GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Fig. 5. — A ^'limpsu of thij drainage canal where the dueks play, at the foot of our garden. 



circular with a picture that recalled to 

 memory mothers' flower, and with the pic- 

 ture one of an exaggerated hill of arti- 

 chokes. Here is some of the reading matter : 



BIG MONEY GROWING HELIANTI. 



Helianti, the new " Wonder Plant," the great 

 combination vegetable. As a money-maker it's a 

 wonder. Unlike ginseng, you don't have to wait five 

 years for a crop. A very showy flower and a new 

 summer and winter vegetable of phenomenal merit. 

 This new plant produces showy golden-yellow flowers 

 like cosmos blossoms, in endless profusion, and im- 

 mense quantities of fleshy tubers, somewhat after the 

 style of sweet potatoes, that are splendid eating fall, 

 winter, and spring. It stands both heat and cold, and 

 will thrive anywhere in any soil or climate. What 

 would you think of hay, potatoes, asparagus, cauli- 

 flower, oyster-plant, mushrooms, squash, and beauti- 

 ful flowers, all on one plant? 



The Postoffice Department and the De- 

 partment of Agriculture should get after 

 Burgess Seed and Plant Co., Allegan, Mich.. 

 for advertising an old plant under a new 

 name, as something new. The artichoke is 

 really one of the sitnflower (Heliantlius) 

 family. 



" COCOE," THE DASHEEN OF JAMAICA. 

 Dear Mr. Root : — I have been very much interest- 

 ed in your articles in Gleanings about the dasheen. 

 Ever since you first mentioned it I have been won- 

 dering if it is the cocoe we get here. It is grown 

 largely here, and the tuber is one of the principal 

 foods. The " head," or " corms," a.s you call them, 

 are given to pigs, and are used for planting cut up 

 in bits. The young shoots or " buds," as we call 

 them, are used along with " callalue " (a kind of 

 spinach), and piimpkin "buds," in making a soup 

 called "pepper pot." Of course, there is a lot of 

 pepper put in, and other things. 



There are six different kinds of cocoes grown 

 here. These are black and white Commander ; black 

 and white Burban ; Minty and Baddo. The tubers 

 of the first five are eaten, and the first two are the 

 best. The last named, the " head," or corm, is also 

 eaten; but, say, I like it. 



The general way of planting here is, after the 

 land is cleared of bush, holes are dug about one 

 foot by IV^, and 6 inches deep, and one "bit" (cut 

 from the "head") put in and covered. They are 

 generally planted on the side of a hill, and thrive 

 best in gravelly soil. They mature at a year from 

 planting, but can be eaten before, anywhere from 

 eight months. The leaves of the dasheen in the pic- 

 tures in Gleanings are just like the cocoe leaves. 

 The cocoe grows to a good height, according to the 

 soil. No manure is given here, but the land is 

 mulched before planting. After it is planted it is 

 just kept free of weeds — that's all. 



I am sending you a tuber of the Black Command- 

 er under separate cover, as a sample. I hope it will 

 arrive in good order, and that you will like it. This 

 is only a medium-sized tuber. Some are twice this 

 size. 



We are having cool weather here at present, which 

 I think is keeping back the bees from going into the 

 supers and building up generally. Of course I am 

 speaking for this locality only. 



Herbert A. Kolle 



Alma, Brown's Town, Jamaica, B. W. I., Feb. 28. 



My good friend, we are exceedingly 

 obliged to you for the above, and for the 

 cocoe tuber. I cut otf the lower half and 

 baked it as we do the dasheen ; and, al- 

 though it has a slightly different flavor, it 

 is, I judge, fully as good. The top part 

 with the bud, I have planted near tlie Soutli 

 African " Amadumbe," and if this contin- 

 ues I shall soon have dasheen from all over 

 the world. 



