ROOT CROPS AND OTHER COMPARABLE FORAGES 597 



At the Arkansas Experiment Station one-fourth acre 

 of chufas pastured by hogs was estimated to produce 

 138 pounds of pork. At the Alabama Experiment 

 Station it was calculated that an acre of chufas pastured 

 to hogs produced 307 pounds of pork. 



CASSAVA (Manihot utilissima) 



716. Cassava is a tropical plant probably native to 

 Brazil. It is now cultivated in all parts of the tropics, 

 mainly as a source of human food, and also as a basis for 

 the manufacture of tapioca. Its culture is probably more 

 important in Java than in any other country. 



Cassava is a bushy, branched, woody-based herb com- 

 monly growing 4 to 10 feet in height. The leaves are 

 palmately divided into 3 to 11 divisions which are oblan- 

 ceolate, or rarely lanceolate, and from 5 to 10 inches long 

 and about 1 inch wide. The flowers are polygamo-dice- 

 cious, that is, some are staminate, some pistillate and some 

 perfect. Usually flowers on one plant are primarily pis- 

 tillate and those on another primarily staminate. The 

 fleshy, starchy roots grow in clusters of 4 to 8 to each plant, 

 the largest being 3 to 4 feet in length and 2 to 3 inches 

 in diameter, a single cluster weighing usually 5 to 10 

 pounds, but sometimes 20 to 30 pounds. 



Cassava is adapted in the United States only to Florida 

 and the southern portions of Georgia, Alabama, Missis- 

 sippi, Louisiana, the coastal region of Texas and California. 

 The plant requires abundant moisture during the growing 

 season and preferably a sandy loam soil. The plants will 

 grow well in clay soils, but the cost of harvesting the roots 

 then becomes excessive. 



The varieties of cassava are very numerous, but are 

 usually put into two groups, namely, the sweet and the 



