Book I. 



EXOTIC ESCULENTS. 



785 



found to equal our best peaches, pears and plums, or even gooseberries and strawberries ; yet we cannot 

 but wish to see this or the contrary proved by the wealthy and curious horticulturist 



Sect. IV. Exotic Esculents, not hitherto cultivated as such. 

 6022. Of exotic esculents, some, as the yam and sweet potatoe, are worthy of being ex- 

 perimented on with a view to their naturalisation as articles of food ; and even as fur- 

 nishing a variety of esculent root, they deserve to be grown and sent to table, where there 

 is a complete or extensive garden establishment. 



6023. The West Indian yam (the inhame of the Portu- 

 guese, and ignatne o( the French,) is the name applied to 

 several species, with their numerous varieties of the genus 

 Dioscorea, L. Dicec. Hexan. L. and DioscorecB, J. They are 

 climbing, perennial, herbaceous plants, with tuberous roots, 

 and axillary flowers in spikes or racemes. The name yam 

 is more particularly applied to the D. sativa. {Rheed. Mai. 

 8. t. 51.) {fig. 535.) This plant has tender stalks, climbing 

 to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, and furnished with 

 smooth-nerved roundish leaves. From the base of the 

 leaves arise spikes of small flowers of no beauty. The root is 

 flat, brownish, a foot broad, and nearly palmated like those of 

 some of the orchidese. It is a native of, and cultivated exten- 

 sively in, Africa and the East and West Indies, and was in- 

 troduced here from the latter country in 1733. The roots are 

 mealy, easy of digestion, palatable, and not inferior to any 

 roots now in use, either for delicacy of flavor or nutriment. 

 They are eaten instead of bread, either roasted on the cinders 

 or boiled ; the flower is also made into bread and puddings. 



6024. The D. alata, {Rheed. Mai. 7. t. 38.) or winged yam, 

 is in equal, if not more universal cultivation than the former 

 species. Its roots are frequently three feet long, and weigh 

 thirty pounds. Of both these species there are numei'ous 

 varieties, differing in the size and form of their roots. 

 ^ 6025. Propagation and culture. They may be propagated like the common potatoe, and cultivated in 



nearly the same manner as the forced potatoes. 

 Brown {Hist, of Jam.) affirms, " that the roots must 

 be cut so as to leave a little of the skin to each 

 piece, for by that alone they germinate ; the roots 

 having no apparent buds or eyes, but casting out 

 their weakly stems from every part of the surface 

 alike. They are planted commonly m August, and 

 are ripe in November or December following." 



6026. The Spanish, or sweet potatoe, is the Convol- 

 vulus Batatas, L. {Rheed. Mai. 7. t. 50.) Pent. 

 Monog. L. and Convolmdacece, B. P. {fig.536.) It is 

 a herbaceous perennial, with a round stem, hispid, 

 prostrate, creeping, of a whitish-green, putting out 

 scattered, oblong, acuminated tubers, purple or pale 

 on the outsides. The leaves are angular, on long 

 petioles ; the flowers purple, on upright peduncles. 

 It is a native of both the Indies, and was introdu- 

 ced here, and cultivated by Gerrard in 1597. He 

 calls the roots potatus, potades, or potatoes, and says, 

 that they are by some named skirrets of Peru. They 

 flourished in his garden till winter, when they 

 perished and rotted. Batatas were then sold at the 

 exchange in London, and are still annually imported 

 into England from Spain and Portugal. They were, as already observed (3647.), the common potatoes of 

 our old English writers ; the Solanum tuberosum being then little known. The tubers of the batatas are 

 sweet, sapid, and nourishing They are very commonly cultivated in all the tropical climates, where they 

 eat not only the roots but the young leaves and tender shoots boiled. There are several varieties, if not 

 distinct species, differing in the size, figure, and taste of the roots. 



6027. Propagation and culture. In warm climates this plant is cultivated in the same manner as our 

 potatoe, but requires much more room, for the trailing stalks extend four or five feet every way, sending 

 out large tubers, forty or fifty to a plant. In the national garden at Paris, the plants are raised in a hot- 

 bed, and about the middle of May, transplanted in the open ground, where they are earthed up, and other- 

 wise treated like the potatoe. In warm seasons they produce a tolerable crop, and we have been informed 

 by Professor Thouin, that he hopes, after several years, at least so far to acclimate the plant as to fit it for 

 field-culture in the south of France. Lelieur, who grows it in the same manner, also strongly recommends 

 its culture. Both consider it as much lighter food than the common potatoe, and equally nourishing. In 

 England, Miller observes, the roots must be planted on a hot-bed 

 in the spring, and if the plants are kept covered in bad weather 

 with glasses, they will produce flowers and many small tubers 

 from the joints ; but if they are exposed to the open air, they 

 seldom make much progress. This, however, ought not to dis- 

 courage the curious or patriotic horticulturist, either in his at- 

 tempts to raise the roots for the table, or to acclimate the plant. 



6028. The caper (Capparis spinosa, L. Polyan. 

 Monog. L. and Capparidece, J.) (Jig. 537.) is a trail- 

 ing shiTjb, a native of the south of Italy and Sicily, 

 where it abounds on rocks, ruins, and old walls : it 

 has been long cultivated in France, and was intro- 

 duced in this country in 1596, as a stove plant; but 

 there is reason to believe it maybe naturalised. It is cul- 

 tivated, Neill observes, in the neighbor-hood of Paris, 

 with no other protection than that of being trained 

 against a low wall, and the shoots in winter laid down 

 •nd covered with litter or fern, like those of the fig. 



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