MEMORANDA CONCERNING THE MELLOCA. 



67 



summer not so strong and vigorous as my own ; but when, on 

 the first approach of frost, which was towards the end of October, 

 I pulled my plants up, he covered his over with dry leaves, 

 under which the tubers went on growing capitally : he showed 

 me several weighing from 50 to 60 grammes. Notwithstanding 

 this, the Melloca did not appear to me to be likely to become of 

 much value in an agricultural point of view, at least with us ; 

 but I think it is worth keeping in our kitchen gardens, even if 

 it is not at present of any great importance. The time may 

 come when, in consequence of some change in temperature, dif- 

 ferent from that of this year, the fruit may ripen ; in which case 

 there will be a chance at least of raising plants from seed, which 

 may be more valuable than the original ones ; and, even without 

 that, experience may teach us how to bring about the first deve- 

 lopment of the tubers soon enough to enable them to attain a 

 considerable size, and to ripen completely before the frosts 

 set in. 



" From my own observations, I am inclined to think that the 

 climate of England, or, still better, that of Ireland, would be 

 more suitable for the Melloca than that of France. The attempt 

 would be the more likely to succeed when the facility with which 

 the plant is propagated is remembered; in illustration of this, I 

 may give you the following remarkable example: — Having 

 observed that some flowering branches, which I had destined for 

 my herbarium, had produced under the press several small tubers, 

 I gathered the stems of some plants which I had pulled up 10 

 days or so before, and which had been lying on the ground ever 

 since, and put them into a box between layers of dry straw. On 

 opening the box at the end of a fortnight, I found the stems 

 partly rotten, and that they had given birth to 500 or 600 small 

 tubers, varying in size from a pea to a hazel-nut : some of the 

 stems had as many as 25 tubers distributed over their surface. 

 From the green stems cuttings can be taken, which will strike 

 at any season of the year in the open air. M. Masson considers 

 cuttings formed by a shoot placed in the ground, and merely 

 covered with a handful or two of earth, as the best mode that 

 could be devised of multiplying this plant." 



The foregoing accounts were succeeded by a communication 

 from Mr. Pentland, who describes the " Ullucus " as being ex- 

 tensively cultivated throughout the elevated regions of Peru and 

 Bolivia, where it is known by the name of Oca Quina, and con- 

 founded under the same generic appellation as the two varieties 

 of Oxalis (Oca). This distinguished traveller says, " I have 

 found it in all the Andean valleys between tiie river Apurimac 

 and Potosi, i. e., between 13° and 19 J 30' S. latitude, and at an 

 elevation of from 11,000 to 13.000 feet above the level of the 



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