222 MAINE) AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I908. 



extended. In the Southern States it now fills the place which 

 the Irish potato takes in the North. 



Three varieties were received, readily distinguished by the 

 color of the flesh, and here characterized by the simple terms 

 the "white" the "red," and the "yellow." The refuse (skin) 

 from these potatoes was small, amounting on the average to 

 about 7 per cent. 



6537. Tayote or chayote. (Sechium edule). This is a 

 vegetable of the gourd family, pear-shaped, deeply marked with 

 longitudinal grooves, and having a single large seed. It was 

 described by Hernandez in the sixteenth century and appears 

 to have been cultivated by the aborigines for so many centuries 

 that the wild form is no longer known. Today it is not only 

 cultivated throughout tropical America, but it has been intro- 

 duced into British India, Algeria, Australia, and to some extent 

 into California and the Gulf States. The vegetable is said to 

 form an acceptable substitute to the summer squash, but is of 

 finer texture and better flavor.* 



The fruits received weighed about 130 grams each, of which 

 95 per cent was edible. 



6538. Sour-sop. (Anona muricata). This is the fruit of 

 a small evergreen tree, a native of the West Indies, now intro- 

 duced into southern Florida and to some extent into the Old 

 World. The fruit varies in weight from a few ounces to two or 

 three pounds, is dark green in color, with a soft juicy and some- 

 what acid pulp. Its principal use is in the preparation of cool- 

 ing summer beverages. t 



A single specimen of the fruit was received, weighing nearly 

 two pounds (870.4 grams). About 71 per cent of this was edi- 

 ble; 21 per cent was outer coating; and 8 per cent was seed. 



6539-6541. Yam. (Dioscorea spp.). The origin of this 

 vegetable is unknown, but it has been long grown in the British 

 West Indies, and has to some extent been introduced into the 

 Southern States. It is the staple food among the blacks of 

 Jamaica. The better varieties when roasted are said to be very 

 palatable, t and there seems to be no reason why their exportation 



*Cook, The Chayote, Division of Botany, Bui. 28, U. S. D. A. 

 t Bureau of Chemistry, Bui. 87, p. 22, U. S. D. A. 

 JDiv. of Botany, Circ. 21, U. S. D. A. 



