THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mat 3, 1859. 
69 
heard lately ; so difficult is it to get artistes of the kitchen, or 
gentlefolks either, to patronise new-fangled things if of home 
growth; though, certainly, the flowers and points of shoots were 
nice, and pretty too, in a salad ; the stems made no bad tart; 
and the tubers well-dressed, being destitute of acid, were im¬ 
measurably better to simple tastes than many of those unpro¬ 
nounceable kickshaws which epicures make so much of, because 
they pay so nicely for them.” 
It was noticed about eight years ago by a correspondent, in a 
contemporary, as follows :—“Travelling lately through Belgium, 
I received from M. de Bellemain, a fellow-traveller, some details 
which fully corroborate the statement of Baron Suaree as to the 
acreable produce, &c., of this vegetable. Commissioners were 
appointed last year, by the National Assembly, to report upon 
the communications of M. de Bellemain relative to its culture 
and uses, and they reported to the following effect: — ‘ The 
Oxalis had been cultivated in Brittany during many years by 
M. de Bellemain on light soil, treated as to manure and tilth as 
for Potatoes ; and the produce has been the same as that obtained 
by Baron Suaree—two hundred hectolitres per hectare, or four 
tons to the English acre—no very formidable rival to the Potato 
in respect of weight; being, in the Commissioners’ judgment, two- 
thirds of the produce of the same extent of land under Potatoes. 
The quantity of flower yielded by the Oxalis was in a still lesser 
ratio to that afforded by the Potato (the investigation was in¬ 
completely conducted) : but, on the other hand, the non-feculent 
portion of the Oxalis appeared to be less fibrous, and, therefore, 
more digestible as food than the corresponding portion of the 
Potato. The Reporters pronounce, then, that what the Potato 
gains in amount of flour or starch is counterbalanced in the Oxalis 
by its superior nutritiousness ; in what degree can only be justly 
estimated by a long series of experiments. Some bread cakes 
were made of wheaten flour, and ttia tubers of the Oxalis steamed, 
with the skins unpealed, and mixed in the ratio of seven parts to 
nine; and this bread, without entering into an exact analysis, 
proved to be whiter and lighter than that of first-quality Paris 
bread. The Oxalis crenata, like the Potato, is suited to many 
culinary purposes.’ If the report stopped here, we should not be 
disposed to let the Oxalis crenata enter into the lists with thePotato 
(supposing that the latter shall be one day re-established in 
health) ; but we are assured that the haulms of the former, unlike 
those of the latter (which are positively noxious), are not only 
innocuous, but capable of yielding a very palatable and whole¬ 
some beverage. Moreover, the stalks are so abundant and succu¬ 
lent, that they have yielded four hundred hectolitres of fermented 
beverage, resembling the squaw manufactured in Russia, without 
diminishing the produce of the tubers. This certainly staggers 
me not a little, as it is opposed to the received principles of 
vegetable physiology. But let the report be heard to its con¬ 
clusion. ‘ This beverage would be highly pernicious in those 
localities where the water is bad, and where the people cannot 
afford a better sort of drink. The expense of manufacturing the 
beverage, of which M. Bellemain produced some two years old, is 
merely that of the time and labour occupied in expressing the 
juice from the herbaceous stems.’ 
“ The Commissioners conclude that M. Bellemain has performed 
infinite service to his country by bringing the edible portion of 
the Oxalis to perfection, and giving it a rank with the Potato, or 
else immediately next to it as an esculent, and in developing its 
new properties as a material for the easy manufacture of an 
agreeable and wholesome drink. Such is a condensed statement 
of the Commissioners’ report, which states M. de B. has published 
a pamphlet on the culture and uses of the vegetable in question. 
The tubers should be planted in April. The smallest answer 
perfectly for seed. They should be three feet apart or more in 
every direction to allow full growth to the stems and foliage.”)] 
VARIETIES. 
Appearance op the Swallow in Northern Europe.— 
Writing in 1827, Mr. Erman says :—“The house-swallow 
(Hirundo domestica) made its appearance at Konigsberg, on the 
30th of April; consequently, on a day which, according to the 
four and twenty years’ observations of the curate, M. Sommer, 
has a temperature of 47° Eahr. At Gosport (in lat. 00° 50'), the 
20th of April is the day of the swallow's first appearance, with a 
variation of only seven days in the course of twelve years. The 
temperature of that day is there 50’. At Berlin (lat. 52° 31’), 
the arrival of the swallow falls, as would appear from observa¬ 
tions made for six years, on the 18th of April, when the tem¬ 
perature is about 46°. At Apenrade (lat. 55° 3’) the same phe¬ 
nomenon occurs on the 23rd of April, with a temperature of 46° ; 
at Copenhagen (lat. 55° 41') on the 5th of May, when the tem¬ 
perature is 48°. Since it is remarked throughout Europe, that 
for this phenomenon of animal nature, as for the several stages of 
vegetation, there is a near coincidence of the accompanying tem¬ 
peratures, the question naturally arises, whether the great differ¬ 
ences observed in Asia in the time of the first appearance of the 
house swallow depend on the warmth of the air. At Guryef, on 
the Caspian Sea (and in lat. 49° 6'), the swallow is seen as early 
as the end of March ; while in Dauria, beyond Lake Baikal, in 
the same latitude, it does not make its appearance till the second 
week in May ; and at Turukhansk on the Yenisei (in lat. 65° 45'), 
not till the middle of June.”—( Drman’s Travels in Siberia.') 
Fruits of Bokhara Imported into Northern Russia.— 
Under Bokhavian names, which are at times, however, a little dis¬ 
figured, are to be bought in the bazaar of Hasan, dried Apricots 
(Urhk), the soft coats of which and the interior pulp are equally 
agreeable. The coat, or skin, is very sweet, and in the dried state 
is from four to six lines lines thick. The almond of the kernel, 
also, is perfectly sweet: its woody receptacle is at the same time 
as smooth, hard, and of the same figure, as that of the Apricot 
cultivated in Europe. It seems, therefore, as if certain modes of 
culture could suffice to remove the prussic acid and the bitterness 
from the almonds of many stone fruits, and to make them eat¬ 
able ; just as the influence of cultivation appears to have created 
the difference between the bitter and sweet varieties of the com¬ 
mon Almond ; for in Cato’s time the Romans were acquainted 
only with the bitter kind, and it was not till a later period that 
the sweet variety was imported into Italy under the name of Greek 
Nuts. Now both kinds are cultivated in the same places. Here, 
also, may be found, under the name of Kishmish, dried Grapes , 
of a kind wholly without seeds. Raisins made from'Grapes of 
the ordinary kinds of Vine, bear here the common Russian name 
of Isum, which is also used by the Tatars, in whose language 
Usim still means a Grape. In like manner the dried Plums 
imported by the Bokharians, are called by the Russian name 
(Slivi) ; that fruit being already well known from other sources. 
But the Pistashi, as they are called, or else Eistashi (Pistachio 
Nuts), bear the Bokharian name. These are Pear-shaped seeds, 
or what botanists would call Drupes, about six lines in length, 
and two or three lines broad at the widest part, with close-fitting, 
yellow, parchment-like covers, and with an oily split kernel of 
bright-green colour. These Pistachio Nuts are usually brought 
here in Kasan, together with yellowish manna, which is, doubtless, 
produced in large quantities by the plant itself; for the Pear- 
shaped seeds are found often enough enclosed in the indurated 
manna, or glued together by it; so that it is obvious that both 
productions, the manna and the seed, were picked up at the same 
time from the ground at the foot of the tree. Dried Dates too 
(in Russian FiniJc), are sure to be found among the Bokharian 
fruits. The Bokharians sell the pood of Uruk to the Russian 
traders for sixty-five roobles, that is to say, one pound for about 
1 .?. 5 d .; the other fruits usually cost twenty-five roobles the pood, 
or 7 d. the pound. Here, too, these and other sweet vegetable 
productions are much in favour with the Russian people ; and, 
perhaps, a general ground for that partiality which they evince to 
fruit, and which has been so often referred to, may be found in 
the circumstance that, during the long and strict fasts which 
they are obliged to keep even in winter, it allows them an agree¬ 
able change with the ordinary fish diet. In summer, the vege¬ 
table food of the inhabitants of Kasan is extremely various and 
abundant. Not only do all kinds of bread corn, from Spelt, 
which is sensitive as to climate, and Wheat down to the hardier 
Barley, grow well in the fields, but the gardens also produce 
Potatoes, Peas, Turnips, and Cabbage, Gherkins and Pumpkins 
in great plenty; while the Kirgiz and Russians, inhabiting the 
country to the south, bring to the market a large supply of Sweet 
Melons {Cucurnis Melo ; in Russian, Dina) ; and a still larger of 
Water Melons (Cucurbita citrallus; Russian, Arbus). This last- 
mentioned extraordinarily juicy and cooling fruit lies in great 
heaps in the market; and being sold for next to nothing, it atfords 
to the poorer classes a grateful as well as wholesome nutriment. 
—(Ibid.) _ 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Galvanized Iron Wire {A. This is not in any way injurious to 
the Vines trained to it. On the contrary, we prefer it to any other. 
Berries in Grapes become dark-coloured (T , J.). —They are severely 
affected with the spot, a kind of gangrene. At least, so we guess; for no 
