CATALOGUE OF STRAWBERRIES. 



15 



CHINESE POTATO. 



DIOSCOREA BATATAS, IMPERIAL RICE-WHITE VARIETY. 



1 invite the public to view my plantation of two-and-a-half acres, con- 

 taining 35,000 plants of this inestimable esculent. I am desirous to iden- 

 tify myself with the introduction of this most important plant; and after 

 having devoted half a century to horticultural pursuits, I ask no greater 

 boon of my countrymen than to award me this claim, which I am striving 

 to merit more fully by its extensive culture. I shall also be theteby en- 

 abled to supply the many correspondents hereafter, whom I was unable to 

 supply in Apt il without then breaking into the arrangements for my pre- 

 sent plantation. 



Having most fully investigated the merits of this esculent, I have a few 

 positions to state in regard to it, which, being somewhat bold in their char- 

 acter, / wish my countrymen to record for future verification. 1st. 1 assert 

 that the Dioscorea Batatas of Decaisnc, is perfectly hardy during our 

 severest winters. 2d. That it is more nutritious than any other esculent 

 we cultivate. 3d. That its culture is so easy and simple, and its product so 

 great, that it can be afforded incomparably cheaper than any other nutri- 

 tious vegetable, it having produced in France at the rate of above 800 

 bushels per acre. 4th. That the combination of every useful property, 

 renders it the greatest vegetable boon ever granted by God to man, and 

 that its introduction to our country is even more important than that of 

 cotton, and that in twenty years our National statistics will report the value 

 of the annual crop as greater than the Cotton crop. 



Next 1 assert, that this plant alone has served to solve the enigma as 

 to the alimentary basis of the Chinese empire, and that a statistical investi- 

 gation will prove, that if that country were deprived of this one vertical 

 root, and received in lieu every other known vegetable, more than one-half 

 of its enormous population would perish from famine. Further, I assert, that 

 such are its superior properties — the three most important of which I have 

 above detailed — that it is destined not only to supersede every other potato 

 and every similar esculent in all countries of the temperate zone, but that 

 it will attain in all these countries the position it occupies in China, and 

 will consequently usurp a portion of the position which is now occupied 

 here by Indian corn and by Wheat ; it being perfectly competent to make 

 good bread similar to that of wheat, and capable of being afforded at an in- 

 comparably cheaper rate. As the roots propagate so easily and rapidly, it 

 will, after a few years, become generally disseminated; but, for the first 

 four or five years, millions of dollars will be made by its early cultivators, 

 until all countries are supplied. The stupidity and ignorance of those who 

 have maliciously assailed this plant, will be understood by the perusal of 

 an address delivered by me before the American Institute, which institution 

 awarded its Silver Medal for this vegetable, and has also in its transactions 

 recommended its culture as a substitute for the common potato. The Secre 

 tary, the Hon. Henry Meigs, has made a most triumphant Report in regard 

 to its successful culture in France. The statements pretending to emanate 

 from the Farmer's Club of the American Institute, the last spring, unfavor- 

 able to this plant, were barefaced forgeries, made from malicious motives, — as 

 was ftilly exposed. At the present time there are nearly one thousand per- 



