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10 



Tich, nutritious, eatable eveq in a raw state, easily cooked, and of very agreeable flavor. 

 It is in fact a perfect food — un pain tout fait ," — possessing all the advantages of the best 

 common potatoes, but superior in quality, and much richer in nutritive matter, and also 

 very far superior to the sweet potato. It is devoid of all fibrous or ligneous substance, 

 and' it remains perfectly sound and free from sprouts equally in warm and cold weather 

 throughout the year. 



" When we consider the manner in which our gardeners and agriculturalists have seized 

 upon this plant, making experiments with it in the various climates and the different soils 

 of France, and the extreme interest they have manifested by exercising their skill and 

 perseverance in a labor so truly patriotic — when we witness it everywhere becoming the 

 object of public attention, and not a week passing that the Directors of the National Mu- 

 seum of Agriculture do not receive applications "from every part of France, and also from 

 foreign -countries, for tubers and for directions for its culture, we entertain a firm convic- 

 tion that the Chinese Potato (in the same manner as the Common Potato has done in its 

 time) will not fail to build up numerous fortunes, and will serve to alleviate many of the 

 igrievances of the laboring communities. And even if we may indulcre the hope that the 

 maladies of the ordinary Potato are only temporary, that malady will have proved of 

 Providential benefit by having caused us to adopt a plant superior in flavor and much 

 richer in its alimentary properties, and probably destined to impart greater benefits to 

 mankind than even the Common Potato has done. May it not then be safely predicted of 

 the Chinese Dioscorea, that, amons those nations which shall adopt its general culture, 

 famine will henceforth be an impossibility? " 



Such are the deliberate sentiments of Professor Decaisne, a man devoted to scientific 

 research under the auspices of the French Government ; a man in no way pecuniarily in- 

 terested in the introduction of this esculent; one whose reputation as a scientific man is to 

 liim infinitely above every other earthly consideration; a philanthropist zealously devoted 

 to the advancement of agriculture in France, and now endeavoring to ameliorate the con- 

 dition of the millions by the adoption of an appropriate substitute for the failing and uncer- 

 'tain Potato. 



There is a most striking cii'cumstance connected with the adoption of this new escu- 

 lent, giving it precedence over the Common Potato, that is worthy of the deepest consid- 

 eratio'n. It is a well known fact that the latter is a native of a tropical climate, and has 

 been forced into a state of domestication in direct contrariety to its natural habit, whereas 

 the Chinese Potato is a native of the northern section of the temperate zone. The latter 

 is consequently inured by nature to a very cold climate, and capable of resisting our north- 

 ■ern winters unharmed, when the other s'pecies would most assuredly perish. It is, indeed 

 30 tender as to be frequently affected and rendered valueless by frost even in our cellars, 

 and millions of dollars worth have been thereby destroyed the present winter, whereas 

 under the same circumstances, the Chinese root would have remained unharmed. 



In this age and among intelligent Americans, where we find the minds of men rising 

 above the narrow views and habits of by-gone ages, and devoted intently to utilitarian ob- 

 jects, we may deem the epoch of prejudice to new improvements, and to the introduction 

 "of new vegetable productions to have subsided, and that moon influences and ghost tales 

 liave become obsolete. Great attention has been given to improvements in the breeds of 

 •our cattle, horses, sheep, and other animals, as well as to the various modes of cultivating 

 the soil, to drainage, manuring, and to t'le harvesting of the crops ; and I trust we are 

 equally desirous to'introduce all such trees and esculents as miy be beneficial, and above 

 all to adopt a plant of such various excellent quaUties, and whose capacities for yielding a 

 greater crop than any other vegetable known, will serve to more than replace the ordinary 

 potato. By this wise substitution of a plant which may be grown so economically as to 

 always afford the cheapest and best food, attainable to the poor at the lowest possible rate, 

 •we shall render most essential benefits to the laboring and down-trodden portion of the com- 

 munity, and greatly aid in ameliorating their condition; and above all we shall redeerr. 

 society from the anxieties which have existed in consequence of the maladies that havt (1 

 threatened us for years with a total deprivation of our hitherto most reliable escident. ' 



Di<itinction tetween the new Chinese Potato, or Dioscorea Batatas, and the Jajxtn 

 Potato, or Dioscwea Japomca. 



These two plants have been and still are confused by many, and as the one is so mud f 

 ■more hardy, and of so much greater alimentary value and importance than the other, ! 

 proper discrimination is indispensable. 



Prof. Decaisne stated in the '• Eevue Horticole" for lS5t. that the Dioscorea Batatas 

 which was first received from China in 1S50, was an entirely distinct species from th> 

 Dioscorea Japonica, which had for some years previous been an occupant of the green ( 

 houses, and which, in some circumstances, had been grown in the open ground during th 

 summer months. It is the former which he has so highly commended, and which h 

 deems of such inestimable value. In the " Eevue Horticole" for 1S55. he has most full; 

 confirmed his previous position, and has given engravings showing the very distinct char 

 acters of the two plants, which he deeined essential, as a casual observer of these tw 

 trailing plants might mistake the one for the other. These explanations of Prof. Decaisn 

 .•are of the highest importance, as we already find the two species are being disseminate 



tiers, 

 M 



and 



