March 1908.] 



243 



Miscellaneous, 



The newspapers have quoted Mr. 

 Luther Burbank as claiming to be the 

 originator of the spineless cactus. I do 

 not think that be claims this, but he 

 does think that the so-called spineless 

 forms that the Office of Plant Introduc- 

 tion has brought in are not perfectly 

 spineless, and that he can by breedin g and 

 selection remove every vestige of the 

 long spines, and also the almost micros- 

 copic spicules that are even more objec- 

 tionable than the spines, or at least 

 quite as much so. 



What some of the possibilities of the 

 opuntia are Mr. Spillman, of the Depart- 

 ment, has described in a lecture before 

 this Society. The situation is one of the 

 most fascinating in the whole range of 

 plant breeding. Here is a tremendously 

 variable desert plant that can be grown 

 where other plants die ; one that can be 

 grown from cuttings as easily as a be- 

 gonia ; one that yields enormons crops 

 of a fruit that is so nutritious that in 

 Tunis, Morocco, and South Africa the 

 natives live on it for months at a time. 

 Though it is so full of seeds that the 

 American fails to appreciate it, it is a 

 fruit of which there are in existeuce 

 almost entirely seedless varieties from 

 which superior seedless forms can be 

 made ; a plant the joints of which are 

 already used for fodder by burning off 

 the spines, making it of value even in 

 the wild state, and of which there are 

 nearly spineless forms now in cultivation 

 in Tunis, Aregentina, and Southern 

 Spain. Add to this the fact that it is 

 a tremendously rapid grower when given 

 water, and that practically nothing has 

 been done to improve it, and the great 

 possibilities of the plant become ap- 

 parent. 



THE CHAYOTE, A NEGLECTED WINTER 

 VEGETABLE. 



Unless assisted, it takes a long time 

 for even good vegetables to become 

 popular. If one could patent them and 

 control the supply, men would take 

 these new things up and push them, just 

 as they have new breakfast foods, of 

 which they can control the processes. But 

 a new vegetable ! What man of moderate 

 means wants to spend all the time and 

 money necessary to advertise it, only to 

 find that his neighbour has waited tor a 

 market, and when such has been created 

 has gone into the jultuie of tne new 

 vegetable on a big scale and is under- 

 selling him ? 



The chayote is one of many such neg- 

 lected opportunities. It is a cucumber- 

 like vegetable, borne on a vine which 

 can be trained over a trellis just like a 

 grape-vine. It bears large crops of fruit, 



as many as 500 to the vine. It is a peren- 

 nial and does not have to be planted every 

 year, as the cucumber does, but goes on 

 for years producing larger and larger 

 crops. The fruit keeps excellently, and 

 as late as March can be sent to the north- 

 ern markets. Its roots are edible, its 

 young stems as tender as asparagus, 

 while its frails can be prepared in 

 twenty ways or more. The plant adapts 

 itself to culture under glass and bears 

 fruits there, even in the North, though 

 its natural home is in the West Indies, 

 and it will not be a profitable outdoor 

 culture north of the Carolinas. 



With all these points in its favour, 

 which were first called to the attention 

 of the American public by Mr. O. F. 

 Cook in a bulletin of the Department, 

 and with the further fact that it has 

 been for years a favourite vegetable 

 among the Creoles of New Orleans, 

 there are to-day none of these vege- 

 tables to be had on our northern 

 markets. 



To bring its good points to the atten- 

 tion of those who are looking for new 

 things, the writer introduced it to Mana- 

 gers Hilliard and Macormick, of the 

 Waldorf-Astoria, and the Bellevue-Strat- 

 ford hotels. These men, whose business 

 it is to cater to the jaded appetites of 

 the rich, have pronounced it an excellent 

 thing, have invented new recipes for 

 cooking it, and have put it for the first 

 time on their menus. 



If a small demand is once created in 

 our great cities for this new vegetable, 

 that tastes like a combination of a de- 

 licate cucumber and a squash, with 

 more firmness than either, there will be 

 created a new industry for the South 

 that will grow as the tomato industry 

 has grown and support people by its 

 yearly earnings. 



PLANT PROBLEMS NOW" IN PROCESS 

 OF SOLUTION. 



The work of Plant Introduction is nob 

 theoretical, but practical in character. 

 Its operations are carried on in those 

 places where it is needed, and the prob- 

 lems are suggested by practical men. 

 Some of the problems which the Depart- 

 ment is now working on are : the finding 

 of paying crops for the abandoned rice 

 farms of the Carolinas ; the securing of 

 some profitable plant culture for the 

 unemployed hilly regions of North Caro- 

 lina and Georgia ; the improvement of 

 the brewing barleys of the country ; the 

 fitting in of new crops iuto the arctic 

 agriculture of Alaska ; the starting of 

 new industries in our tropical posses- 

 sions ; the increasing of the fertility of 

 the California orchard soils ; the intro- 



