FOOD PLANTS. 115 



rich forest land, and in such situations they yield in large 

 quantities. The negroes of the West Indies live almost entirely 

 on this nutritious esculent, and care for little else when they can 

 get it. The sweet potato (Batatas .edulis) will grow in all its 

 varieties, abundantly, in British Honduras, and at all elevations, 

 from sea-level to the highest lands of the interior. Cocos 

 (Colocasia esculenta) might be utilised as shade-plants in young 

 cacao plantations, and thus bring in a return sufficient to pay 

 a portion of the working expenses. The same might be said 

 of the cassava plant (Manihot utilissima), which, both as a 

 vegetable and in the form of cassava bread, forms one of the 

 staple foods of many races. The cassava plant is easily propa- 

 gated by joints of the stem buried in the ground, and these, 

 planted around a young cacao, Liberian coffee, nutmeg, or orange 

 seedling, would give the shade so necessary to them in hot, dry 

 districts, as well as a return in food-stuff, equal to about 5 to 

 8 per acre. What are called the red and white peas really 

 varieties of haricot beans are freely grown in tropical countries, 

 and form a most nutritious and valuable food. None of these 

 plants are cultivated in British Honduras to the extent they 

 deserve; but I am hopeful that when planters have carefully 

 considered the wonderful advantages they possess, and have 

 become fully convinced of the numberless resources within their 

 reach, they will not be slow to take advantage of them. 



All kinds of pumpkins, cucumbers, marrows, and melons 

 should grow on the rich, well-drained soils of the interior ; care 

 being taken to plant all these, as much as possible, in freshly- 

 broken land, to avoid the numerous diseases to which they are 

 liable. A member of this family, the chiote or chocho (Sechium 

 edule), might be introduced from Jamaica, where it is a hardy, 

 self-sown climber, bearing nearly all the year round a fruit larger 

 than a pear, covered with soft prickles. It is boiled (or par- 



