ral of the colder provinces of
Peru. "This plant," he states, "is of a moderate size, in appearance
somewhat like the acetous trefoil; the roots yellow, each about five
or six inches long, and two in circumference. They have many eyes, and
the roots, several of which are yielded by one plant, are somewhat
curved. When boiled it is much sweeter than the camote or batata;
indeed it appears to contain more saccharine matter than any root I
ever tasted; if eaten raw it is very much like the chesnut. The roots
may be kept for many months in a dry place. The transplanting of the
oca (he adds) to England, where I am persuaded it would prosper, would
add another agreeable and useful esculent to our tables."

The Brussels paper, _L'Emancipation_, mentions that a root has been
discovered by the Director of the Museum of Industry, in that place,
destined to take the place of the potato. It is the _Lathyrus
tuberosus_, called by the peasants the earth mouse, on account of its
form, and the earth chesnut on account of its taste. This plant exists
only in some localities of Lorraine and Burgundy. The Lathyrus has
never been cultivated, and it is thought that it will attain, with
cultivation, the size of the potato. The French peasants have a
prejudice against cultivating it, because they say it walks under
ground, and leaves the place it is planted in to go into the
neighbouring field. The fact is, that it grows in a chaplet, of which
the bulbs are arranged along a root running horizontally, of which the
two extremities are very rarely found, so that on taking up the
hinder tubercles it continues its growth in front, which gives rise to
the saying that if the plant had only time enough, it would make the
tour of the world.

The bulb of _Gastrodia sesamoides_ (R. Brown), a curious herbaceous
species of orchis, native of New Holland, is edible, and preferred by
the aborigines to potatoes and other tuberous roots. Some of my
accredited informants believe it might be turned to profitable
account, but being a parasitic plant, it could scarcely be
systematically cultivated. It flourishes in its wild state on loamy
soil in low or sloping grounds. The first indication of its vegetation
in the spring, is the appearance of a whitish bulb above the sward, of
an hemispherical shape, and about the size of a small egg. The dusky
white covering resembles a fine white net, and within it is a pellucid
gelatinous substance. Again within this is a fi