IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 321 



Solanum tuberosum, Linne.* 



The Potato. Andes of South America, particularly of Chili and 

 Peru, but not absolutely trans-equatorial, as it extends into Colum- 

 bia. It is also wild in the Argentine territory. As a starch plant, 

 the Potato interests us on this occasion particularly. Considering 

 its prolific yield in rich soil, we possess as yet too few factories for 

 potato starch. The average yield is 10 per cent. The latter, by 

 being heated with mineral acids or malt, can be converted into dextrin 

 and dextro-glucose for many' purposes of the arts. Dextrin, as a 

 substitute for gum, is also obtainable by subjecting potato-starch in 

 a dry state to a heat of 400 F. Alcohol may be largely produced 

 from the tubers. The berries and shoots contain solanin. Baron 

 von Liebig remarks, " So far as its foliage is concerned, it is a lime 

 plant ; as regards its tuber, a potash plant." Langethal says, " It 

 surpasses in easy range of cultivation all other root crops. Its 

 culture suppresses weeds and opens up the soil, besides preparing 

 the land for cereals." Seeds of the Potato berries should be sown 

 in adapted places by explorers of new countries. The most for- 

 midable potato disease of the last thirty years from the Peronospora 

 infestans seems to have originated from the use of objectionable 

 kinds of guano, with the introduction of which the murrain was 

 contemporaneous. The foliage of potato-plants, when thickly 

 placed under trees or shrubs infected by blights, checks materially 

 the spread of insects which cause the disease. 



Solanum Uporo, Dunal. 



In many of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The large, red, 

 spherical berries of this shrub can be used like Tomato. Proved 

 hardy at Port Phillip 



Solanum vescum, F. v. Mueller. 



The Gunyang. South-East Australia. A shrub yielding edible 

 berries, which need however to be fully ripe for securing absence 

 of deleterious properties. 



Solanum xanthocarpum, Schrader and Wendlancl. 



North Africa and South Asia. A perennial herb. The berries 

 are of the size of a cherry, and either yellow or scarlet. 



Sophora Japonica, Linne.* 



A deciduous tree of China and Japan, resembling the Laburnum, 

 up to 60 feet high ; wood hard and compact, valued for turners' 

 works. All parts of the plant purgative ; the flowers rich in 

 yellow dye, used for silk. 



