AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 553 



The valley of San Jose is superb; has two colleges, several 

 academies, with 290 students. 



Capt. Aram has an orange bush, three years old, and over 

 twenty feet high. 



Wild clover at San Joaquin, California, yielded four tons per 

 acre, and was five feet six inches high. 



Chinese sugar cane, at Stockton, California, attained no greater 

 height than on Long Island, viz : eleven feet, and in weight forty 

 tons per acre. 



THE SORGHUM OF CH^A. 



Mons. Nouel, in St. Dennis en Val, (Loiret,) sowed some broad- 

 cast, and some in hills, and the product was about fifty tons 

 weight of plants per acre. It was chopped small and fed to 

 stock to fatten them. They eat notliing else (the cattle,) from 

 September 2nd to November 10th, or for six weeks of that time; 

 cows fed on it gave more milk, considerably. Sheep fed on the 

 green crop, sowed broadcast. Horses fed on the stalks chopped. 

 Sheep did not relish the green crop much. Cows and horses liked 

 it. The new shoots from the stump, cut off, were not relished. 



HOETICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS AT SHANGHAI. 



A single flower attracted a crowd of visitors. It was an epiden- 

 drum of rare and costly sort, called by the Chinese, Hwni-tan-hwa. 

 The price of it is 400 francs. The flowers are green, almost en- 

 tirely like its leaves. It is bought only by wealthy persons. 



[Bulletin Mensuel De La Societo Imperiale Zoologique D'Acclimatation, Paris, Jan. '58.] 



DIOSCOREA BATATAS. 

 Some of two years growth have attained a weight of five pounds. 

 The question is, shall we consider it a one or a two year crop'? 

 "What soil suits it best? How to make the root shorter and 

 thicker than we now have it ? Hardy, of Algiers, has raised 

 some of this character. Perhaps by selecting short thick roots 

 for cultivation, we may succeed; but we know that thick short 

 roots will yield long and thin ones ; perseverance in planting the 

 short thick ones may ultimately succeed ; plant them in shallow 

 soil with a hard sub-soil ! Gasparin has succeeded with some 

 potatoes in that way. We sum up by saying that this Dioscorea 



