January 23. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
\V 
JANUARY 23—29, 1855. 
Weather near London in 1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
K, & S. 
Moon's 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. 
1 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Day of 
Year. 
23 
To 
Dyticu8 marginalis. 
30.089—30.028 
50—36 , S. 
— 
54 a 7 
ao a 4 
11 
33 
5 
12 
5 
23 
24 
w 
Dyticus circumflexus. 
29.743—29.576 
51—24 l S.W. 
02 
53 
32 
morn. 
6 
12 
21 
24 
25 
Th 
Conversion of St. Paul. 
30.123—30.084 
48-36 | S.W. 
06 
51 
34 
0 
52 
3 
12 
35 
25 
26 
F 
Stenus cieindeloides. 
30.536—30.331 
50—26 I S.W. 
— 
50 
36 
2 
9 
8 
12 
48 
26 
27 
8 
Stenus biguttatus. 
30.487—30.267 
46—42 S.W. 
03 
49 
37 
3 
24 
9 
13 
1 
27 
28 
Sun 
4 Sunday after Epiphany. 
30.1/2—30.095 
49—29 ’ S.W. 
10 
47 
39 
4 
38 
10 
13 
13 
28 
29 
M 
Bryaxis hoematica. 
29.934—29.S0S 
53—48 S.W. 
10 
46 
41 
5 
43 
n 
13 
23 
.29 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 44.3°, and 33°, respectively. The greatest heat, 58°, occurred on the 23rd, in 1834 ; and the lowest cold 15° 
on the 25th, in 1827. During the period 108 days were fine, and on 88 rain fell. 
If our readers will turn to page 95 of our present volume, 
forming part of our number published on the 7tli of 
November, they will find this paragraph from the pen of 
Mr. Beaton: 
“ We shall, very likely, have not much winter till after 
the middle of January, and then we may have six weeks 
of it as hard as we had in 1830 ; but, let us hope, not 
quite so much snow at the beginning of April as we had 
that season. Now, I challenge all the almanacks about 
my estimate of next winter, and having been a private 
Murphy about the fine weather in October, I think I 
have some claim to urge on plantings of all hinds, and to 
have it all finished right off-hand before the 15 th of 
January, at the furthest-, also, overy open spot in the 
garden, field, and nursery, ought to ho turned upside- 
down, and ridged, and all the wheeling and carting he 
put off till this great frost comes—if it will really come, 
as I expect it will, and just about that time.” 
Now, whether the fulfilment of this meteorological 
prophecy be completed or not, it certainly commands 
attention to Mr. Beaton’s authority as a correct observer 
of the signs of the seasons, that the severe frost, con¬ 
tinuing whilst wo write this, commenced on the 15th, 
as he predicted. 
About one hundred and fifty years ago, Rheed, in his 
Hortus Malabaricus, published an account of the Kattu 
Kelanyu, having a thick root,—black on the outside, 
white within, insipid flavoured, but eaten by the natives 
of Cochin, of which place it is native. Such is the 
account we find in Ray’s Historia Plantarum, under 
the name of Battuta sylvestris. This we bolieve to be, 
or a closely-allied species of, the Dioscorea battata, now 
advertising as a probable substitute for the Potato. 
That it will become such a substitute, wo venture to 
foretel never will happen. Wo have partaken of Yams 
in Bengal; we have partaken of them in Sumatra, 
close to the native place of the species above-montioned, 
—and we found them, by general consent, too dry, too 
tasteless, too starch-like in the mouth, to please an 
English palate. 
The Dioscorea battata is the Chinese Yam, known 
throughout that empire as Tclwu-ya, or Tchou, with 
various other adjuncts; but it was sent to France, in 
1853, from Shanghae, by M. Martigny. It proves to 
be hardy in the climate of Paris; and M. Decaisne 
justly describes its root as “ bulky, abounding in 
nutritious matter, quickly cooked—either by boiling or 
roasting — and thon having no flavour but that of 
starch.” It is proposed to call it popularly “ the Yam 
Potato” (Igname-battate), and it is thus described:— 
“ Its stems are annual, but its roots, or more properly 
speaking rhizomes, are perennial, and directed down¬ 
wards perpendicularly, sometimes to the depth of a 
yard, if the soil is loose enough to admit them. The 
haulm is about as thick as a goose quill, cylindrical, 
turning from right to left, and about two yards long, 
violet, with small whitish specks. When left to them¬ 
selves the stems lie flat on the ground, and strike root 
very readily. The leaves are opposite, heart-shaped, 
and triangular, upon purple stalks. The ‘ roots ’ vary 
in length and thickness with the soil in which they 
grow. They may be usually compared to clubs, tho blunt 
end of which is as large as the fist, but which tapers 
downwards till it is no larger than the finger. Their 
skin resembles in colour the well-known beverage coffee 
and milk, and is covered with numerous fibrous rootlets. 
Under the skin is a whito, opaline, very friable, slightly 
milky cellular mass, filled with flour, which softens 
and dries in cooking.” (Gardeners’ Chronicle.) 
The way to cultivate it is to throw the ground into 
high ridges, and to plant cuttings on the top of each 
ridge in April, about twelve inches apart. The cuttings 
soon produce trailing stems, and when these are six 
feet long, cuttings are made of them, each cutting 
having an eye, and being planted at a similar distance 
on ridges, as were the cuttings of the roots. Tho stems 
are to be kept pruned, or the roots would not bo so 
large. 
M. Pepin found that roots left in tho ground all tho 
winter, at Paris, were uninjured, and produced shoots 
between the 15th and 20th of April. 
According to the only analysis which has been 
published of this Yam, it contains, in every 100 parts, 
70.4 of water, and 18.3 of starch. Potatoes contain 
about 75 of water, and 15 of starch per cent, and the 
Jerusalem Artichoke, 77 of water, 3 of starch, and 14 
of liquid sugar. 
M. Decaisne cultivated this Yam last year near Paris, 
and he grew them with tall supports, as well as without. 
He found no difference in the produce, for those with 
ten feet supports averaged only eight ounces of root 
per plant; those with six feet supports, twelve ounces; 
and those with stems trailing on the ground, ten 
ounces. 
No. CCCXXX. Yol. XIII. 
