July 20, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICDLTURE AND COTTAGE GABHENEK. 



51 



roots are eaten either raw or boiled, and constitute a large pro- 

 portion of the food of the natives. The tuber has a dark-brown 

 skin, and is said to have an insipid taste. The plant has been 

 introduced into our hothouses. The Sweet Potato (Batatas 

 edulis) and the Yam (Dioscorea, sp.) are not altogether un- 

 known in England ; indeed the first-named was introduced as 

 a delicacy long before the Potato itself, and has frequently 

 been confounded with it by the earlier writers. At the present 

 time the plants are largely cultivated in most tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries ; several varieties are known, some produc- 

 ing very large tubers. They have an agreeable, sweetish taste, 

 and are very nutritive, containing more flesh-forming matters 

 than the common Potato. The Sweet Potato is sometimes 

 seen in this country, but it should be more generally intro- 

 duced and used as an esculent. The Yam is likewise occasion- 

 ally brought from the West Indies, and though not often used 

 with us, it is too well known to need description. 



Having drawn attention to a few of the tuberous-rooted plants 

 of foreign countries, some of which have been before recom- 

 mended, and others of which appear tons likely to prove useful, 

 were they submitted to a series of careful and patient experi- 

 ments in cultivation, we will, before concluding our subject, 

 point out one or two European and British plants as examples 



of what may be found amongst our own indigenous vegetation. 

 The Parsnip Chervil (Chsrophyllum bulbosum) is common ia 

 France, and has been known to gardeners in this country since 

 1726, while some attention has been given to its culture as an 

 esculent. The root is similar in form and size to a small Dutch 

 Carrot, and is outwardly of a grey colour, with a white mealy 

 interior. When boiled the flavour somewhat resembles that of 

 the Potato; it is wholesome and nutritive, and has been recom- 

 mended for cultivation with us as a vegetable. In the Hebrides 

 the roots of the Goose-weed or Silver-weed (Potentilla anserina). 

 are not unfrequeutly collected by the people iu times of scarcity, 

 and boiled or roasted for food. The roots of the Bistort (Polj- 

 gonum Bistorta), though containing a large quantity of tannin, 

 and consequently very astringent and bitter, when raw, are, 

 after being steeped in water and roasted, edible and nutritious. 

 In Bassia and Siberia they are much used when there is a 

 scarcity of bread. 



We do not mean to imply that all the plants here mentioned 

 are suitable either for cultivation or use as food plants in this 

 country. We have described a few of the most likely, and re- 

 ferred to others, to show that the resources, either by culture 

 or by a system of commerce, are unlimited. — Johs E. Jaceson, 

 A.L.S. — {Food Journal.) 



THE CHESTNUT TREE OF MOUNT ETNA. 



The traveller in Sicily will recollect the little village of Giarre, 

 about half way between Messina and Catania ; and since the 

 opening of the railway between these cities, with a station at 

 no great distance from its principal street. On the seaside 

 below the town is the shipping port of Riposto, and between 

 Riposto and Giarre lies a fertile plain, rich in Olive and vine- 

 yards. Giarre itself has not much to boast of, except perhaps 

 it might do so of the glorious views to be seen from the slight 

 elevation on which it stands. One long principal street, a 

 large plain chapel, a very second-rate inn, and then there is 

 nothing more to be said of the village. It is, however, the 

 nearest town with an inn to the famous giant Chestnut tree of 

 Mount Etna, and as such is visited by tourists. This fine old 

 tree grows in the 

 Bosoo or woody 

 region close above 

 the town and on 

 the slope of Mount 

 Etna. A narrow, 

 steep road, gradu- 

 ally ascending, 

 leads from Giarre 

 to La Macchia ; 

 the broad bed of a 

 liver now (in the 

 end of May) roll- 

 ing down nought 

 but clouds of dust, 

 is passed, and the 

 lava beds formed 

 by the eruptions of 

 1689 and 1735 are 

 traversed, and at 

 last S. Alfio is 

 reached. This vil- 

 lage is about four 

 and a half miles 

 from Giarre, and 

 from it a very fine 

 view of Etna is obtained. 



The ChestDut tree of Monnt Etna. 



The mountain, however, from this 

 side looks low and by no means as imposing as when seen from 

 the sea. A little beyond S. Alfio the road turns to the left, 

 still leading upwards, until all of a sudden the giant tree breaks 

 npon the view, the road itself running through its veiy midst. 

 It stands about 4000 feet above the sea level, and it requires a 

 good three and a half hours to walk to it from Giarre. 



It has been calculated that this tree is about one thousand 

 years of age. It is a tree, therefore, old enough to have its 

 early history lost in myth ; but still it has its story ; and this 

 story tells us that long ago a certain Queen of Aragon was 

 passing by this way, when, from the effects of the weather, she 

 and her suite, which consisted of one hundred mounted persons, 

 took shelter under the shadow of its trunk and bonshs, and so 

 to this day and from this fact it is known as the Cattagno di 

 Cento Cavalli. This story is said to be generally believed, and, 



at any rate, does not appear to have been much discussed. 

 Not 60 the tree ; and very many opinions may be quoted, all 

 more or less difiering as to its age and size. Some believe, or 

 have believed, that the tree was as large as the story tells us it 

 was, that the interior of the vast trunk has since then decayed 

 away ; leaving a number of separate pieces, each large enough 

 to form a big tree, which pieces are covered with bark only on 

 their outer surface. Others assert that there were here several 

 large trees, more or less joined together, and demonstrate on 

 the pieces of these trees still standing the barky layers sur- 

 rounding the whole of their stems. 



Not very long ago there were still four pieces standing, each, 

 of them of the dimensions of a very large tree. In the space 



surrounded by 

 these pieces stood 

 a hut, in which 

 the annual crop 

 of Chestnut fruit- 

 was stored. One 

 of these trees, or 

 portions of the 

 tree, has since dis- 

 appeared. The hut 

 has now been re- 

 moved, and the 

 road, sufficiently 

 wide to allow of a 

 carriage, runs be- 

 tween the remain- 

 ing pieces and over 

 the ground on 

 which the hut waB 

 built. As you ap- 

 proach, one large 

 piece of the tree ia 

 to the left-hand 

 side of the road, 

 and two larger 

 pieces are to the 

 right. It is very probable that many of the pieces believed 

 to have belonged to the one original vast stem, were really 

 stems themselves of independent trees, and such would ap- 

 pear to be the case with the large trunk to the left of the 

 present roadway. But there is a strong probability that the 

 two immense pieces to the right of the road were at one 

 time united, and that they form part of the original tree. The 

 annexed woodcut is from a photograph of these pieces. Both 

 of them are deeply hollowed out. The base of the trunk to the 

 right of the woodcut is very much decayed away, and several 

 men could shelter in it ; and the portions of the stems seen on 

 looking at the picture are devoid of true bark. If these two 

 portions once formed a single stem, then, indeed, though it 

 might not have thrown a shadow sufficiently large to shade a 

 hundred horsemen, yet it must have been a very giant among 

 all the forest trees Even now, in its decadence, the three 



