OCTOBER 1, 1913 



697 



High-pressure Gardening 



" A CORN catechism;" or, is it possible to 



RAISE 100 BUSHELS OR MORE OF CORN 

 PER ACRE UNDER OHIO CONDITIONS? 



The above is the title of a very valuable 

 bulletin of 16 pages, sent out by our Ohio 

 State University. It gives directions, boiled 

 down, for securing a good corn crop, that 

 are exceedingly valuable. My impression 

 is that the average farmer in the average 

 locality can make 100 bushels per acre, 

 without much question, if he follows direc- 

 lions. 



The matter of barren cornstalks, which I 

 considered in our last issue, is gone into 

 quite thoroughly. To get this large yield one 

 must have a perfect stand, or very near 

 that. No hills should have less than three 

 stalks, and none more than five. To do this 

 you will have to do some thinning out. But 

 1 think this will pay in the end. Selecting 

 your seed ears from the field in the fall is 

 an important matter. Taking the corn out 

 of the corncrib, as I have said, is a verr 

 poor way of improving your strain of corn. 

 Two years ago I went through our cornfield 

 and clipped oif the stalks just above the 

 ear for ears I wanted to save for seed. 

 When husking time came we took four or 

 five men out of the lumber-yard to do the 

 husking. The man who was chosen as fore- 

 man, by my directions told the buskers to 

 be very careful and save out the ears from 

 the stalks that were clipped. What do you 

 think happened? Most of the buskers were 

 used to farmwork and husking corn ; and in 

 spite of orders all but the foreman paid no 

 attention to the clipped stalks, thinking, 

 probably, they knew more about picking 

 seed corn than I did, and gave as an excuse 

 that the proper way to get seed corn is to 

 pick it out of the crib. Let me say again, 

 your selected ears for planting should be 

 taken from a hill of three or four stalks. 

 Then you have your jierfect ears in spite of 

 environment. If a nice large ear is selected 

 from the crib, the chances are great that it 

 was taken from a hill containing only one 

 stalk of corn. The ear was large and fine 

 in this case because it had a better chance 

 than the rest of the field, and not because 

 of extra vitality and pedigree. 



THE DASHEEN IN THE WEST INDIES; THE 

 ORIGIN OF THE NAME, ETC. 

 Mr. Root: — I see by Gleanings that you and 

 your readers are interesting yourselves in dasiieoi.; 

 as a possible crop in the States. I grow this plant 

 extensively as a " catch crop " between young cocoa 

 trees, and wish to point out that the man who wants 

 a crop (i.e., tubers), puts in plants; and the man 

 who wants plants put in tubers. Especially with 



your short summer in Ohio it would be rather hope- 

 less to expect a crop from tubers; but I quite un- 

 derstand that in Florida it might be different. As 

 these plants thrive here with a rainfall of 100 inches 

 a year they will naturally want more water than 

 your annual rainfall gives them, and flat culture. 

 I am sending you a dozen plants by parcel post, and 

 want you to let me know in what condition they ar- 

 rive. One plant is trimmed ready to plant; from the 

 rest, remove all roots and dark root stock (put them 

 in ground apart to make plants), and also skin away 

 any discolored root sheath from plants, leaving a 

 narrow line only of root stock for new roots to 

 spring from. 



Do you know how the word " dasheen " is de- 

 rived? It was originally called in French patois 

 " chou du chine" (shoo d'sheen), i.e., the China- 

 man's cabbage ; but the chou has been dropped, and 

 the English accent has altered the two last words to 

 " dasheen." Geo. S. Hudson. 



Errard Estate, St. Lucia, W. I., Aug. 19. 



I must confess that I do not exactly un- 

 derstand about " tubers " and " plants," as 

 mentioned above. The only thing we have 

 any knowledge of so far is the tubers fur- 

 nished by the Department of Agriculture, 

 about the shape of an egg, only smallex-, and 

 these are what we planted. Perhaps the 

 dasheen mentioned above is different from 

 the Trinidad dasheen such as we have. 



The sample " plants " so kindly furnish- 

 ed came to hand Sept. 17, just a little less 

 than a month from the time they were mail- 

 ed. So far as I can judge they stood the 

 long trip finely, and came to hand with the 

 white shoots already started, and an abun- 

 dance of new white roots. In fact, they 

 looked as if they had been growing on the 

 way. I planted them out in good rich soil, 

 and with the gentle shower that came right 

 aftei'ward I think every one of the dozen 

 will grow. If frost comes I expect to pro- 

 tect them until we go back (Nov. 4) to our 

 Florida home, when they will be moved 

 again to our southern clime. 



The name, " Cliinese cabbage," may, per- 

 haps, give us another clue to this consider- 

 able family of dasheens. 



DASHEEN AT THE BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM. 



The following clipping appeared origi- 

 nally in The Vegetable Grower for Feb., 

 1913, and later appeared in TJie Battle 

 Creek Idea for March 16. With it is a 

 beautiful picture of dasheen sprouts in a 

 greenhouse. It describes the efforts Dr. 

 Kellogg is making for his patients. 



Of course, it is necessary in a sanitarium that the 

 food be as palatable as possible. Besides, it is the 

 constant effort of Dr. J. H. Kellogg, the superinten- 

 dent of the sanitarium, to provide as large a variety 

 in the diet as possible. He has recently added to the 

 menu a new vegetable, dasheen, which the United 

 States Department of Agriculture is anxious to in- 

 troduce into general use. The plant somewhat re- 

 sembles the potato, and some people find it very pal- 

 atable. The green shoots can be used like asparagus, 



