October i, 1891] 



NATURE 



533 



the base, and produce tuberous enlargements filled with an ex- 

 cellent starch. Although the plant is of comparatively easy 

 cultivation, efforts to introduce it into Europe have not been 

 successful, but it is said to have found favour in both the Indies, 

 and may prove useful in our Southern States. 



(2) UUucus or Ollucus, another tuberous-rooted plant from 

 nearly the same region, but belonging to the beet or spinach 

 family. It has produced tubers of good size in England, but 

 they are too waxy in consistence to dispute the place of the 

 better tubers of the potato. The plant is worth investigating 

 for our hot dry lands. 



(3) A tuber-bearing relative of our common hedge-nettle, or 

 Stachys, is now cultivated on a large scale at Crosnes, in 

 France, for the Paris market. Its name in Paris is taken from 

 the locality where it is now grown for use. Although its native 

 country is Japan, it is called by some seedsmen Chinese arti- 

 choke. At the present stage of cultivation, the tubers are small 

 and are rather hard to keep, but it is thought "that both of 

 these defects can be overcome or evaded." Experiments indi- 

 cate that we have in this species a valuable addition to our 

 vegetables. 



We must next look at certain other neglected possibilities. 

 Dr. Edward Palmer, whose energy as a collector and acute- 

 ness as an observer are known to you all, has brought together 

 very interesting facts relative to the food-plants of our North 

 American aborigines. Among the plants described by him 

 there are a few which merit careful investigation. Against all 

 of them, however, there lie the objections mentioned before, 

 namely : — 



(1) The long time required for their improvement, and 



(2) The difficulty of making them acceptable to the community, 

 involving 



(3) The risk of total and mortifying failure. 



In 1854 the late Prof. Gray called attention to the remarkable 

 relations which exist between the plants of Japan and those of 

 our eastern coast. You will remember that he not only proved 

 that the plants of the two regions had a common origin, but also 

 emphasized the fact that many species of the two countries are 

 almost identical. It is to that country which has yielded us so 

 many useful and beautiful plants that we turn for new vegetables 

 to supplement our present food resources. One of these plants 

 — namely, Stachys — has already been mentioned as promising. 

 There are others which are worth examination and perhaps 

 acquisition. 



One of the most convenient places for a preliminary exa- 

 mination of the vegetables of Japan is at the railroad stations on 

 the longer lines — for instance, that running from Tokioto Kobe. 

 For native consumption there are prepared luncheon boxes of 

 two or three stories, provided with the simple and yet embar- 

 rassing chopsticks. It is worth the shock it causes one's nerves 

 to invest in these boxes and try the vegetable contents. The 

 bits of fish, flesh, and fowl which one finds therein can be easily 

 separated and discarded, upon which there will remain a few 

 delicacies. The pervading odour of the box is that of aromatic 

 vinegar. The generous portion of boiled rice is of excellent 

 quality, with every grain well softened and distinct, and this 

 without anything else would suffice for a tolerable meal. In the 

 boxes which have fallen under my observation there were sundry 

 boiled roots, shoots, and seeds which were not recognizable by 

 me in their cooked form. Prof. Georgeson, formerly of Japan, 

 has kindly identified some of these for me, but he says, " There 

 are doubtless many others used occasionally." 



One may find sliced lotus roots, roots of large burdock, 

 lily bulbs, shoots of ginger, pickled green plums, beans of 

 many sorts, boiled chestnuts, nuts of the gingko tree, pickled 

 greens of various kinds, dried cucumbers, and several kinds of 

 seaweeds. Some of the leaves and roots are cooked in much 

 the same manner as beet-roots and beet-leaves are by us, 

 and the general effisct is not unappetizing. The boiled shoots 

 are suggestive of only the tougher ends of asparagus. On 

 the whole, I do not look back on Japanese railway luncheons 

 with any longing which would compel me to advocate the 

 indiscriminate introduction of the constituent vegetables here. 



But when the same vegetables are served in native inns, under 

 more favourable culinary conditions, without the flavour of 

 vinegar and of the pine wood of the luncheon boxes, they appear 

 to be worthy of a trial in our horticulture, and I therefore deal 

 with one or two in greater detail. 



Prof. Georgeson, whose advantages for acquiring a knowledge 



NO. I 144, VOL. 44] 



of the useful plants of Japan have been unusually good, has 

 placed me under great obligations by communicating certain facts 

 regarding some of the more promisinu plants of Japan which are 

 not now used here. It should be said that several of these plants 

 have already attracted the notice of the Agricultural Department 

 in this country. 



The soy bean {Glycine hispida). This species is known 

 here to some extent, but we do not have the early and best 

 varieties. These beans replace meat in the diet of the common 

 people. 



Mucuna {Mucuna capitata) and dolichos {Dolichos culira- 

 tus) are pole beans possessing merit. 



Dioscorea. There are several varieties with palatable roots. 

 Years ago one of these was spoken of by the late Dr. Gray as 

 possessing "excellent roots, if one could only dig them." 



Colocasia antiquorum has tuberous roots, which are nutri- 

 tious. 



Conophallus Konjak has a large bulbous root, which is 

 sliced, dried, and beaten to a powder. It is an ingredient in 

 cakes. 



Aralia cordata is cultivated for the shoots, and used as we use 

 asparagus. 



(Enanthe stolonifera and Cryptotania canadensis are palatable 

 salad plants, the former being used also as greens. 



III. Fruits. 



Botanically speaking, the cereal grains of which we have 

 spoken are true fruits — that is to say, are ripened ovaries, but 

 for all practical purposes they may be regarded as seeds. The 

 fruits of which mention is now to be made are those com- 

 monly spoken of in our markets as fruits. 



First of all, attention must be called to the extraordinary 

 changes in the commercial relations of fruits by two direct 

 causes — 



(i) The canning industry, and 



(2) Swift transportation by steamers and railroads. 



The effects of these two agencies are too well known to 

 require more than this passing mention. By them the fruits 

 of the best fruit-growing countries are carried to distant lands 

 in quantities which surprise all who see the statistics for the 

 first time. The ratio of increase is very startling. Take, for 

 instance, the figures given by Mr. D. Morris, at the time 

 of the great Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. 

 Compare double'decades of years — 



1845 886,888 



1865 3,185,984 



1885 7,587,523 



In the Colonial Exhibition at London, in 1886, fruits from 

 the remote colonies were exhibited under conditions which 

 proved that, before long, it may be possible to place such 

 delicacies as the cherimoyer, the sweet-cup, sweet-sop, ram- 

 butan, mango, and mangosteen, at even our most northern 

 seaports. Furthermore, it seems to me likely that, with an in- 

 crease in our knowledge with regard to the microbes which 

 produce decay, we may be able to protect the delicate fruits 

 from injury for any reasonable period. Methods which will 

 supplement refrigeration are sure to come in the very near 

 future, so that even in a country so vast as our own, the most 

 perishable fruits will be transported through its length and 

 breadth without harm. 



The canning industry and swift transportation are likely to 

 diminish zeal in searching for new fruits, since, as we have 

 seen in the case of the cereals, we are prone to move in lines 

 of least resistance, and leave well enough alone. 



To what extent are our present fruits likely to be improved ? 

 Even those who have watched the improvement in the quality 

 of some of our fruits, like oranges, can hardly realize how 

 great has been the improvement within historic times in the 

 character of certain pears, apples, and so on. 



The term historic is used advisedly, for there are pre-historic 

 fruits which might serve as a point of departure in the con- 

 sideration of the question. In the ruins of the lake-dwellings 

 in Switzerland, charred apples have been found, which are in 

 some cases plainly of small size, hardly equalling ordinary crab 

 apples. But, as Dr. Sturtevant has shown, in certain directions 

 there has been no marked change of type— the change is in 

 quality. 



