IPOM.EA BATATAS. 



IPOJVLEA BATATAS, Lamh 



[ Vide Plates LXXXVII. and LXXXVIII.] 



Sweet potato; shakkarqand, ganji, mita alu (Hind.) 



Natural order Convolvulacece. A glabrous or slightly hairy herb with large tuberous roots 

 and creeping stems. Leaves ovate, cordate, acute, angular or lobed. Peduncle long, bearing 

 many campanulate reddish-purple and white flowers. 



The sweet potato is a native of South America. Two varieties are extensively 

 cultivated as garden crops in these Provinces, vie., the red-rooted kind and the one 

 with shorter, white roots ; the former is said to be sweeter and less stringy than the 

 other, and therefore fetches a higher price in the market. There is also a kind with 

 yellow coloured roots, which is said to be superior to either. In the Saharanpur 

 district a fourth kind, also with yellowish tubers, is recognized as a distinct variety ; 

 this, I have reason to believe, is the New Zealand kumera/io ( Ipomcea chrysorhiza ).\ 

 At Saharanpur the bazar rate for the red kind is 2 annas a seer, the other kinds may 

 be purchased at half that sum. The red one is grown in sandy soil by the Jumna near 

 Jagadri and B Uriah. The root cuttings are planted out in August, and by the end of 

 November or beginning of December the tubers are ready for use. In other parts of 

 the Provinces the cuttings are put in earlier in the season, and are ready for digging in 

 October. Mr. Wright, in his Memorandum on the Agriculture of Cawnpore, says that 

 shakkarqand " is often exchanged for an equal weight of grain, but sells at Re. 1 per 

 maund. Being dug early it can be followed by a crop of ckena or some vegetable. 

 The cultivator can make, if he pays for labour, Es. 1 5 an acre profit, unless the rent 

 taken is very high." It is extensively grown in the Farukhabad district. 



This vegetable is eaten by all classes, either roasted or fried by itself, or cooked in 

 curries. Its flour is sometimes made into cakes (puri), or mixed with sweetmeat and 

 cooked in ghi, a preparation known by the name of gulgola. The young leaves and ten- 

 der shoots are eaten like spinach ; and the foliage is considered excellent food for cattle. 



This plant was known in England as the ' potato ' before the discovery of what 

 we now know under that name. In the " Merry Wives of Windsor," the words 

 " Let the sky rain potatoes and hail kissing comfits " referred to the sweet potato, 

 which was prepared as a conserve. 



* References :— Ft Br. Ind., IV., 202 ; Wntt , Diet. Econom. Frod., IV., 478. Convolvulus Batatas, Linn. ; Roxb., 

 Ft Ind. (Clarke's Ed.), 162; Yule and Curncll, Gloss., 072. Batatas edulis, Chois. ; Roylc, 111. Him. Dot., 308 ; Stewart, 

 Pnnj. PI., 150 ; Wright, Mem. Agri. Cawnpore, 04 ; Atkinson, Econom. Prod., N.-W. Prov., V., 19 ; Him. Dist., I., 703 ; DC, 

 E'Ori«. PI. Cult., 42 ; Rhcedc, Hort. Mai., VII., t. 50 ; Rnmph., Herb. Amb., V., t. 131. 



f A small supply of the roots of this superior yellow-rooted kind was received from the Royal Gardens at Kew in 1883 

 for experimental cultivation in the Government Garden at Saharanpur. The plant thrived well, and has since found its way 

 into the gardens of native cultivators in this district. 



