture shoidd be left at the top 

 of the hill, to ttssisl in vi-jitilaiion ; or to be nealer, 

 a short oblong box may be inserted down to the 

 potatoes, and the earth ilritwn nicely u[) to it. If 

 a pole is used as the horizontal ventilator, the eartli 

 should be removed from below it, where it pn jects 

 Irom the lull. All ihe apertures should be left 

 open, lor a Itjw days after the operation is finish- 

 ed, and then only closed during severe weather, 

 with a handful o^ pine leaves. Shelteis should 

 be erected over tlie hills to exclude the ram en- 

 tirely. I consider it im|)onant to perform the 

 whole business in dry weather. P. C. H. 



