«9« 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



while tlie tii>iers can be served as potatoes are or l)e 

 ground into flour. The sanitaritini has taken the en- 

 tire product of dasheen of the Government Experi- 

 ment Farm at Brooksville, Florida, last year. This 

 amounts to more than a carload. It is planned to 

 raise a considerable amount of this vegetable in the 

 greenhouses for winter consumption. An experiment 

 will also be made in growing it out of doors, the 

 plants being started in the greenhouse. 



Following this the Idea coniinents edito- 

 rially : 



The sanitarium, by the way, is harvesting its first 

 crop of dasheen. The accompanying photograph shows 

 the plants, beautifully blanched, and ready for the 

 cutting. The stalks are cooked in much the same 

 manner as asparagus, and are voted a remarkable 

 success by the sanitarium guests They have a deli- 

 cate, individual fiavor, unlike any other vegetable, 

 though the roO't when baked is not at all unlike the 

 Italian chestnut in flavor. 



THE AMADUMBE, THE DASHKEN OF SOUTH 

 AFRICA. 



On page 471, July 1, a missionary of 

 South Africa oftered to send me some sam- 

 ples. See the following. 



Mr. Root: — -Your letter of June 3 arrived at 

 Mount Silinda about two weeks ago, during my ab- 

 sence while attending the Rhodesia Missionary Con- 

 ference at Bulawayo. I reached nome yesterday. 



I have put up a sample package containing three 

 each of the malata sweet potatoes (as we call them), 

 and the amadumbe, addressed to you. I will have 

 it registered, and hope it will reach you safely. I 

 am not quite sure as- to the limit of weight of sample 

 packages, so, instead of sending a larger package 

 to Florida, I may send two packages in about two 

 months or a little less, which should bring them to 

 you in Florida in November. \V. L. Thompson. 



Mount Silinda, Melsetter, S. Rhodesia, Aug. 2. 



The samples mentioned above are at hand 

 The amadumbe is so much like our Trinidad 

 dasheen that it seems to me there can not be 

 very much difference in form, shape, and 

 solidity. The buds just started are exactly 

 like the dasheen. We sent them all to our 

 Florida home to be })lanted, with the ex- 

 ception of one bulb. 1 am going to plant 

 tliis here ia Medina to see how the foliage 

 compares with the Trinidad dasheen. Many 

 thanks, friend Thompson. When they get 

 our parcel post in such shape that we can 

 swap " garden sass " with the friends all 

 over the world, including the remote islands 

 of the sea, we shall no doubt be able to re- 

 duce the " high cost of living;" and spread- 

 ing the gospel will help it along better tlian 

 any thing else in the whole wide world. 

 '' Seek ye first the kingdom of (^iod, and his 

 righteousness," etc. 



THE DA.SHKKN .SOMETHING DIRECT I'^ROM THK IS- 

 LAND OF TRINIDAD. 



Regarding dasheens, I may state that I confirm 

 all that is written in Gleanings of Aug. 1, p 55.3. 

 The people here use it the same way. If they are 

 higher than a man's head, as on p. 18, you are do- 

 ing pretty well. We scarcely see them so high here. 

 The tubers here attain 10 to 15 lbs. I do not agree 

 with p. 18 o-f July 1 that it tastes better than the 

 Kweet potato — at least not to me. At the prices you 

 are getting the bulbs there, I think it would not pay 



you to send them from here by parcel post (the 

 only way), paying 12 cts. i)er lb. postage. Otherwise 

 I should be only too glad to send tliem. Besides, in 

 a short time you are going to have them in large 

 quantities, as the bulbs multiply so much ; in fact, 

 you have to be careful in the cultivation, otherwise 

 what you get is only bulbs and no tubers. Unless 

 you extract the bulbs continually you get no sub- 

 stance — tubers. C. M. Carmona. 

 San Rafael, Trinidad, B. W. I. 



DASHEEN A SUCCESS IN OHIO. 



To-day, Sept. 20, we made our first test 

 of one of the side tubers of one of our 

 dasheen plants. To my great surprise the 

 tuber was bigger than a large hen's-egg; 

 but as it was growing rank and thrifty 

 there was a great green stalk (bigger than 

 a hoe-handle) with large leaves on top. We 

 cut off the largest leaves, then cut off the 

 green stalk above the tuber, and cooked 

 the green and the smaller leaves in a sort 

 of stew. As there was considerable liquid 

 in it when done I suggested i^utting in a 

 few crackers ; and it was one of my " haj^py 

 surjjrises " to find it was so much like 

 mushrooms that, had my eyes been shut, I 

 should have declared' it was mushrooms. 

 The green tuber itself took nearly an hour 

 to bake so as to be well done; and although 

 it was not equal to the matured tuber sent 

 nil', by the Department of Agriculture, it 

 was what I would call a very nice baked 

 potato — that is, when you bake potatoes 

 tliat are only half ripe. Mrs. Root said at 

 once the baked tubers tasted like a new po- 

 tato not fully matured. Now, the maturity 

 will depend on how long frost holds off. 

 Sometimes here in our locality we do not 

 have a killing frost till November. This 

 would give us five or six weeks yet for the 

 dasheen to ripen. From the fact that every 

 bit of the |)lant is edible (and delicious food 

 besides) 1 think it safe to say it may be 

 grown as far north as we are. 



May the Lord be praised for giving us 

 this new vegetable for human food. The 

 tuber 1 dug was from one of the side shoots. 

 The central plant produces a very much 

 larger one. The first large leaves on many 

 of the plants have now turned yellow and 

 are dying down. I take it that at maturity 

 the leaves all die, and the nutriment in these 

 great luscious leaves goes down to mature 

 tlie tubers. The central stalks for quite a 

 little distance above the ground are now as 

 as large around as the top of a teacup; and 

 if tliey should be used now like asparagus 

 there would be a large amount of nutritious 

 food in them. 



By the way, letters are coming in every | 

 day asking for tubers to plant. I can not 1 

 furnish them. I expect to give the readers 

 of Gleanings a tuber or two apiece. That 

 is all I can do. Crenshaw Brothers, of 



