The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-09-03
cURIosITIEs oF AGRICULTURE.
Roots Of the Gala Lily as Eood-Catei pi-
lars Which Gear u usilroonas.

WASHINGTON, August pa new
vegetable is about to be introduced to
the people of the United States
through the Department Of Agricul-
ture. It is nothing more nor less than
the root of the Gala lily, which resem-
bles somewhat in appearance the Or
dinary Irish tuber, with the addition
of a few whiskers that have nothing to
do with the other qualities OF the
article. A section Of it is SO potatolike
that YOU would not be likely to remark |
any difference. In cooking it has first
to be boiled, in order to destroy certain |
acrid properties, after which it may be |
fried, roasted, baked, or what not, ac-
cording to taste.
Farmers in Florida have begun to |
raise these Gala roots for market. The
plants grow readily in swamps, and SO
thickly that the yield ofa single flooded
acre is enormous. They reproduce
themselves by the multiplication OF
their bulbs underground, so that the
grower has simply to dig up the OIL
shoots and leave parents to propagate
anew. For centuries the Egyptians
have cultivated a Similar crop during
the seasons Of the Niles overflow, and
at the present time Gala lily bulbs are
q common vegetable in japanese mar
kets. So prolific and palatable are
they that their propagation in many
parts Of the United States, where con-
ditions are favorable may be looked for
ward to as an agricultural industry
of the future.
The Department of Agriculture IS
continually engaged in trying to dis
cover and encourage the cultivation OF
new and desirable varieties of fruits.
Lately it has come across a sort ofglant
gooseberry that grows on trees, and
within the last few days long-sought
prize has been obtained from Benton
Harbor, Mich, in the shape OF a really
thornless blackberry. The picking OF
this delectable fruit has hitherto been
interfered with to some extent by the
spikes with which nature protects the
branches, but in the future, it is hoped,
people will be able to go blackoerrying
without danger of pricking their
fingers.
Experiments are making for the first
time in the grating of pecan trees.
Accidental seedlings in Texas and New
Mexico have developed nuts OF this
kind as far superior to the ordinary
ones as the shellbark is to the pignut.
Furthermore, il has been demonstrated
that these improved varieties can read
lily be perpetuated, and even bettered'
by rafting. Only little cultivation
is necessary to produce pecans OF five
or six times the size of the usual specl-
mems and with SHELLS so papery as to De
easily broken between the forehnger
and thumb. The writer saw good
sized pasteboard full of such samples
in the Office Of the United States Po-
mologist yesterday, and ate a few to
make sure Of their delicious quality.
The same process is possible with chest
nuts, which grow to the size OF a
horsechestnut in some parts OF the
United States. They, too, are being
grated with view to securing the IN
crease of their size and the improve
ment of their edible qualities. In a
certain Illinois valley hickory nuts
used to grow as wide as the palm OF
ones hand, and efforts are being made
to obtain a surviving plant so as to
propagate from them.
The Department of State has just
received from Consul Jones at Chm
klang, China, a small bottle contain
ing some specimens of the curious fun
GUS that grows from a species OF cater
pillar, literally transforming the ami
NAL into a vegetable and causing the
unhappy insect to serve the purpose OF
a root. It is the larva of a moth, and
when the cold of winter approaches it
makes its way down into the soil to
the Gepth of three or four inches.
There it is attacked by remarkable
disease and sprouts, sending up long
shoot which appears and fructitles
above the ground like any mushroom.
The natives in Thibet and in the
province of Sze-Khuau go about look
ING for this fungus near myrtle trees OF
certain sort. They dig up such speci-
mems as they discover and make them
into little bundles, tied with red thread.
In this shape they are sold as med
icine which is esteemed, if possible,
more highly than the famous ginseng,
being considered a powerful curative
agent for diseases of the throat and
lungs.
This fungus has 60 other method OF
growth than the one oescrloeo. 1ne
fructifying top that is above ground
scatters its spores around under the
scarlet-howered myrtles on which the
caterpillars feed. When the latter
burrow into the soil to hibernate, they
are apt to stir up some Of the hostile
germs, whereupon they are at once
attacked and speedily transformed into
vegetable tissue. The substance. Of
their flesh is metamorphosed into
stalks sprouting from their heads: OF
course, sufficient number of tne
larvae escape this fateto perpetuate the
species from year to year and to sup
reproductive opportunities for the fun
gus.
Curiously enough, the common white
grub, which is the larv;e OF a beetle, Is