Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

CHUFA, OR EARTH ALMOND.

Edible Cyperus. Nut Rush.

A perennial plant, from the south of Europe. The roots are long and fibrous, and produce at their extremities numerous small, rounded or oblong, jointed, pale-brown tubers, of the size of a filbert. The flesh of these roots, or tubers, is of a yellowish color, tender, and of a pleasant, sweet, and nut-like flavor. The leaves are rush-like, about eighteen inches high, a little rough, and sharply pointed. The flower-stalks are nearly of the same height as the leaves, three-cornered, hard, and leafless, with the exception of five or six leaf-like bracts at the top, from the midst of which are produced the spikelets of flowers, which are of a pale-yellow color.

Propagation and Culture. --It is propagated by planting the tubers in April or May, two inches deep, in drills two feet apart, and six inches apart in the drills. They will be ready for harvesting in October. In warm climates, the plant, when once introduced into the garden, spreads with great rapidity, and is exterminated with much difficulty. In the Northern and Middle States, the tubers remaining in the open ground are almost invariably destroyed by the winter.

Use. --It is cultivated for its small, almond-like tubers, which, when dried, have somewhat the taste of the almond, and keep a long period. They are eaten either raw or roasted.

When dried and pulverized, they are said to impart to water the color and richness of milk.