MAY 15, 1914 



dollar. Not one had rotted. One corm, after all the 

 tubers, roots, and dirt had been separated from it, 

 weighed one pound and 15 ounces. The corms kept 

 as well as tlie fresh or young tubers. 



My reason for calling your attention to this is 

 because you mentioned the fact that the corms were 

 not so easy to keep as the young tubers. Of course 

 my hill was protected from the rain, and the dirt was 

 thick enough to keep out frost. Lowest tempera- 

 ture this winter was 16 F. The sap had never left 

 these plants, and most of them had strong new 

 sprouts and roots to them, so that they are ready to 

 go right to growing in the pots where they were 

 placed. And, by the way, I am debtor to you for 

 the idea of starting them in pots. My pots are 

 heavy manilla paper sacks, which I expect to peel 

 off and set the rooted plant, dirt and all, in the open 

 ground about May 1. 



Pell City, Ala., March 17. Bays D. Carter. 



My good friend, we are exceedingly 

 obliged to you. The above demonstrates 

 that, with a little care and pains, the dash- 

 een may be kept with little trouble so it will 

 be available for food every day in the year ; 

 and, more than that, tubers kept in this way 

 will start out with wonderful vigor, and in 

 good soil ought to make plants as high as 

 your head before frost comes again. I am 

 l^leased, also, to note that you have succeed- 

 ed already in getting corms weighing close 

 to two pounds, and that even the corms 

 went through the winter without any loss. 



Just now one of my good friends said in 

 one of his kind letters he hoped I would let 

 up a little in regard to dasheen. All right. 

 The dasheens are planted and growing tine- 

 \y, and we will now talk about sesame for 

 people and chickens. Another of God's un- 

 noticed gifts. 



" SESAME " — THE NEW FOOD PLANT ; SEE 

 PAGE 239, MARCH 15. 



After getting the seeds from South Africa 

 they were planted at once, but for some 

 reason none came up. Later I found the 

 plant already growing in Florida, and suc- 

 ceeded in getting a few seeds which Avere 

 planted and came up very promptly. When 

 I left Florida, about the last day of April, 

 they were up so as to show the second leaves. 

 Here is something from the West Indies in 

 regard to the same plant : 



Permit me to say to Mr. Root that I grow sesame, 

 and have been selling quite a lot by mail to nearly 

 all the SoutUern States — mostly in ounce packets at 

 10 cents. The sale was brought about by a letter 

 from myself to the Southern Ruralist of Feb. 15, 

 describing the seed and some of its uses, I am out 

 of seed now, except for planting, but will be ready 

 with more in about four months. 



John M. Brewer. 



Columbia, Isle of Pines, West Indies, April 20. 



Later. — After the above was dictated I 

 ran across the following, which I extract 

 from the Florida Grower; and from what I 

 know of it I have no doubt that these little 

 seeds will be the nicest things in the world 



399 



for little chicks. Some years ago we pur- 

 chased some French bread — I think they 

 called it French — that was very highly rec- 

 ommended, and all over the glossy surface 

 of this bread were some little seeds that 

 gave the bread a peculiar and (to me) very 

 enticing flavor. From what follows below I 

 think that, without question, these little 

 seeds were sesame. Now read the following : 



Of all known plants the magicians have selected 

 one, the sesame, or bene, as their own. Presto, 

 change! Open, sesame I These words are known 

 wherever the magician plays his art. It is simply a 

 transformation ; he uses the first incantation ; but if 

 from some closed or hidden source is to proceed some 

 " marvel, as a white rabbit from your hat, or a twenty- 

 dollar gold coin from your empty pocket, in all such 

 cases he says, " Open, sesame 1 " But how many of 

 us know why he says so ? 



The sesame is an oriental plant. India largely 

 supplies Europe with the seed, which go mostly when 

 compressed into sesame oil. China exports thousands 

 of tons to America, which all Germans and Greeks 

 especially are fond of, whether eaten like peanuts or 

 put into bread, cake, candies, or sausages. The 

 seeds are small, somewhat like tomato seed, and are 

 rich, nutty, and oily in their taste. Each plant, about 

 five feet high and widely branched, produces 25,000 

 to 30,000 seeds. The leaves have medical virtues, 

 and, though not disagreeable to the taste, the plant 

 is never eaten by cattle. 



The plant is the greatest known attractor and 

 feeder of birds in fields, parks, and game preserves. 

 The game preserves about my home here at Augusta, 

 Ga., have had finest results from sesame. It is 

 equally good about the home- for birds, poultry, or 

 little chicks. Doves and quail are exceedingly fond 

 of it, and it serves as a great attraction for them. 

 It is an annual — grows anywhere. When regularly 

 planted in fields, plant 3 % x 2 feet, 5 pounds to the 

 acre, in June, and it ripens in about 100 days — 

 ripens as far uoTth as Kansas or Missouri. One acre 

 makes from 1000 to 1500 pounds of seed. 



The five or six branches of the plant are loaded 

 with pods, and th^re are fifty or more seed to the 

 pod, which lie over and on top of one another. These 

 pods are about l^/i inches long, and have three or 

 four seed-chambers. 



The magician comes in just here. The ripened 

 pods have a queer, quite magical way of suddenly 

 bursting and sending out in all directions showers 

 of seed. The force of the explosion sends this mist 

 of seed to quite a good distance. In the dry August 

 and September days these explosions are incessant. 

 One who sees them well understands why the world's 

 magicians have so long and so exclusively claimed 

 this plant as their own. 



N. L. W^ILLET. 



Editor's Note. — Sesamum Indicum, to which our 

 correspondent refers, has been extensively cultivated 

 in Asia and Africa since times immemorial. Sesame 

 oil, extracted from the seed, known in India as "til," 

 is used for the same purposes as olive oil, and, al- 

 though less widely known by name, is commercially 

 a much more important oil. The leaves are used 

 medicinally in cases of dysentery and diarrhea in 

 children, and the soot obtained from the burning oil 

 constitutes one of the ingredients in India or China 

 ink. Large quantities of oil and seed are imported 

 into Europe from Asia for the manufacture of soap 

 and adulteration of olive oil. This plant might be 

 cultivated with advantage in South Florida. 



If the sesame makes as interesting a breakfast 

 food as is described it ought to be very useful to 

 Florida folks, and I am quite anxious for the sum- 

 mer rains to get here so that I may plant the seed 

 for which I have sent. Judging from the descrip- 



