646 
^jtpphment to the ''Tropical Jrjric7il/umt." [March ], 1902. 
esculent novelties was similarly disnppointed 
when lie i^ressed them upon the attention of 
his prehistoric neighbours. They no doubt asked 
■why they should venture to eat such new-fangled 
stuff when there was such an abutidance of 
acorns to be had — a food which had stood the 
test of centuries and had lieen eaten by their 
forefathers from time immemorial ! It would not 
be necessary to reproduce the description of the 
plant and the method of cultivating it, but we 
would like to impress upon our readers the 
value of the Cboclio as a vegetable, and the 
advantages of cultivating it regularly in our 
gardens. Single vines will produce as much 
as 300 fruits, of an average weight of 8 ounces 
each, but the ordinary yield when grown on 
a large scale as in Algeria may be put down 
at 25 to 100 fruits per plant. The tuber ("as 
large as a man's head ") formed after the rirst 
season is edible and somewhat resembles a yam 
in character, twenty per cent of its bulk con- 
sisting of small-grained starch like that of wheat, 
These roots wliich in appearance are like the 
larger sorts of Cassava are commonly sold 
together with the fruits in Mexico. 
We quote as follows regarding the edible pro- 
perties of the Chocho : — " Very different opinions 
as to the value of the chayote for food have been 
expressed, some writers reporting it to be insipid, 
while others have compared it to the vegetable 
marrow and have j)ronouuced it superior tliereto. 
The whole controversy is a question of cuisine, or 
cue may say, of the sauce in which the vegetable 
is presented. Eggs without salt, beef without 
mustardj and salad without vinegar might just 
as rightfully be condemned on the ground of 
insipidity. Of course the fruit must be taken 
for the table when young; the old fully grown 
ones, like all similar vegetables, are more or 
less stringy and toiigli. Whatever can be done 
with the best summer squashes may be done 
to better account with the chayote. In Jamaica 
it is often treated as a fruit rather than a 
vegetable accompaniment to roast or boiled meat, 
and is converted into puddings or tarts with 
sugar and lime-juice even as apples are used. 
Since there is a greater variety of fruits tliaa 
there is of vegetables, this custom seems to be 
a mistake. Dr. Trabut believes that as soon 
as its table merits are known it will become 
a general favourite and appear to much the 
same good purpose as sea-kale, asparagus, artichoke 
and the like. He says that before any special 
preparation it should be kept in boiling water 
for about an hour. [Young fruits are sufficiently 
boiled in about 40 minutes.] The leathery skin 
can be detached easily and the vegetable shows 
a white flesh like that of a boiled turnip or 
knol-kohl. It may then be cut in slices and 
sent up with any suitable kinds of sauces just 
as is done with the small squash." 
Some time ago it was supposed that the Chocho 
possessed noxious jjroperties, and that people par- 
taking of it as a regular diet were afflictel witii a 
disorder re/-erabling rheumatism. Mr. Nock, 
Superintendent of the llakgala Gardens, (who we 
believe introduced the fruit to Ceylon) contradicted 
so absurd a notion in a report at present we have no 
access to. It is sufficient guarantee, we presume, 
of the wholesome character of the Chocho that 
It has been so largely and so long consumed 
m the West Indies and Mexico, and is now 
finding acceptence in Europe ; but, as Mr. Mac 
Owan puts it, "Seeing that reiteration is accept- 
ed as a sort of argument, and that if you 
mean to push your produce you must keep on 
bawling out its virtues till the public catches 
on and listens." We reproduce tiia above notes 
in the hope that our readers may begin to 
see the value of the ve^'etabie variously known 
as Ciiristohpine, Cli.iyjte, Clioch"., Tazoti and 
Mirhtoa in different p irts of the wo-ld. 
POULTHY CLIPPINGS. 
(from various sources.) 
One of the best materiils th.it a poultryraaa 
can use for supplying tiie requisite lime is oyster 
sliell, or any other variety of slielis. An e.v- 
periment in this direction was m ide at the 
New York experiment station, and the result 
was such that the use of oyster shells during 
the laying season, where they can be cheaply 
obtained, was strongly recommended. It was 
found there that one pound of oyster shells 
contained sufficient lime for the shells of about 
seven dozen eggs. Shells are not the only source 
for the lime necefsary for egg shells. Bones 
also contain a large percentage of lime, as is 
seen from the following analysis of clean dry 
bones of o.xen and sheep Carbonate of lime, 
six to seven per cent ; phosphate of lime, 
fifty-eight to sixty-three per cent; phosphate of 
magnesia, one to two per cent ; fluoride of cnlcium, 
two per cent; organic matter, twenty-flve to 
thirty per cent. Fresh green bones also contain, 
besides the lime compounds, some protein or 
flesh formers, which add to its value as a poultry 
food. The best way co render the bones avail- 
able is to have them broken by means of the 
bjne-cutter. 
A correspondent in "Farm Poultry" gives an 
ingenious device for freeing laying hens of lice, 
after having used many other methods and failed. 
His plan was Take an ordinary common-.-izeJ 
cotton clothes line ; unbraid it, so that it will 
make one-third or half when flattened out ; cut 
in pieces about 12 in. long, and wind each 
once around the roost, letting the two ends 
pass down into the neck of a bottle about two- 
thirds full of kerosene, the bottle being suspended 
from the roof by a string fastened around the 
neck. The clothes line acts like a wick, draw- 
ing the oil up out of the bottle, and it being 
saturated with the oil, no louse can help com- 
ing in contact with it when he attempts to go 
to the hen at night, or when he leaves her 
in the morning. Hens with scaly feet and legs 
are also soon cured of their trouble when this 
method is used. Bottles can be suspended three 
or four feet apart o?i tlie roosts, 
