284 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



years, nndei- the direction of !Mr. Jared G. Smith, demonstrate that there are 

 extensive areas about the group especially suited to the i)roduction of high- 

 grade tobacco. The growing of tobacco, however, is by no means a new 

 thing in the islands; it was early introduced by the whites and grown by the 

 Hawaiians. It received only haphazard cultivation, was improperly cured, 

 and was invariably too strong for commei'cial use. It was, however, smoked 

 by old Hawaiians to some extent : it being a custom among the natives to take 

 a whitT or two and pass the pipe (nmde of a root, or a stem or branch) about 

 from one to the other. 



The tobacco plant is of American origin, belonging botanically to the 

 tomato and egg-plant family. The earliest voyagers to America found the 

 Indians using the leaves for smoking, chewing, and as snuff; pipes and other 

 means for smoking tobacco have been found biuieil in prehistoric mounds in 

 the United States, ^Mexico, and Per\i. 



Sweet and Irish Potatoes. 



Formerly potato-' growing was an important island industry. In 1849 

 potatoes stood at the head of the list of exports. The lands best adapted to 

 their growth are in the Kula district of Maui, where they were introduced and 

 planted as early as 1820. Of late years the industry has diminished, owing to 

 unskilled methods of culture and the appearance of various enemies. There 

 are several species and almost innumerable cultural varieties adapted to 

 various soils and conditions that, if introduced, would doubtless extend and 

 revive the industry. 



Sweet potatoes-^ were at one time an important field crop. Like the 

 "Irish" potatoes, they were extensively exported during the period of the 

 gold-rush to California. The natives recognized as many as twenty varieties 

 of uala (sweet potato), and several important varieties have been introduced 

 from time to time by Europeans and others. It belongs to the morning-glory 

 family and is easily grown, thriving in loose soils where the rainfall is not too 

 abundant. The sweet potato is usually propagated by cutting off the tops and 

 planting them in a hill of dirt which often is only a pile of loose ash-like soil 

 scraped together. 



Cassava and the Castor Beax Plaxt. 



Cassava.--' though not extensively cultivated, is gi-own with success in 

 Hawaii. It is an introduced European plant tiiat thrives on all the islands, 

 is free from pests and requires but little cultivation. Its mots produce a 

 useful starch; they are used both as food for man and domestic animals, and 

 in the manufacture of laundry starch. There is a native plant well known to 

 the older Hawaiians as pia, or arrow-root, and in Hawaii, Cassava seems to 

 have fallen heir to this name. Hawaiian arrow-root -* formerly grew wild, 



2i.So(nniim tuberosum. -^limnioea Balulas. -' Maniliot iitilisximn. -'Trent iiiiinalifija. 



