ACCLIMATIZATION. 
31 
The Igname is easily reproduced from slices of root, slips, bulbs, or seeds. 
The first success obtained in its cultivation was due to M. Pepin, head-gar¬ 
dener at the Museum ; whilst M. Paillet undertook its production on an ex¬ 
tensive scale, and with such good result, that in 1854 he could show several 
thousand samples. 
Others soon followed the example, and the Chinese Yam bids fair to become 
a national acquisition. Few vegetables have met with such a rapid introduc¬ 
tion, though voices were not wanting to vote it a delusion ; on the other hand, 
no vegetable ever met with either so much neglect or such obstinate opposi¬ 
tion as the one the Yam is destined in some degree to supplement—the 
common potato. Finding the utter indifference of the populace with respect 
to its merits, Parmentier obtained a guard of soldiers to watch by day over 
the potato plantations ; late at night the troops were withdrawn, when the 
public were judiciously allowed to steal what otherwise they had treated 
with contempt, an actual illustration of the line,— 
“ Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.” 
Until the adoption of this pious fraud, the introduction of the new esculent 
was considered hopeless. The Igname has one fault: its roots are too long, 
and they bury themselves vertically in the ground, causing a (great difficulty 
in their extraction. Time and experiment may overcome the failing, for 
a defect it is; surely if George Stephenson the engineer grew his cucum¬ 
bers straight, the scientific gardener need not despair in producing the tubers 
of the Igname short. The Igname is a real acquisition. Tasted when un¬ 
cooked it is not disagreeable, and resembles the hazel-nut; when cooked, it is 
unctuous, mellow, succulent, and somewhat luscious. It has the merit of 
being neither bitter nor sweet, though sweetness is not held as a disqualifica¬ 
tion on the Continent. It contains sixteen per cent, of starch, the potato 
containing twenty per cent. The Igname, which can be rapidly propagated, 
and therefore offered to the public on the most reasonable terms, is not meant 
to supplant, but to supplement, the potato; its general applications are the 
same, and we have already seen in the records of a disastrous famine the 
crisis to be feared when a nation’s sustenance hangs upon the healthy vigour 
of one single tuber. 
2. Chinese Sugar-cane,—Sorgho sucre, Holcus saccJiaratus ,—from the north 
of China, an annual introduced, in 1850, by M. C. de Montigny. A most 
graceful and elegant plant; at first of slow growth, but from the month of 
July its condition is entirely changed, and it soon presents a luxuriant de¬ 
velopment. Its seeds are ripe towards the end of summer. The leaves are 
withered by the first frost, but its stems keep their green colour, at least to 
some extent, up to the months of December and January. 
Analysis. (M. Itier.) 
Sugar. 8‘210 
Starch . 0100 
Woody fibre (cellulose) . 17'775 
■Silica . 0-065 
Various salts. 0’520 
Water. 73330 
100-000 • 
The sugar-cane contains almost the same quantity of water, but exhibits 
on analysis eighteen per cent, of sugar. The sorgho is used for various pur¬ 
poses. As fodder for cattle, it yields several crops a year, forming an excel¬ 
lent food, only it ought not to be cut too young. Its stalks give a fermented 
drink like beer, the taste of which is very agreeable. It yields moreover 
