AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 395 



length. On cooking they proved so excellent that the conviction 

 was forced upon my mind, that this must prove a mosi perfect 

 substitute for the potato. I took measures at once to procure a 

 full supply by importations and otherwise, paying as high as 

 $700 per bushel. These were all tubers, or small pieces of 

 roots, as I was unable to purchase a single perfect root though I 

 offered |25 each for one hundred. My plantation the past year 

 covered two and a half acres, consisting of 36,000 plants pro- 

 cured at a great expense. 



During the winter of 1855 and 1856 I left a considerable 

 number of the roots in the open ground, when as will be remem- 

 bered the mercury fell to 1 0'^ below zero, and I have allowed two 

 acres comprising 33,000 roots to remain out the present winter 

 during which the mercury has sunk to 11'^ below zero, an ex- 

 treme of cold never before experienced on Long Island. 



The success of the former experiment was attested by the roots 

 which I had the pleasure of exhibiting to you last spring, and 

 with regard to the latter, the perfect condition of the roots which 

 I here present and which were dug the present week for the pur- 

 pose, is sufficiently conclusive. 



With regard to hardihood, if the earth becomes frozen to the 

 entire depth of any root within it, that point is tested quite as 

 effectually with the mercury at 10° as at 40'^ below zero The 

 root in question has been grown successfully in Aberdeenshire, 

 Scotland, lat. 57"^, and there exists no plausible reason why it 

 may not be grown at .Quebec. Indeed, considering its general 

 character, it would seem destined not only to spread over our 

 own country, but over the Canadas, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, 

 Russia, Germany, and all other countries ill the temperate zone, 

 producing a complete revolution in their alimentary basis. In 

 the preparation of the ground for planting, only decomj^osed 

 manure should be used, and that should be placed as deep as pos- 

 sible and but little near the surface, as this vertical root seeks the 

 manure below, the lower end of the root being the enlarged por- 

 tion which requires the most nutriment for its ftill development. 



Coarse manures should never be used, and such manures as are 

 used must be so applied as to not come in contact with the roots, 

 as they evince the utmost repugnance to any contact with crude 

 manures, and will fail to develope their growth if in proximity 

 with them. This instinctive repugnnnce of the plant to all filth 

 presents a most peculiar and distinctive character. It can, how- 

 ever, be so easily grown on any loose soil, poor as it may be, that 

 it may be emphatically termed " the poor man's potato." 



