150 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
We made some into preserves of the first quality, 
while others were put away in a measure, and are 
now fresh and nice. I think it adds much to 
their value that they can be kept through the 
Winter. I have plants already growing for early 
fruiting. They will continue to beat until killed 
by frost. 
I have another fruit which I bought at the N, 
H. State Fair. It may be the same mentioned on 
page 22, January No., of the current volume. Mine 
grew three feet high, with purple colored fruit, one 
inch or more in diameter, enclosed in a capsule 
like the Winter cherry. The berries are some¬ 
what tart, and make excellent preserves. 
A. H. Grinnell. 
Springfield, Vt., April 13, 1858. 
Rem ark. — We judge from the specimens sent, 
that this fruit is a variety of the Physalis, which 
is an extensive family. We have distributed 
many thousands of small parcels this year, and 
have still some seed left, though not of our own 
raising. All parcels sent out marked No. “2” 
on the back, were not of our own production. We 
hope they may prove equally good.— Ed. 
The Enfield Market Cabbage. 
This variety was so highly commended that we 
imported what seed we supposed would be called 
for, hut a very great demand soon exhausted it. 
If this cabbage proves valuable here, we will lay in 
a large supply for distribution next year. A sub¬ 
scriber in Peru, Ill., recently from England, writes 
of it as follows : 
“ I can speak as to the Enfield cabbage, as 
grown there. It is one of the best in the London 
Markets. The East Ham and Deptford, are also 
excellent and perhaps a little earlier, probably 
caused by a lighter soil. Enfield, or much of it, 
is a rich clay loam upon a strong clay subsoil. 
The town is about 10 miles north of London. 
East Ham is mostly a light sandy loam. The mark¬ 
et gardens of Deptford, are on the reclaimed marsh 
or alluvial level of the River Thames. These 
canbages are not what would be called large here ; 
that is, amongst the Germans and Irish. In New- 
York, they would probably be found superior, but 
in these Western towns they want a cabbage as 
big round and almost as hard as a respectable 
grindstone, no matter as to flavor.” 
-— -- - * — - 
Chufas or “Earth Almonds.” 
(Ci/perus esculentus.) 
We have many inquiries respecting this plant, 
to which we are not prepared by personal expe¬ 
rience or observation to respond. Mr. I. N. Kra¬ 
mer, of Linn Co., Iowa, writes that he started ten 
of the Chufas in a hot-bed, and afterwards divided 
them into 30 hiils, planting one-third of a rod ol 
ground. The yield was some 18 quarts of nuts. 
These he esteems highly as a substitute for 
chestnuts, of which there is a scarcity in his sec¬ 
tion of the country. 
Another subscriber, on Long-Island, experiment¬ 
ed with a few last season and gives us the follow¬ 
ing results. “ I planted the tubers, one in a hill, 
hills 18 inches apart, in the open ground, about 
June 1st. They appeared above ground in about 
a week, with a grass-like top which spread dur¬ 
ing the season until each hill appeared like a grass 
mat as large as half a bushel. The tallest spires 
or stalks were about 2£ feet high, and they were 
killed down by the first frost. On digging I found 
an immense number of tubers, in shape like a mer¬ 
cer potato, but only about the size of a common 
chestnut, or say nearly three-fourths of an inch in 
length. In one hill I counted over 200 distinct 
nuts or tubers. 
They are quite palatable, can be eaten raw or 
cooked, but are better roasted or baked. They are 
not equal in flavor to chestnuts which they some¬ 
what resemble in taste. The name ‘‘Earth Al¬ 
monds ” is a misnomer, as they do not resemble 
almonds in any particular. Their greatest value 
will probably be as feed for hogs, these animals 
will of course do their own digging. They appear 
to contain considerable oil, which has been said 
to be a tolerable substitute for olive or sweet oil. 
Many have supposed them identical with the no¬ 
torious “Nut Grass” (Cyperus repens) of the 
South, but there is a marked distinction. The nut 
grass grows much taller, sends out numerous 
creeping roots terminated by a roundish nut much 
smaller than the chufas. I shall not hesitate to 
plant them again, with no fear of their being a 
pest.” C. T. 
< * ina ^ » I >' - — 
The Sweet Potato ( Convolvulus batatus). 
The engraving above represents the foliage of 
ihis plant, together with some of the tubers. A 
full chapter on cultivation, preserving seed, &c., 
was given in our fifteenth volume, page 164, but 
we add a few general remarks now, for those who 
may not have that volume. The sweet potato 
grows best in the Southern part of the Middle 
States, and further South. In this market they 
were formerly called “ Carolinas,” but since their 
more general cultivation, they are distinguished 
as “Carolinas,” “Delawares,” “New Jerseys,” 
&c. 
There is little difficulty in growing them as far 
North as 42° to 44°, by starting the plants in hot¬ 
beds. Good tubers have been obtained even in 
this latitude, by planting out ihe common market 
sweet Potato in the open ground, during the first 
part of May. It is better to start some of the 
plants in a hot-bed, early in April, and transplant 
into hills as soon as the soil is dry and warm, and 
the weather settled. It is now quite common for 
nurserymen and others to start a lot of the plants 
and sell them at a moderate price ; and when hut 
few are wanted, or where the early hot-bed start¬ 
ing has been neglected, it is safer to purchase 
them of those who make a business of starting 
them. 
The sweet potato generally does best on a light 
soil. If not of moderately good quality, add a 
coat of rotten manure. It is advisable to put into 
each hill, say half a shovelfull of well-rotted com¬ 
post, or rotted manure mixed with earth. The hills 
should be made large, broad at the top, and round¬ 
ed up well to expose the sides to warmth. They 
should be H to 2 feet in diameter, and 6 to 12 
inches high. Let them be 3 to 3J- feet apart, 
where the tubers are planted, to make room 
for the long vines. If only single sets are 
planted out, one in a place,the hills may be 2J to 
3 feet apart. Transplant the sets carefully, seep¬ 
ing as much earth upon them as possible. Plant 
and water much the same as cabbage plants 
The after cultivation consists simply in keeping 
well hoed, and the hills well banked up. The 
plow may be used at first, but the spreading vines 
will necessitate the use of the hoe only, for the 
second and third hoeing. 
Garden Hops. 
In “ old times,”—that is to say, thirty or forty 
years ago, when folks lived at home, and took 
care of themselves, a few hills of hops in some 
convenient place about the premises, were as in¬ 
dispensable to good housekeeping as the lettuce 
bed, or cucumber patch. Now-a-days, we are 
sorry to say, they have got very much out of fash¬ 
ion. “Small beer,” for which they were used 
in the brewing, has got out of use. and “yeast 
cakes” have walked into the kitchen to take 
place of honest, old fashioned hop “ emptyings” 
for bread making. 
But, to our fancy, garden hops are just as valu¬ 
able now, as ever, although not in such quantity. 
Every household ought to have them. If not 
needed for bread-raising, they are sometimes used 
medicinally, and the aromatic bitter of the hop is 
grateful, and refreshing. For an arbor, or to climb 
the posts of a stoop, porch, verandah, or over a 
window, they are beautiful. True, were they as 
scarce, and high in price as the Chinese wistaria, 
they would be considered “ a choice, and appro¬ 
priate climber.” But being only “ a hop,” are of 
no account, and vulgar. 
Its advantages as a Summer climber, are, first: 
they spring up from the ground, and in a week, 
or two, at farthest, mount, and run all over the 
place. Second ; they are profuse in leaf, grate¬ 
ful in odour, and dense in shade. Third ; they 
hold the color of their leaves ; seldom harbor 
noxious insects : and although lacking variety in 
color, are, in reality, delicate in form, and appear¬ 
ance. Fourth ; where the frost strikes them, they 
can be cut away, exposing the sun, and air to 
come in where they are needed—the heats of 
Summer being over—leaving the wood, or trellis 
work they recently covered, dry, and free from 
the damp, and decaying influence of the woody 
climbers and creepers so generally now in use. 
Fifth ; they yield a crop of bops, which are worth 
something to sell, if not wanted in the house. 
Cultivate, then, the hop, either about the porch¬ 
es, or a few hills in the garden. It is worth while 
to plant them, and after this fashion. Take a few 
roots from a hill as early in the Spring as you can. 
Let each root have a starting hud on it. Prepare 
the future hill by digging a hole full two feet—three 
is not too much—in diameter, in a good, dry soil. 
If it be a stiff clay, no matter—the bop will thrive 
in it. Mix with the earth thrown out a good sup¬ 
ply of hay-manure—if you have not that, good 
barn-yard manure—and throw it back into the 
hole to within an inch of the surface. Then care¬ 
fully lay in the roots, three or four of them, let¬ 
ting the buds be a foot apart in a circle, on a flat 
surface. This done, throw the remaining earth 
over the roots two to three inches deep ; set the 
pole, and the work is done. Keep free of weeds 
afterward, and you may take an annual crop in per¬ 
petually, with an occasional shovel of manure 
forked in during the Fall, or Spring. We can 
name several costly vines, and creepers which 
are in great repute as climbers on porches, trel¬ 
lises, and arbors, far below the hop, both in real 
value, and appearance. 
