Mr. Harding writes : " The Cincinnati Weekly Commercial, March 29th, says: ' M. Decaisne's career, says a Paris letter, is encouraging. He entered the Garden of Plants in 1824, as journeyman gardener. After hard manual labor, digging, hoeing, raking for eight years, he was made 'head of the sowing bed.' Adrien de Jussieu, struck by his intelligence in the post, made him his assistant, and he quickly became known as one of the best descriptive botanists of Europe. He tried to introduce the Igname to French tables, a sort of potato in great favor in Northern China, but failed, because the plant is-so deep-rooted it is dug up with difficulty. He failed likewise in his attempt to introduce Pa-mie into France. In 1845, the Academy of Sciences elected the poor journeyman to a seat in its hall; in 1850, he was elected a Professor in the Garden of Plants; in 1864, he was elected President of the Academy of Sciences; in 1880, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London.'

"I presume the 'Igname' mentioned, is the long-tailed tuber Dioscorea sinensis, or the famous Chinese Yam, whose elongated roots frequently exceed the ordinary length of John Chinaman's queue; and in this country, seems about as useful".