130 SWEET POTATO. 



a raw state. A specimen of the fruit alluded to may be seen, we un- 

 derstand, at the American Institute in this city, it having been raised 

 from seeds obtained from S. Carolina, where the plant is some culti- 

 vated for its nutritive properties. 



S. Taberosum. Stems unarmed ; leaves uninterruptedly pinnate, 

 entire with 5 or 7 lanceolate, oval leafllets ; flowers panicled, large, 

 purplish, or white, drooping, handsome ; flower, stalks subdivided 

 Peru and N. A. 



The Sweet Potato, or convolvulus battata, was introduced into Spain 

 from S. America, and afterwards into England, about the middle of 

 the 16th century, from Spain and the Canaries. Its stalks are a 

 pale green, trailing, and extending several feet around the centre. 

 The tubers, in a favorable climate, are very large : 40 or 50 often grow 

 from one plant. The flowers are purple, but the varieties differ in 

 the size, form, and flavor of the root. It often multiplies spontaneous- 

 ly in S. America and the W. Indies, but it is generally propagated by 

 laying down young shoots in the spring. It is of abundant growth, 

 and easily propagated in warm climates. It is much cultivated in the 

 Carolinas and other southern states, and considerably in Va., Md., 

 and N. J. The climate is too cold for it further north. Its consump- 

 tion increases in the northern states. It is sweet and nutritious, 

 containing more saccharine matter than the common potato, and 

 with most people, it is a favorite food. It may be kept during the 

 winter in perfectly dry places. Efforts are making to acclimatize it 

 in France, and increasing attention is paid to its cultivation both at 

 the south and in some of the middle states. 



The seed potatoes are raised in a hot-bed ; the sprouts are then cut 

 off and planted in a field of rich soil, 3 or 4 sprouts in a hill; they 

 then grow up so fast as to suffocate weeds. Those with a red skin form 

 a very nutritious jelly with water. Bowen's Patent Sago," used by 

 the army, is this powder. The roots are grated and the mass washed 

 with water through wire seives of different sizes, then dried in pans. 

 The water in which potatoes are closely boiled is reputed poisonous. 

 Boiling expels the poisonous qualities of many of the most nutritive 

 plants. 



Oxalis Deppie is a new vegetable now successfully cultivated in 

 England, but it will soon come into general cultivation. The 

 flavor of the stalk and tubers is distinct from any vegetable now culti- 

 vated. It was introduced from Belgium, where it is much raised. 



This plant is also a native of the E. Indies, but has produced varie- 

 ties in all warm parts of the earth. It is the potato of Shakspeare 

 and cotemporaneous writers. 



Leaves hastate, or 3-lobed ; flowers white externally, disposed in 

 clusters on axillary foot-stalks. 



