DIOSCOREA BATATA. 
(Chinese Yam.) 
Some thirty or more years ago, when the Potato rot 
threatened to destroy that valuable esculent, it was 
thought that the Yam above-named might be success¬ 
fully introduced in its place, and experiments toward 
that end were tried in various parts of the country, but 
although there was no difficulty in growing the tubers, 
there was in digging them, which fact, together with 
another one, viz., that while the tubers were edible and 
doubtless nourishing, they were not sufficiently palatable 
to render them desirable as an article of diet, prevented 
the attempt from being successful. 
The tubers take on the form of a Parsnip grown 
wrong side up, that is, with the larger part further be¬ 
low the surface. Let one who is not acquainted with 
them undertake to dig one of good size, and he will be 
surprised to find that six or eight inches below the sur¬ 
face it is not more than half an inch in diameter and 
often less, looking much like the elongation of the stem 
slightly increased in size. Careful and laborious dig¬ 
ging will slowly uncover the hidden treasure, and if 
patience holds out, at the depth of say two feet the end 
will be reached, which end will be from two to three 
inches in diameter. 
The shape of the tuber would be no obstacle to its 
being pulled, as is a Carrot or Turnip, if it were not for 
the fact that the larger end is firmly embedded in the 
soil, while the strength of the upper end is not sufficient 
to bear the strain necessary to remove it, even if the 
power requisite therefor could be conveniently applied. 
At one time it was suggested that they should be planted 
in ridges thrown up by turning furrows toward each 
other with the plow, and loosened when mature by run¬ 
ning plows made for the purpose below these ridges, 
but the labor proved to be of more cost than the value 
of the crop, and the culture of the root as an article of 
food was abandoned. 
But as a climbing ornamental vine the D. Batata has 
its value, and but few superiors. When once fairly es¬ 
tablished it grows luxuriantly, having a leaf heart¬ 
shaped, averaging in size diameters of about two by 
three inches, of a glossy, dark-green color, and remark¬ 
ably free from insect pests. It will grow to almost any 
required height, ten, twenty or thirty feet as may be 
desired; or it may be confined to a post say ten or twelve 
feet high, when the growth further than that will fall 
toward the ground or intertwine with the parts below, 
making thick masses. 
The flowers are white and inconspicuous, but with a 
very strong odor resembling Cinnamon, for which 
reason the name Cinnamon vine has been given it, and 
by that name it is known in some seedsmen’s catalogues. 
It is propagated from its tubers, or more generally from 
the seeds or bulblets that form in the axils of the leaves, 
as do those of the Tiger Lily. 
The plant is an annual, but the tubers will remain in the 
ground through the winter without harm, and throw 
up the vines in the spring, when they decay and form 
food for the vine and the new tubers. This decay of 
the tubers yearly was disputed when it was first intro¬ 
duced, the argument being that when they were undis- f 
turbed from year to year, the tubers attained a larger size 
than they did when dug at the end of the first season—a 
truth in itself, but no evidence that the tubers lasted 
more than one year, as examinations and observations 
conclusively proved. 
When first planted the leaves unfold as soon as the 
stem appears above ground, but in after years, if undis¬ 
turbed, the stem will shoot up three or four feet high, 
and a quarter of an inch in diameter, without showing 
a leaf, and the rapidity with which they grow is aston¬ 
ishing. What rapidity they would attain with culture 
may be judged from the fact, that one in the writer’s 
garden, five or six years established, not only without 
particular care, but in ground that had been trodden 
hard by workmen while building a fence, and not 
loosened at all, made, on the 25th of May, in ten hours, 
a growth of more than five inches, to which statement 
several witnesses will attest. • L. a. r. 
THE CHILIAN LILY. 
“The Alstromerias are sometimes designated “Chi¬ 
lian Lilies; ” this is for the accommodation of the many 
good people who insist on having what they regard as 
“ an English name that everybody can understand, you 
know.” There should be no hesitation in gratifying the 
great portion of the public that shrinks from the scien¬ 
tific name of plants; for it must be confessed that the 
language of the botanists is rendered endurable by 
habit of use, and not by any special idiosyncrasy be¬ 
stowed on botanists and horticulturists. Chilian Lilies 
are not Lilies, and a few are natives of Brazil, and not 
of Chili. But as Amaryllids they come near to Lilies, 
and custom has long since sanctioned the colloquial ex¬ 
pansion of the generic term “ Lily,” so that to quarrel 
with it now would be out of taste. 
In English gardens the Alstromerias have never ob¬ 
tained the attention they are entitled to for their hardi¬ 
ness, free-flowering, gaiety, and variety of color, and 
adaptability to the most diverse conditions. Some 
twenty years ago I visited the long-neglected nurseries’ 
of the late Mr. Young at Taunton, and there saw great 
pieces of Van Houtte’s hybrid Alstromerias that had 
been planted in beds, spreading out from their proper 
location and running freely into the old walk originally 
made of brickbats and coal-ashes, and that by long- 
usage had become as hard as flint and apparently as 
impermeable as concrete. At that same time and place 
I noted also that many of the Gentians were similarly 
pushing out of their beds into heaps of stones and 
broken bricks, or rioting in the old walks, as if they 
