HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION. 375 



Of late years the industry has diminished to a fraction of the home 

 consumption. Most of the potatoes now raised are grown by Japanese, 

 but even they are becoming discouraged owing to the ravages of 

 disease and the use of poor seed. The black rot of the potato has 

 appeared, last year's crop being practically destroyed. This year 

 there are a few struggling patches under the care of Japanese tenants. 

 The cutworm is the chief insect enemy of potato culture. 



SWEET POTATOES. 



No fair estimate of the present production of the sweet potato has 

 been made, but at one time in the history of the islands it received no 

 little attention, as there are records telling of 50 varieties under 

 cultivation. In 1850 the amount of sweet potatoes exported was 

 9,631 barrels. 



It is a plant easily grown, thriving well on most parts of the islands 

 where the rainfall is not* too great. It is often seen growing around 

 native huts in the dry and otherwise barren portions of the country, 

 or over a coral bed where there may be but few inches of soil. 



The sweet potato is propagated by cutting off the tops and planting 

 them in a hill of dirt which is often merely the surface soil scraped 

 together. 



As an article of food, it is one of the principal vegetables and it is a 

 deplorable fact that at the present time there is so little effort toward 

 home production that large imports are being made, and the Cali- 

 fornia sweet potato is seen in the Honolulu market as often as the 

 home-grown product. The latter is sold at half the price of the 

 former, the difference in price being in large measure due to inferior 

 grading and packing for market of the home-grown article. 



TARO. 



The taro plant is used in making poi and as a vegetable. As it is 

 generally cultivated as an aquatic, the sections chosen for its growth 

 are near a water supply. The mountain streams are nearly all diverted 

 during their course to the sea into the taro patches (rice and taro land 

 may be used interchangeably), so the sections where taro is grown are 

 the low plains or slopes of the valleys. (PL XXX, fig. 1.) 



Cultivation. — The land is divided into patches varying from one- 

 thirtieth to one-fourth of an acre. The patches are arranged in ter- 

 races separated by dykes, thus allowing the water to run from the 

 upper to the next lower terrace. 



The tops of the plants are cut when the crop is harvested, and these 

 in turn are planted, and in time will make the new crop. It requires 

 from ten to fifteen months for a crop to mature, the only work neces- 



