44 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Near the water-basin in the main hall is a huge yam, from 

 Nicaragua, in shape like an elephant's foot, and in weight almost 

 as heavy, we fancy, if let fall upon one's toes from a proper 

 elevation. This yam, which rejoices in the fearful name Testa- 

 dunaria Mexicana, is a regular article of Nicaraguan diet, it 

 being cut up into " chunks " for boiling. No doubt of Walker's 

 returned fiUibusters in this city will certify to its esculent prop- 

 erties. 



Mr. Isaac Buchanan, the florist, has a most excellent friend in 

 a Capt. J. M. Dow, who trades between this metropolis and the 

 fertile shores of Nicaragua. The captain is a veritable enthusiast 

 in the manner of collecting strange vegetation, a real curiosity 

 hunter in the domains of Flora and Ceres ; and there is no tree 

 too high, no morass too spongy, and no cactus hedge too prickly 

 to check his ardent search of rarities. To him is the Institute 

 indebted for the great slab-footed yam ; to him for the thirty or 

 more orchids which hang over the lily-basin, and grow on air 

 alone ; to him the specimen of Spanish moss, Tillandsia usencides, 

 which droops its long pendants of linked leaves from the bit of 

 wood on which it grew in Central America. Pity we did not 

 have more Capt. Dows. Mr. Buchanan tells us that this immense 

 yam belongs to the Diascorea family, and only produces a small 

 running vine, which is very remarkable, considering the large 

 mass of vegetable matter which it contains in its tube. This is 

 supposed to be the first plant of the species brought to this 

 country in the living state. 



One of Capt. Dow's orchids is a monster specimen of its kind, 

 the Stanhopea — having a mass of roots two feet in diameter, and 

 weighing about seventy-five pounds. Since our report yesterday, 

 Wm. Perry & Son, of Bridgeport, Conn., having entered a lot of 

 French asters, numbering over thirty varieties in all ; some of 

 them are superior plants. 



The doors of Palace garden were thrown open on Tuesday 

 morning, the public were admitted to a horticultural show which 

 promises to equal, if not excel any display of the kind evermade 

 in this country. 



Whether it be attributable to a change in the board of manage- 

 ment, and the consequent infusion of enterprise and public spirit, 

 or not, we leave others to decide ; but certainly the show of 

 flowers and fruits, which has already been made, betoken a radi- 

 cal improvement in the guidance of the Institute, and augurs 



