182 
THE CHINESE YAM. 
The original plants of this as well as some roots of the 
convolvulus batatas , or sweet potato, were kindly sent to 
me many years ago, by a gentleman in Portland, whose 
name I cannot now recall to memory, or I should take this 
opportunity of acknowledgment. 
I may add, that I have found from my experience in the 
Wimmera district, that it will thrive and do well in the 
northern and more arid parts of the colony, where the 
potato does not stand the climate, and seldom yields 
even a scanty crop. I have no doubt but that it will suit 
equally well in Biverina, and more especially in those parts 
of New South Wales and Queensland, which are favoured 
with a more copious rainfall than the great plains of the 
interior of the Australian continent. 
