1154 



fowls, ducks, etc. In addition to what is grown lo- 

 cally much corn comes from the neighboring mainland. 

 This is eagerly bought up as we do not grow nearly 

 enough to supply our wants. The present price is $2.60 

 per bag of 110 pounds. In times of scarcity prices 

 range from $3.50 to $5.00 per bag. We are large im- 

 porters of rice, although of late years local produc- 

 tion has been steadily increasing. Up to within a few 

 years we did not grow a single pound of this cereal 

 in spite of the fact that several hundreds of square 

 miles of land in different parts of the island are as 

 fine ricelands as can be found anywhere in the world. 



"The whole fact of the matter is that our agri- 

 culture and food problems are largely artificial, if 

 I may put it so. The sugar, cacao, and coconut people 

 are interested in exportation not in production for 

 local consumption. The importing merchant would be 

 very sorry to see cassava and corn replace flour from 

 the United States and Canada, which means that neither 

 of these valuable foods is cultivated on a scale that 

 would enable me to give you such definite information 

 as would be of use for your tropical possessions. 



"It is only since the war that the dasheen has 

 come into prominence in Trinidad, the high prices of 

 flour, imported, so-called Irish potatoes, and other 

 vegetables having contributed to this. Today, dasheens 

 are being eaten in houses where the very name was un- 

 known a couple of years ago. Formerly, dasheens were 

 sold as cheap as a cent or a cent and a half per pound, 

 now housekeepers consider themselves in luck if their 

 cooks can get them dasheens at three cents. Whether 

 a popular flour for bread-making will ever be prepared 

 from it is a doubtful question; but there is no doubt 

 about its having become a popular vegetable, which it 

 was not before. Two varieties are being grown here; 

 a white and a purplish; the latter looking, when 

 boiled, like blue-mottled soap. The white is pre- 

 ferred. Our Forest Department is making some experi- 

 ments with dasheens in the Southern District where a 

 twenty-acre block at the Central Range Reserve has 

 been planted up with them as a cover crop for the 

 seedlings of cypress, cedar, and teak, which are being 

 grown there. I suppose something will be published 

 on the subject later on. I shall look out for it and 

 send a copy along to you. 



"Years ago, you were kind enough to send me a 

 couple of plants each of Trapp and Pollock avocados, of 

 which one of each has grown into quite a good-sized 



