i8o 



portion of a firm and crisp but gelatinous nature ; the main por- 

 tion resembles the interior of the common potato but is finer- 

 grained and much more gummy. Though the glutinous character 

 disappears upon cooking, the crispness remains even after pro- 

 longed boiling. 



The thin cuticle being removed after cooking, there appears a 

 delicious morsel, snow-white outside, semi-transparent in the 

 centre, which may be eaten as a side dish with butter, or, as many 

 prefer, as a relish with salt, like radishes ; it is also good in soups. 

 From December to May it is fairly common in the markets and is 

 also frequently sold, cooked but not peeled, in the streets in the 

 evening — a dozen or so tied in a bunch with the attached root- 

 stems, at I cent, per bunch ; they thus take the place of pea-nuts. 



The flavour of the Lleren is difficult to describe — there is cer- 

 tainly a taste like sweet-corn, and something quite its own besides. 

 The surest thing about it is that if you try it once, you will again. 



TANIER, THE OLDEST CROP." 



By O. W. Barrett. 



Of all the plants which made life possible to the wild men of 

 old Caribea, the handiest was undoubtedly the Tanier. It grew in 

 the loose alluvium along the forest streams and its tempting 

 tubers were continually in evidence to the savage ancestors of 

 the forefathers of the Arawaks. The idea of the goodness of 

 these roots once grasped, a few worthless plants pulled out from 

 among the edible ones, a sprouting tuber fragment purposely 

 trodden into the soil — and agriculture was begun. 



There is very good reason, as Mr. O. F. Cook has shown,t for 

 believing that the cultivation of economic plants originated in 

 Tropical America ; and in many ways the Tanier appears to have 

 been cultivated longer than any other plant in this region. 

 Nearly all the cultivated plants of the world readily produce 

 seed ; but the Tanier, though flowering under favourable circum- 

 slances, has entirely lost its natural power to ripen seeds. Some 

 varieties of the yam, the sweet potato, and even of the banana 

 occasionally bear seeds in the home of the Tanier ; but many of 

 their varieties have been introduced from other regions and their 

 varieties are not so numerous in islands like Jamaica and Porto 

 Rico as those of the Tanier. 



As a vegetable slave this remarkable old crop has been spared 

 the fate of most economics — exile from its own home ; for, strange 

 as it may seem, the Tanier still remains almost unknown outside 

 of Tropical America. Other food-plants have been carried to 

 the far corners of the earth ; others less easily propagated and 

 less productive, like the taro and the yam, have become staple 



* From the Plant ]]'orld, October 1904. 



■f "The American Origin of Agriculture," Populwr Science Monthly, October, 190S. 



