620 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



fDEc. 15, 1855. 





throw up and employ in so smoothing the place as 

 to render it invisible to their many natural enemies. 



The grub, furnished with nothing but its jaws, for 

 legs it has none, finds itself in the midst of live 

 animal matter suited for its subsistence, consisting of 

 the mutilated and paralysed bodies of spiders, cater- 

 pillars, and the soft lanrae of other insects, which 

 form an abundant larder of fresh meat. Amidst 

 this abundance it undergoes its transformations, 

 changes to a chrysalis, and finally emerges as a 

 perfect wasp, exactly like its provident parents, 

 which, as we have seen, take such good care of it. 



Here, then, we have a natural explanation, and 

 let us add a beautiful one, of Dr. Danvin's marvel, 

 which, like many others, when examined by men of 

 sufficient intelligence, turns out to be a natural fact, 

 the whole history of which was perfectly well known 

 to science. 



Some weeks since we reported fully upon the 

 experiments made in this country with the Chinese 

 Yam. A short statement by M. Naudin enables 

 us to show what the French have this year ac- 

 complished. 



We are informed that sets planted in 1854 were 

 raised in the beginning of last November. They 

 had therefore passed the severe winter of 1854-5 in 

 the open ground, without protection, and sustained 

 injury from the 22 degrees of frost (10° 

 Fahr.) experienced in Paris last January. The 

 question of the hardiness of the plant is thus 

 reduced to certainty. 



Six plants taken up on the 2d Nov. and weighed 



xMr, 



in full flower in nine months fromlbeing sown 

 Skinner says that it blossoms in Guatemala from bottom 

 to top, |and during a large part of the year. Some 

 hundreds of plants have been given away by the Hor- 

 ticultural Society. 





no 



immediately, gave the following result : 



No. 1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 



e 



• • 



• • • 



• 9 t 



• » • 



• • • 



• • • 



• • • 



• • « 



0.340 kilos. 



0.260 



1.260 



1.640 



1.535 



1.500 



» 

 » 

 » 



» 



>> 



6.535 



99 



ON SOME NEW VARIETIES OF THE SWEET 



POTATO (BATATAS EDULIS). 



(Communicated by Colonel von Siebold). 



The sweet Potato or Batatas was already known in 

 the middle of the 16 th century. It is a plant of ancient 

 cultivation, originally proceeding from tropical countries. 

 But it gradually overstepped their northern limits, 

 penetrating into various lands of the temperate zone, 

 and we find it cultivated in Carolina, in Japan, and 

 China, in which two last named countries it entirely 

 takes the place of our Potato. It succeeds perfectly 

 within an annual isothermal line of 12° Reaumur 

 (59° Fahrenheit) ; and northern Spain, the south of 

 France, Italy, Greece, Rumelia, and the lands com- 

 prised in the parallel of Constantinople and Tiflis, 

 would prove a second fatherland for it. The Batatas 

 has long been cultivated in Portugal and Spain, and a 

 considerable trade in it is carried on along the coast of 

 Malaga. As a plant of ancient cultivation in a variety 

 of climates, at a greater or less elevation above the sea 

 and in very different soils, the Batatas have neces- 

 sarily more or less improved. Varieties have been 

 developed suited to warmer or colder climates, and the 

 form and colour of the leaves, flowers, and tubers is, 

 among the Batatas, as diversified as in the Potato itself, 

 which has become gradually diffused over the whole 

 world. Climatological circumstances, and the nature 

 of the soil, have also had their influence on the quality 



and flavour of the root. 



Hitherto we have only known in Europe a few kinds 

 established in Spain and Portugal, and some Isle of 

 France or Guadaloupe varieties, cultivated here and 

 there in the south of France. Some gardeners of Paris 

 and Rouen have raised from them tubers of consider- 

 able size and a good flavour. If in our colder climates 

 the culture of the Batatas requires more care than that 

 of the Potato, it is nevertheless well worth the trouble 

 of raising it in our gardens, and in warmer regions it 

 may be planted in the open fields w ith far more advan- 

 tage than the Potato ; for there the haulms and leaves, 

 which may be cut down several times without injury to 

 the tubers, afford an excellent forage ; cattle, pigs, and 

 horses willingly take to the Batatas haulm and grow 

 fat upon it. In St. Domingo it is the chief food of 

 domestic animals ; and in Japan, where the arable land, 

 so limited in extent for the overcrowded population, is 

 taken up by the culture of grain and vegetables, the 

 dense foliage of the Batatas is an indispensable fodder 

 for cattle and horses. The young shoots and leaves 

 may be used also as vegetables. The tubers may be 

 eaten, like Potatoes, boiled, roasted, or fried in oil or 

 butter, whilst the unripe roots may be preserved with 

 sugar. Father Manuel Blanco, in his " Flora de 

 Filipinas," says that the country people make of the 

 Camotas (as the Batatas are there called), a kind of 

 chocolate soup, and that the tubers are excellent when 

 roasted before the fire. Parmentier, a member of the 

 Institute of Paris, observes u Les Batatas, en un mot, 

 peuvent se preter a toutes les formes que le luxe de nos 

 tables a imaginees." The saccharine principle of the 

 Batatas promotes fermentation, and may be used for 

 the preparation of spirituous liquors. The writer of 

 these notes has daily eaten Batatas in Japan for several 

 years ; when boiled they are an excellent appendage 

 to the delicious fruit of those regions, and if roasted 

 they rival the best Italian Chesnuts. The Japanese 

 kinds are distinguished by being very mealy, and, boiled 

 in their skins, they burst like our best Potatoes. As 

 as article of food they are all over Japan much more 

 highly prized than the Yams (Dioscorea batatas and 

 D. japonica), which do not boil so mealy and have 

 a mawkish taste, like Scorzoneras and Jerusalem 

 Artichokes. 



After repeated attempts for many years, the writer 

 at length succeeded, in the month of June of the present 

 year, in receiving direct from Japan the best varieties 

 of their Batatas, and in multiplying them in the horti- 

 cultural establishment of Siebold and Co., at Leyden, 

 with so much success, that already in the present 

 autumn strong offsets can be supplied to botanical 

 gardens, nurserymen, and amateur gardeners. 



The best sorts of Batatas in Japan are — 1, the 

 Satsuma-imo, that is, the Batatas from the district of 

 Satsuma ; 2, the Aka-imo, or red skinned ; 3, the Siro- 

 imo, or white-skinned ; aud 4, the Hanaboke-imo, or 

 Quince-flower-coloured Batatas, that is, of the colour of 

 the flowers of the Cydonia japonica. We now possess 

 in our garden all these four kinds. For all countries 

 which have an isothermal annual and July temperature 

 with that of Japau, the introduction of these improved 

 varieties will be as important as was once the intro- 



t v. duction of the Potato from Peru into Europe. For 



its soft downy leaves and much larger flowers separate such countries the culture of the Batatas will be more 

 it Mr. Skinner, who presented its seeds to the Horti- 

 cultural Society, informs us that it is called Bucaro, and 

 is « one of the finest plants known in Guatemala. Its 

 luxuriance is wonderful ; it grows well with a tempera- 

 ture of 68°, but is finest when the thermometer ranges 

 from 75° to 78°;* 



or above 13 £ lbs., which is equal to rather more 

 than 2 lbs. 4 oz. each root on an average. 



The roots were some forked some undivided, 

 owing, as it would seem, to the former having met 

 with stones in the ground ; on an average, they 

 were nearly 19 inches long. For the most part 

 they were longer than those grown in 1854. 



Experience has again shown that the Chinese 

 Yam should be planted very close. Six or seven 

 inches from plant to plant is enough. They are so 

 long, and form so few side roots that it is more 

 important to get as many of them as possible than 

 to grow them to a great size. Roots 3 or 4 lbs. in 

 weight are by no means the most profitable. They 

 need not be bigger than Carrots, and require no 

 more room than that root. It is however necessary 

 to have them on good high ridges for the sake of 

 getting them up without trouble. 



Such seem to be the conclusions of the French, 



and they coincide sufficiently with our own to 



render the proper cultivation of this plant no longer 



a matter of uncertainty. That it is quite hardy 

 seems clear. 



Horticulture has sustained a loss by the death of 

 Mons. Pescatore, of Paris. Having some years 

 since acquired the rich collection of Orchids formed 

 by Mons. Quesnel, of Havre, he rapidly increased 

 it till it became the most important in France, if 

 not on the Continent. It was from his Chateau de 

 la Celle de Saint Cloud that were drawn those con- 

 tinued supplies of rare plants which gave so much 

 interest to the late French Exhibition ; and to his 

 munificent patronage the Pescatorea, a splendid 

 work named after him, owed its existence. We 

 regret to report that M. Pescatore died the other 

 day in Paris at his house in the Rue de St. Georges, 

 after a long and painful illness. 



New Plants. 



154. TECOMA VELUTIXA. 



Among the supposed varieties of Tecoraa stans, 

 enumerated by De Candolle, is one called velutina, 

 which is evidently the plant now before us. That 

 learned botanist had obtained it from the garden of 

 Parma, but was uncertain whether to refer it to 

 T. stans or mollis. If the latter has nearly entire 

 leaves as is stated, then it must be different from this 

 in which they are strongly serrated. From the former 



beauty. 



It is certainly a plant of uncommon 

 Associated with leaves like those of the Ash, 

 but sometimes simple, Bometimes ternate, and some- 

 times pinnate, are great terminal racemes of magnifi- 

 cent yellow flowers, in no respect inferior to those of an 



Allamanda. Add to this that although a shrub, it was 



advantageous than that of the Potato, which, it is well 

 known, does not succeed so well in hot climates. But ah 



for climates of a lower annual temperature, say of 8° 

 Reaum. (50° Fahrenheit), these improved sorts may be of 

 great advantage in kitchen gardens. As there are other 

 vegetables which we obtain earlier by sowing them in 

 hot-beds and planting them out in the open air, so can we 

 also prepare the Batatas in hot-beds for their open air 

 cultivation. Experiments made with that view in the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Paris in the end of last centurv 



and latterly in the neighbourhood of New York have 



been attended with success. But what has proved the 

 best method is to make offsets from tubers planted very 

 early in hot-beds or in heated plant-houses. For this 

 purpose cuttings are taken from the young shoots and 

 planted out in hot-beds, or in the open air if protected 

 from cold and from the sun. One root will thus supply 

 several hundred offsets. The causing the roots first to 

 shoot in the hot-beds, and then to remove them to the 

 open air, or the cutting up of the root itself, has proved 

 less advantageous, as the abundance of fermenting 

 matter in the roots causes them to rot very easily. 

 Their multiplication by rooted cuttings has been found 

 to be the surest and best method. They like a loose, 

 rather sandy than clayey soil, and require strong ma- 

 nuring. In Japan the soil is manured with decayed 

 fish, and the young plants are copiously watered with a 

 liquid manure carefully prepared from vegetable and 

 animal matter. 



We thus recommend our Japanese Batatas to gar- 

 deners and agriculturists as a new vegetable ; and if we 

 encourage our correspondents in planting them we do 

 it in the persuasion that the culture of the Batatas will 

 be attended with as much advantage as that of other 

 fine vegetables, such as Cauliflowers, Asparagus, Arti- 

 chokes, &c, and that these our new Japanese kinds, 

 although they may not in our climate form a substitute 

 for the Potato, will nevertheless prove quite as nutri- 

 tious, and a much more palatable article of food than 

 the Chinese Yam (Dioscorea batatas) now so much 

 recommended as a substitute for the Potato, and, we 

 repeat, will supply our cooks with a most desirable 

 material for made dishes. 



PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN REARING 



SEEDLING PEAR TREES. 



To prevent confusion in a nursery of seedling fruits, 

 and indeed in collections in general, it is advisable to 

 direct the greatest attention to their cultivation with the 

 view of bringing them into a bearing state before pro- 

 pagating them, or giving away grafts. If, when the 

 period of bearing is at hand, the following characteristics 

 of the tree are observed, viz., a straight, upright, sub- 

 stantial stem, not too tall, branches and shoots some- 

 what erect, forming, however, tolerably wide angles, 

 a portion of them being furnished with spines and blunt 

 spurs, some of which also appear on the stem and upper 

 parts of the tree, there is a probability of the seedling 

 proving good. If the fruit set well in spring, notwith- 

 standing the frosts and vicissitudes of weather which 

 occur at that season, and if from three to eight flowers 

 of which the truss may be composed shall set as 

 many fruits, there is a probability of its being both 

 hardy and productive. The stalk should have a 

 firm attachment to the spur, so that the fruit may 

 not be readily blown off by the wind. The fruits should 

 be of fine form and good size. Those formed on the stem 

 will always be larger than those on small branches 

 or slender elongated spurs, and will likewise prove 

 of better quality. The fruits from the successive and 

 final gatherings should be carefully marked, in order to 

 ascertain the difference when they come to be tasted, 

 and to discover their mean time of ripening. A single 

 production of fruit and only one tasting are not sufficient 

 for the proper determination of the quality of a variety 

 and its mean period of ripening. Several successive crops 

 indifferent kinds of soil are necessary in order to appre- 

 ciate the fertility, quality, and the period of ripening 



of a new variety. 



When in the first year of bearing, vigour, hardiness, 

 and a certain degree of productiveness are observed in a 

 seedling, and when the fruit fulfils the requisite condi- 

 tions as regards size and flavour (these will be spoken or 

 further on), it i« advisable to graft the variety on the 

 Pear stock for dwarfs and standards, and on Quince for 

 Qnenouilles. 



In order to preserve in the seedling all the qualities 

 above enumerated, it is necessary to take vigorous 

 cuttings (as we have proved in former communications) 

 from the upper part of the seedling tree, and from tne 

 shoots nearest the places where fruits were borne. 



A graft worked on a strong Pear stock at the height 

 of 6 or 7 feet, and properly treated, will be m » 

 favourable condition for exhibiting in the third, or 

 all events in the fourth year after grafting, the charac- 

 ter of the seedling variety. Nevertheless, the proper- 

 ties, and more especially the form of the fruit, cannot 

 be ascertained with all that degree of certainty which i 

 desirable until the grafted tree, well established ana 

 vigorous, in good soil, shall be subjected to a prope 

 system of pruning , ;) | 



A talf-stemmed Pear stock before being ^ grafted, w 

 have nearly arrived at the age at which it would e* 

 fruit, of some sort, at the part where it is to be w0 !j K 

 with a graft taken from that part of the seedling *l» £ 

 fruits were first produced. This being the cas *»i u 

 easy to perceive that the graft will produce wood ^ 

 which fruit-bearing spurs will be formed in a few y e j 

 and that fruit will he produced of perfect form, »» a • 

 excellent in point of flavour as those of the seedling tr* 



A bud inserted near the ground in a Quince stocky 



it take, for some varieties do not succeed on that st ° CJv 

 will likewise fruit in the third or fourth year after J£» ■ 

 worked. On the Quince, the wood of a variety of y 

 may acquire a different tinge, but the form of the U>_ 

 is generally the same. Occasionally, however, the V& 

 of some varieties worked on the Quince becomes larg* t 

 is produced in greater abundance, and acquires 

 richer flavour than that grown on the seedling ,<re ' 

 I But these are exceptions to the general rule, and n>*J 



if 





