1 904-] 



A New Tuber in France. 



4*3 



ground roots, and subsequent planting is unnecessary. Its 

 flowers, which are very abundant and of a pale violet colour 

 with a shade of yellow, emit an odour similar to jasmine. The 

 tubers are white with a yellowish skin, and have at first a 

 markedly bitter flavour, but they were found to improve with 

 cultivation, and in two years the proportion of good and eatable 

 tubers increased by 10 to 20 per cent. So far, however, as these 

 experiments have gone they have, in the majority of cases, been 

 found too bitter for human consumption, but their improvement, 

 it is said, promised to be very rapid. They are willingly con- 

 sumed by animals, especially when cooked, and on the wet and 

 marshy soils, which appear well adapted for their cultivation 

 they might form a valuable food for stock. A yield of about 

 6 \ tons per acre was obtained in 1902, and about tons in 1903, 

 on a fertile soil, but without any manuring or cultivation beyond 

 a single hoeing when the shoots first appeared. The subsequent 

 very abundant growth was sufficient to choke all weeds. 



The tubers are rich in starch, and may prove valuable as an 

 industrial plant. A successful attempt was made experimentally 

 to employ the flowers for the production of perfume, and it was 

 also found that the fruit, though not abundant, contained the 

 perfume in a more concentrated form. 



Besides the above original type, three variations have been 

 observed, one of which promises to be of importance. Among 

 the plants distributed in the first instance it was noticed that 

 one was characterised by stronger stalks, and at the foot of the 

 stalk two tubers of a blackish violet colour formed, which were 

 very dissimilar to the tubers described above. These were 

 found to be very sweet and fine flavoured, with a hardly per- 

 ceptible bitterness. The tubers produced by this plant were 

 carefully preserved and planted separately. In this variety the 

 plant forms a central stem, with numerous branches and exuber- 

 ant vegetation. Flowers were not abundant, and on some plants 

 they were entirely wanting ; they had no odour, and seemed to 

 be sterile. The tubers form round the central stem. They 

 vary in colour : when young they are white, gradually becoming 

 rose-coloured, and finally violet. The flesh is usually white or 

 yellow ; the flavour is said to be perfect, in their young state 

 they are sweeter than the best potatoes with a slightly aromatic 



