522 
FOURTH BULLETIN OF 
[1846 
Yams.— Those grow in almost every part of India, but are much inferior to the 
West India and Ceylon. Cocos, a root of a similar species, are grown extensively 
in the English settlements of the Straits of Malacca, and used in the same way as 
we do potatoes. They are capital farinaceous food when of good quality, and the 
product very large. They are quite as good as the West India root of the same 
name. Radishes, of a large species, are grown in the Malacca settlements and 
China, frequently weighing five and six pounds, of good flavor, and not pithy. 
They are used by the Chinese in large quantities, the same as we do turnips, and 
they are very sweet and nutritious. The tarro plant is also grown in China and 
the Indian Archipelago, and forms a large staple of food for the lower class of 
people. They were introduced from the South Sea Islands. They are grown on 
poor sandy soils. The okra plant and tomatoes grow every where in India, but 
they do not understand how to use them. They are generally put in curries.* 
Carrots of a particularly fine species are grown in China. They are very sweet 
and nutritious. They have not that rank, strong taste tliat ours have. They are 
largely used by the people here, as are cauliflowers, cabbages, and other vegetables 
we know of. The cabbages are much used by them in the same way as the Dutch 
sourkrout. The sweet potato plant forms a large item of consumption in China, 
the Archipelago, and Malacca settlements. They are grown on the thin sandy 
soils of China, by a constant system of high manuring with the contents of privies. 
The Chinese understand the art of manufacturing and applying manures to the 
soil, better even than the English or Belgians. The business is a very extensive 
one, and employs a great number of laborers, particularly in the gathering prepa¬ 
ration and sale of human excrements and urine. They have been acquainted with 
the use of lime as a manure no one knows how long. All substances that cannot 
be readily manufactured are gathered up by numerous laborers among the poorer 
classes, and sold to the farmers and manufacturers for being burnt to get the 
ashes. 
Many of the trees of the East might be introduced into our Southern country. 
I have never seen the “ Pride of India” in this part of the world growing as large 
as it does with us ; it seldom grows above ten feet. The wild mulberry I have fre¬ 
quently seen. The teak tree, tallow tree, and other beautiful shrubs and trees, may 
be introduced with great certainty of success, as they grow in precisely the same 
latitudes as Louisiana and other Southern States. I have no doubt the tea shrub 
would grow in the cool hills and rolling country of Texas, as they are in about the 
same latitude as the tea districts of China. It stands frost. 
The gardeners in China grow a kind of fruit called “ Chinese plums,” precisely 
of the flavor of our persimmon, but as large as our largest tomatoes. It contains 
eight or nine seeds, similar to the persimmon. These, and another fine fruit called 
lichees , are grown very extensively in the interior and middle of China. A small 
delicate kind of pumpkin, weighing about a pound each, is cultivated in the neigh¬ 
borhood of Nankin, and sold to a considerable extent. 
There are some curious plants in New Holland, Van Dieman’s land, and New- 
Zealarid, which might be introduced with us. There is a curious tree in New Hol¬ 
land called the grass tree, which I understand is fed to cattle and sheep. In New 
Zealand they have a species of fir which produces at the roots a curious resin or 
gum, partaking of the nature of copal and rosin. It has a slight terebinthine taste, 
and burns with a heavy thick flame. It is of light amber color, brittle, perfectly 
transparent, and of pleasant agreeable odor. It has been shipped in considerable 
quantities to England within the last year. There is another species of tree in the 
same islands which produces from the roots the celebrated New Zealand flax, which 
is largely exported to England and Australia. 
Most of the islands in the Archipelago are claimed by the Dutch, even to New 
Guinea and Borneo! It is only to be hoped that neither England, France, nor 
* The following is a good recipe for carries, used throughout India hy Europeans and natives, and 
eaten with rice: Take three cayenne peppers, zij. turmeric, in the root, (the powder does not keep 
good,) one dozen grains of black pepper, one dozen seeds of coriander, a quarter of a cocoa-nut grated, 
a few grains pimento and cummin seed, two garlics or onions, a few grains of mustard seed, and a table 
spoonful of butter. Pound all the articles in a mortar, excepting the butter and cocoa-nut, adding a 
little water, until reduced to the consistence of heavy brown sugar. Put into your curry a half pint of 
water, and fish, flesh, or fowl, that you wish to curry and boil for an hour. The cocoanut may be 
omitted, but it is a great addition. Serve your curry up with rice, and eat the same as a stew. Any 
kind of vegetables may be substituted for the meats, or if you like put in along with them. A good 
curry is one of the most delicious things in the world to eat, and forms the every day meals of Asiatics. 
