265 



Surplus . . 851.64 



Consignment Expense 268.83 



Departmental Expense 501.08 



Cost of Merchandise 8,462.45 



General Expense 3,072.55 



Butcher Sales 5,915.47 



Eetail Sales 3,066.20 



T. Pearson & Co 108.05 



Hold Account 116.39 



Commissions 1,189.64 



Cash not deposited 7/31/17 1,189.64 



'' " " 8/31/17 288.24 



36,093.04 $36,093.04 



The Hawaiian Taro as Food 



By Vaughan MacCaughey, 

 Professor of Botany, College of Hawaii, Honolulu. 



The most important and distinctive crop-plant of the native 

 Hawaiian is the taro or kalo. This valuable aroid (Colocasia 

 antiqiiontui var. esculenta) occurs in many parts of the South 

 Pacific, and in tropical Asia, and was brought to Hawaii by the 

 early Polynesian migrants from the south. They were skilful 

 and industrious farmers, and developed their primitive agricul- 

 ture to a high state of efficiency.* 



The taro plant resembles in appearance the large caladiums or 

 ''elephant's ears" common in eastern lawns and gardens. From 

 the large, starchy, subterranean corm, (which is the part of eco- 

 nomic value), springs a cluster of large, sagittate leaves. The 

 corm is usually 6-12 inches long and 4 or 5 inches in diameter, 

 like a large sweet potato. The petioles rise to a height of 2-4 

 feet; the blades are 10-16 inches long and 8-12 inches broad; 

 they are bright yellow-green and so smooth that water runs off 

 them like quicksilver. The flowers are of the typical aroid pat- 

 tern, with spadix and creamy-yellow spathe, 3-5 inches high; 

 flowers are rare and seed production is practically unknown. 

 Taro has been propagated for untold centuries by purely vegeta- 

 tive methods and like many other tropical plants, (sugar cane, 

 sweet potatoes, pineapples, bananas, etc.), has lost the seed habit. 



A widely-circulated misstatement concerning Hawaiian taro 

 is to the effect that ''there are about forty varieties." In 1913 

 the writer, with the invaluable assistance of Mr. Joseph S. Emer- 

 son (deeply versed in the Hawaiian language and lore), made a 

 careful survey of the native varieties and their names. f We col- 



* See Agriculture in Hawaii, V. MacCaughey, Paradise of the Pacific 

 Magazine, Dec, 1911, pp. 19-24. 



t See The Kalo in Hawaii, by Vaughan MacCaughey and J. S. Emer- 

 son, published in the Hawaiian Forester in 10 installments, vols. 10 & 11, 

 100 pages and 20 illustrations. 



