FEBRUARY 15, 1914 



159 



DEPT. OP AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



THK COOKING OF DASHEEN CORMS. 



The dasheen is one of the new vegetables with 

 wliieh the Department of Agriculture is experiment- 

 ing in the Southern States. It is the staple food of 

 millions of people in tropical and subtropical coun- 

 tries. The plants themselves look something like the 

 large-leaved ornamental caladiums or elephant-ears 

 of the garden. Various parts of the plant are edible, 

 but the principal food is furnished by the large, 

 spherical coim, or " tuber," and a number of smaller 

 tubers which are attached to it in the ground. 



The dasheen corms can be prepared in many 

 ways; but they are generally liked best when par- 

 boiled for about fifteen minutes, and the cooking 

 completed by baking in a fairly quick oven. De- 

 pending upon the size, they should be baked from 

 one to two hours, a fork being used to test them. 

 Corms weighing more than two pounds should gen- 

 erally be cut in half from top to base (lengthwise) 

 beforehand, in order to reduce the time necessary 

 for baking, and to prevent the chance of forming 

 too thick a crust. 



The appearance of the corms for serving is im- 

 proved by scraping off the fibrous skin before boiling. 

 If this is done and the corms are not baked so long 

 as to make the crust thick and hard, it will be 

 found to be of delicious flavor. If the corms are 

 dipped in water during the scraping, as is usually 

 done, a little baking soda should be added to the 

 water ; otherwise a slight irritation to the hands may 

 be caused. 



The interior of the cooked dasheen may be' cream 

 white, pearl gray, or some shade of violet. It is 

 usually quite mealy, though sometimes, especially 

 when first opened, it may be somewhat moist. The 

 flavor is generally more or less nutty. The upper 

 or bud end, after cooking, is sometimes rather moist, 

 or a little fibrous, as compared with the middle and 

 lower parts, and when so may be discarded. 



.Vs soon as done the corms should be cut open 

 lengthwise, covered with a napkin, in a warm dish, 

 and served immediately. If they have been cut open 

 before cooking, the thin crust formed over the cut 

 surface should at once be lifted, on taking from the 

 oven. (This crust is itself very palatable.) The 

 mealy interior can be taken out easily with a fork 

 or spoon. Baked dasheens are generally drier than 

 baked potatoes, and therefore need more butter. Salt 

 is used in seasoning. 



If impossible to serve immediately when done, the 

 corm should be prepared for serving, as already 

 described, or pricked several times with a fork to 

 allow the steam to escape, and kept covered with a 

 napkin, or other loose cover, in a warm place. If 

 avoidable, however, there should not in any case be 

 a delay of more than a few minutes in serving. 



THE OBJECTIONABLE FEATURES IN REGARD TO 

 GROWING ALFALFA. 



I suppose there really are two sides to 

 every thing. A periodical called Better 

 Farming sums up the one objection to hav- 

 ing a field of alfalfa. Here it is : 



Tliere is one objection to alfalfa : It was discover- 

 ed by an Oklahoma farmer who uncovered his ach- 

 ing heart the other day in print, and told his tale 

 of woe. He said: "We hear a good deal about the 

 value of an alfalfa crop. Some people never let up 

 blowing about it. They tell you if you feed it to 

 your work team you won't have to feed grain to 

 keep them fat ; that it is worth pound for pound as 

 much as bran for feeding milk cows ; that it is one 

 of the best pork-producers ; that it is fine for feeding 

 beef cattle. Give us a rest I It makes us tired! In 

 May, just at the time you ought to be hoeing out 

 your cotton, you have to go into your alfalfa field 

 and cut the first crop. Then in .Tune, just when you 



have a chance to go fishing, there's another crop of 

 alfalfa to cut, and you don't go. It's blazing hot in 

 July, and you feel like you ought to shade some, but 

 you have to get in another crop of alfalfa. In Au- 

 gust you want to go to camp-meeting, swap \ arns, 

 have a good easy time, and imagine you have got 

 religion. But you can't — there's that dog-goned al- 

 falfa again. In September it has always been your 

 custom to visit the wife's kinfolks, but do you do it? 

 Not much. Confound that alfalfa 1 In October you 

 are done with most other crops, and you want to go 

 off to that gambling contraption known as the coun- 

 ty fair, and spend some of your money, but you have 

 to harvest another crop of that infernal alfalfa. And 

 iu November in desperation you turn the cattle in 

 on the field, and they graze on it all fall. Are you 

 through then? Heavens, no! You've got to spend 

 all winter feeding it up." 



Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 

 entered into the heart of man the thing.^ which God 

 hath prepared for them that love him. — I. Cob. 2 :9. 



FLYING TO BE MADE SAFER IN THE NEAR 

 FUTURE. 



I am sure the friends who have followed 

 me in my reports in regard to the develop- 

 ment of aviation by the Wright brothers 

 will read with interest the following, clipped 

 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer: 



Dayton, O., Jan. 5. — Orville Wright, premier avi- 

 ator, to-day discussed the possibilities of his automat- 

 ic stabilizer, which, he declares, will make flying 

 " fool proof " and as comparatively safe as transpor- 

 tation by land. It means that an unskilled operator 

 may make a trip from Dayton to New York and re- 

 turn with comparative safety. He said: 



" We have invented an automatic stability device 

 which will revolutionize flight," said Wright. " It is 

 more accurate than any aviator can be, and will 

 make flying fool proof, or as nearly fool proof as 

 any thing can be. I have flown many miles with it 

 ;ind have never touched the controls. We are now 

 simplifying, and expect to be able to bring it to the 

 point where it may be put in general use by early 

 spring. 



" We believe in making aerial work as safe as any 

 on land," he said, " and we will continue to labor 

 in that direction! We hope to see the day when it 

 will be just as safe to board an aeroplane and take 

 a long trip as it is at present to make this journey 

 behind a locomotive. 



" The stability device will go a long way toward 

 making this dream a reality, and we are enthusiastic 

 about it. Our device insures lateral as well as fore- 

 and-aft stability. It depends in part on electricity, 

 and we shall soon have the mechanism so perfected 

 that it will not get out of order, and that means 

 safety in flight. 



" As may be generally known, many of the acci- 

 dtnts in aviation have been due to what is called 

 stalling. The aviator lets his speed sag below a 

 certain point, the point necessary to secure sufficient 

 w.ind pressure on the wings to sustain the machine, 

 and it falls. Nothing can stop it. 



" If he is traveling on an even keel when he re- 

 duces his speed below the danger-point, his machine 

 will slide back, tail first, to the ground. Our device 

 prevents the plane from rising too sharply ; and if the 

 speed falls below the danger-point it automatically 

 directs the machine to the ground so that it will 

 acquire speed enough to sustain it." 



Discussing the future of the aeroplane, Wright 

 said : 



" The aeroplane will be used for commercial pur- 

 poses, especially as a means of speedy transportation 

 over vast distances. Over waste places and deserts 



