This tuber is again discussed as a substitute for the potato. It was called Glycine Apios by Linnaeus; Apios tuberosa by modern botanists, and Saa-gaa-ban, by some of the North American Indians, is a small trailing, tuberous perennial, with pinnated leaves, narrow lanceolate leaflets, and small brownish purple flowers, rather sweet-scented, and growing in axillary racemes, which are shorter than the leaves.

It is described by North American botanists, as growing in damp, rich soils, along the margins of swamps in Carolina (Elliott, " Fl. Carol." ii. 232), and in moist shady places from Canada to Florida, west to Missouri (Torrey and Gray, " Flora of North America," i. 282); but Pursh asserts that it inhabits hedges and mountain meadows from Pennsylvania to Carolina (" Fl. Amer. Sept." ii. 473). Its roots, that is to say, its tubers, are described by Elliott as small, and as having formed an article of food to the aborigines; Nuttall calls them ' oblong cylindrical tubers, edible and farinaceous, much like those of Lathyrus tuberosus, sold in some of the German markets, and rarely larger, though very numerous*' (" Genera of North American Plants," ii. 113); Pursh is the only author that we can find who speaks of them differently; he says, thai the roots "sometimes grow to an enormous size".

The plant itself is no stranger to our gardens. It is figured in the "Botanical Magazine, t 1196, and in other works. A rude woodcut, indeed, is to be found as early as 1640 in Parkinson's " Theatrum," fol. 1063, at which time the plant was cultivated m England under the name of " Terra glandes Americana give Virginianae - Virginia Earthnuts." The latter appellation seems to indicate in what estimation the plant was then held; it was regarded as a mere curiosity, with a " tuberous browne roote, which multiplies itself into sundry others.1'

When examined microscopically, the tubers are found to consist principally of a mass of large oval, very thick-sided cells, filled with starch, among which are scattered irregularly in the centre several woody bundles, composed of strangulated porous vessels of considerable size, very irregular and unequal laticiferous vessels, also much strangulated, and a few spiral vessels. Near the circumference, just within the bark, these bundles are arranged in distant narrow plates, forming short rays, and offering indistinct traces of concentric zones. A considerable quantity of truncated prismatical raphides is found among the cellular tissue; and around the central bundles of woody tissue are series of prosenchyinatous cells, which seem chiefly to contain gum.

In a raw state, the tubers taste like Earthnuts, or perhaps between an Earthnut and an Acorn. When boiled, they are firm, sweetish, of a dirty yellow color, and in texture and flavor, may be compared to a mixture of sweet Chestnuts and Parsnip.

It may be readily cultivated, but it is not a large tuber till the second year; some think it not entirely wholesome. Have any of our correspondents tried it.

I notice your inquiry in regard to this plant. It grows naturally in rich, moist places, forming a vine of much beauty, with its dark, pointed leaves. The flowers are brownish purple, borne in small, compact clusters. Their fragrance is their greatest beauty, resembling the perfume of the finest green tea. It is easily cultivated by planting its tubers, and as a covering for such work or to cover a low trellis it is worthy of notice. The tubers are oblong, arranged a few inches apart on a root attached to each end. The first year they do not grow larger than a pigeon's egg, but the second they become as large as a hen's egg. The skin is thick, and does not peel off easily. When dug in the spring and baked or roasted, the flesh is mealy and pleasantly flavored, though sometimes a little stringy, and darker than that of the potato. I have often eaten them without injury, and apprehend no danger from their use, though the yield of tubers is too small to render their cultivation profitable. - T. S. G., West Cornwall^ Conn.