AUGUST 1, 1913 



653 



eomplished something that can scarcely be 

 computed in dollars and cents. 



There is one thing I almost forgot in 

 contrasting Ohio with Florida. The stable 

 manure that I have been describing costs 

 here 75 cents a load. In Florida it is $3.00, 

 and I doubt if you can get any old manure 

 there, such as I have described, at any 

 price. It is all taken up from the livei-y 

 stable about as fast as it is made. Another 

 thing, this heavy application of manure 

 here in our soil will benefit that piece of 

 ground for several years. Down in Florida 

 the tremendous rainfalls (one inch a day 

 is reported just now) take the strenglh 

 from the manure by leaching it so that it is 

 good for vegetation for only one season, 

 or the gi'eater part of it. Most people are 

 greatly disappointed when they undertake 

 to make garden in Florida because of the 

 absolute need for a constant and repeated 

 supply of fertilizer of some kind. Coarse 

 stable manure furnishes humus that holds 

 the water; and this is veiy important both 

 in Florida and Ohio. Old worn-out farms 

 are usually worn out because the humus 

 has been exhausted by repeated cropping, 

 and no putting back. 



MORE ABOUT THE DASHEEN, " THE TUBER 

 THAT MADE BROOKSVILLE FAMOUS.-"' 



We clip the following from the Florida 

 Grower : 



But it is not of the beauties of the hammock nor 

 the rolling lands nor the view from the court-house 

 over the surrounding country, worthy of an artist's 

 brush, that Brooksville's fame rests, but upon the 

 dasheen. It's " The tuber that made Brooksville 

 famous," for here it grows to perfection. They cul- 

 tivate it, cook it, eat it, talk it, and dream of the 

 dasheen. You can't be in Brooksville five minutes 

 and commence to remark upon its beauties and 

 possibilities without some one asking, " Have you 

 ever eaten a dasheen ? " And you will be told that 

 your education has been neglected if you have not 

 tasted of this delicacy. 



Dasheens do not do well on dry sandy soils, need- 

 ing a moist soil thoroughly drained, though they 

 can stand flooding once in a while, and seem to do 

 better where this is resorted to occasionally. A low 

 moist sandy soil, well fertilized, capable of irriga- 

 tion, will produce dasheens ; but the yield will be 

 less than that on the hammocks with a clay or lime- 

 stone subsoil. It is related to the well-known ele- 

 phant ear (Caladium), so common in all our gar- 

 dens, and any soil that will grow elephant-ears well 

 will do the same for the dasheen. 



A few days ago, while our teamster was 

 cultivating the garden, he came up along- 

 side of my two rows of dasheens and stop- 

 ped his team and looked at me in a sort of 

 puzzled way and remarked, " Why, Mr, 

 Root, what in the world are you doing with 

 those ' splatter docks ' growing here in youi 

 garden ? " 



In the fresh-water lakes along close to 

 the shore there are frequently found patch- 

 es of what we call water-lilies; but the com- 



mon i^eople, especially the fishermen, have 

 been in the habit of calling them " splatter 

 docks ;" and I remember now that they used 

 to bother us a good many times in trying 

 to get our boats through them. The finest 

 black bass are found liiding along these 

 splatter docks. I have scarcely seen them 

 since my boyhood days, but I remember them 

 as a rank luxuriant vegetation; and when 

 they obstructed the passage of the boat 

 there were often a good many comijlaints of 

 " them pesky splatter docks." And as these 

 dasheens, when about a foot high, do look 

 very much like splatter docks, it occurs 

 that, like the " elephant-ears," they need 

 lots of water. Mine are doing very much 

 better since I gave them water as well as 

 lots of old well-rotted manure unstintedlj'. 

 I expect to give soon a picture of them as 

 they gTow here in Ohio. 



DASHEEN BULBS FOR PLANTING. 



When I saw Crenshaw Brother's adver- 

 tisement of dasheens for planting I wrote 

 them, asking them how they succeeded in 

 keeping the bulbs, say during the summer 

 months. Their reply would indicate that 

 the bulbs can be kept for planting at differ- 

 ent seasons of the year very much as we 

 keep Irish potatoes; and this is certainly 

 another thing in their favor. See the fol- 

 lowing : 



Your inquiry in regard to keeping dasheens is at 

 hand. We would say that we have a few bushels that 

 are sound, and are in first class condition. These bulbs 

 were gathered last fall. We have met with excellent 

 results in keeping these, also small seed Irish pota- 

 toes, by making frames with the bottoms out of slats, 

 spacing them by stacking them on top of one an- 

 other, which leaves plenty of room for the air to 

 circulate. About once a month we have a man to go 

 through them to see if any are faulty. We find that 

 they can be kept at very small expense. 



Crenshaw Bros. Seed Co.. 



Tampa, Pla., July 11. . 



Later. — Dr, E. F. Phillips, Apicultural 

 Expert in the Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C, has just been looking 

 over the dasheens in our garden, and he re- 

 marked that on a recent visit to Porto Rico 

 he found they were there a staple article of 

 food, and he himself is very fond of them. 

 He gave me one important pointer right 

 here. He says they are grown largely on 

 the margin of running water. On each side 

 of a little rivulet, so close to the water that 

 the roots of the dasheen can get right over 

 into it, the rankest specimens are growing. 

 I believe it is known in Hawaii by the name 

 of " taro." Now, in our effort to reproduce 

 it here in our own country, let us remember 

 it needs lots of water. 



Dr. Phillips says this vegetable was the 

 principal article of food of the natives be- 

 fore the missionaries commenced their work 

 in the Sandwich Islands, as it was then call- 



