484 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



pie, edged with white — jickls many flowers ; Due de Malakoff, 

 deep carmine red; Lady Scott Douglas Rose carmine, large flower, 

 striated deep chesnut color ; the Mirror, reddish orange, striated 

 crimson, and others, new and beautiful. 



Petunia, new — Hybrid seedlings, large flowers, deep white, 

 plumy, greatly spotted with tender violet. 

 Phlox — Two remarkable novelties. 

 Roses — Three new fine ones. 



Salvia, whitish cerulean — Grows spontaneously in the cold re- 

 gions of the Western Cordilleras. 



DIOSCOREA BATATAS— CHINESE YAM. 



Since 1855, has been planted on a large scale. Some impor- 

 tant facts in relation to it have been ascertained — among others, 

 its seed at the Museum of Natural History and elsewhere. This 

 promises some interesting modifications of the plant and tuber. 

 I do not despair of seeing it in our fields some day or other. At 

 present we rate it as a legume of the second order. In fine, as a 

 vegetable for table use, it is easily cultivated, crop tolerably large, 

 keeps well with little or no care, taste agreeable or hardly any at all, 

 and this is also the case with most of our essential alimentary 

 substances. 



Mr. John D. Ward — Some years since I resided in Vergennes, 

 Vt., where the character of the soil is such that the common white 

 globe turnip cannot be raised as an ordinary crop. The difficulty 

 is, that the plants are either entirely destroyed by worms, or if 

 they escape complete destruction, their growth is dwarfish and 

 sickly, and when taken up their roots are found perforated, and 

 the exterior furrowed in all directions, so that they are entirely 

 useless for the table. The Swedish turnip grew without being at 

 all disturbed by the worms. Being desirous of obtaining the 

 white turnip, also, I after two or three ineffectual attempts, secured 

 a small bed of them, and as soon as the rough leaves appeared 

 upon the plants, sprinkled the ground with salt, at the rate of 

 perhaps a pint of salt upon each square rod; the result of which 

 was a tolerable crop of fair-, smooth turnips. 



