The Gardener's Chronicle says: " In the current number of the Journal of Botany, Dr. Hance describes a Chinese Culinary Vegetable, consisting of the shoots of a grass, Hydropyrum latifolium, wild in Northern China and Amoor Land, and cultivated in Southern China in standing water. As brought to market, the "cane shoots " occur in cylindrical pieces of a white color, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches long, 1 to 1 1/2 inch in diameter, tapering upwards into a conical point, and surmounted by the leaves and culm, from which they are readily detached. In taste, the raw shoot is not unlike a half-ripe nut, but it is never eaten uncooked. By the Chinese it is stewed with meat, and by foreigners cut longitudinally into two or three pieces, well boiled, and served with melted butter. Prepared in this way, it is stated by Dr. Hance to be one of the most agreeable of vegetables. "It is difficult/9 says the writer from whom we quote, " to describe its exact flavor, but it is, perhaps, nearer to that of unripe maize, as boiled and eaten by Americans under the name of green corn, though it possesses a richness and delicacy to which I know no parallel in any other vegetable." The species in question is nearly allied to the American species, H. esculentum, formerly grown in this country.

There is little doubt that the Chinese plant would also thrive in our climate, on which account we are glad to hear that Dr. Hance intends to send home living plants.