GOG 
Culticated Plants of the Puture, 
very few of the many which are already in limited use in Europe 
and North America, but which merit a wider employment. Cardon, 
or cardoon ; celeriac, or turnip-rooted celery ; fetticus, or corn- 
salad ; martynia ; salsify ; sea-kale ; and numerous small salads, 
are examples of neglected treasures of the vegetable garden. 
The following, which are even less known, m.ay be mentioned as 
fairly promising : — 
(1) Arracacia esculenta, called Arracacha, belonging to the 
parsley family {Umbelliferce). It is extensively cultivated in some 
of the northern States of South America. The stems are swollen 
near the base, and produce tuberous enlargements filled with an 
excellent starch. Although the plant is of comparatively easy 
cultivation, efforts to introduce it into Europe have not been 
successful, but it is said to have found favour in both the Indies, 
and may prove useful in our Southern States. 
(2) Ullucus or Ollucus, another tuberous-rooted plant from nearly 
the same region, but belonging to the spinach, beet, and mangel 
family {ChenopodiacecPj. It has produced tubers of good size in 
England, but they are too waxy in consistence to dispute the place 
of the better tubers of the potato. The plant is worth investigating 
for our hot dry lands. 
(3) A tuber-bearing relative of the common white dead-nettle, 
or Stachys, is now cultivated on a large scale at Crosnes, in France, 
for the Paris market. Its name in Paris is taken from the locality 
where it is now grown for use. Although its native country is 
Japan, it is called by some seedsmen Chinese artichoke. At the 
present stage of cultivation, the tubers are small and are rather 
hard to keep, but it is thought “ that both of these defects can be 
overcome or evaded.” Experiments indicate that we may have in 
this species a valuable addition to our vegetables. 
We must next look at certain other neglected possibilities. 
Dr. Edward Palmer has brought together very interesting facts 
relative to the food-plants of the North American aborigines. 
Among the plants described by him there are a few which merit 
careful investigation. Against all of them, however, there lie the 
objections mentioned before, namely : — 
(1) The long time required for their improvement, and 
(2) The difficulty of making them acceptable to the community, 
involving 
(3) The risk of total and mortifying failure. 
In 1854 the late Professor Asa Gray called attention to the re- 
markable relations which exist between the plants of Japan and those 
of the eastern coast of North America. He not only proved that the 
plants of the two regions had a common origin, but also emphasised 
the fact that many species of the two countries are almost identical. 
It is to that country which has yielded us so many useful and beau- 
tiful plants that we turn for new vegetables to supplement our 
present food resources. 
One of the most convenient places for a preliminary examination 
of the vegetables of Japan is at the railroad stations on the longer 
