AUGUST 1, 1914 



611 



missionary — see page 471, July 15, 1913. 

 As Bro. Thompson suggests, the potato is 

 by no means " vineless;" in fact, from three 

 small tubers he sent me we have quite a 

 patch, and the vines threatened in April to 

 run all over the garden. In regard to the 

 quality. Mi's. Root thinks it is the finest 

 sweet potato we have ever had, grown in 

 Florida. My only objection would be that 

 it is, if any thing, too " sweet." 



DASHEENS IN FLORIDA. 



We clip the following from the Jackson- 

 ville Times-Union: 



PLANT DASHEENS. 



This is a new name for an old vegetable. For 

 countless ages untold millions have lived on the 

 dasheen. It is the " taro " of South America. It 

 will grow anywhere in the Southland the Irish pota- 

 to grows. It has more protein than the Irish potato 

 has; more starch than cassava (see United States 

 bulletins). At Brooksville, Fla., the United States 

 Government has a large experiment farm where it has 

 given the dasheen a fair trial, and it is a success. 

 It produces from ten to twenty-five tons of tubers per 

 acre. 



From one to two tons of cowlot or barnyard fertil- 

 izer is be.st to produce the largest yield. The dasheen 

 will grow on land so sour that it is worthless for 

 ordinary farming. Water may stand on the ground 

 for days without injury to the plant, provided it is 

 drained when the tubers mature. The tops of the 

 plant resemble the " elephant ear," and grow from 

 four to six feet high, returning a lot of vegetable mat- 

 ter to the soil. 



The dasheen requires a lot of potash to give best 

 results. Plant about January 4 in drills two feet 

 apart in the row. Cut seed and plant just as for 

 Irish potatoes. It takes less cultivation than for the 

 potato. 



It is a great meat-producer. Any food that will 

 fatten meat cheaply will be a boon to the farm. With 

 the dasheen you can utilize the waste swamp and 

 prairie lands, make the waste places furnish meat 

 and other food for the people. Cattle of all kinds 

 are fond of the dasheen. 



It can be cooked and eaten- in any way that the 

 potato can, and in many ways that the potato cannot 

 be utilized. The dasheen has a nutty flavor very 

 pleasing to the palate. The tender tops are good 

 greens. 



Bed out in the sod just as you do sweet potatoes, 

 then cover with four inches of clean white sand, and 

 the shoots are delicious eaten like asparagus. Plant 

 dasheen, kudzu, and Rhodes grass in connection with 

 the other crops, and reduce the cost of living and 

 increase your bank account. The United Statgs will 

 furnish seed and literature free. 



Dr. G. Nelson Davis. 



[We understand dasheens will be dug at Brooks- 

 ville in October. Those who wish to try the culture 

 of this desirable tuber should put in their orders in 

 time, and get seed for spring planting free. The 

 supply is limited.] 



The above is mainly correct, so far as I 

 know, except that part about cutting the 

 seed like Irish potatoes. We have always 

 planted the tubers whole ; but it may be true 

 that cutting in pieces, especially large ones, 

 they would send up shoots like Irish pota- 

 toes. I am now planning to furnish the 

 readers of GtLEANINGS, at least those who 



are paid up (say a year or more ahead) one 

 pound to each applicant who sends the 

 amount of postage. Your postmaster can 

 tell you what amount will be necessary from 

 your locality. The government station at 

 Brooksville, Fla., sends tubers and pays the 

 postage ; but if I am correct they are always 

 behind in filling orders, or have been here- 

 tofore. 



DASHEENS IN CUBA; SOMETHING FROM OUR 

 GOOD OLD FRIEND SOMERFORD. 



This "new vegetable" is known here as melanga, 

 and 71 million Americans in " our 21 southern re- 

 publics " raised and fought on it since their begin- 

 ning. This proves its value above all other " pota- 

 toes," as it is a " tater," and the only one counted 

 on in hot countries where it rains, as it keeps well 

 for three years. Rain daily is the time it grows. 

 Moderately dry weather cuts the crop entirely. It 

 needs much water after it comes up. We have two 

 kinds here — ^yellow and white. The white is prefer- 

 red; and for a solid food for a hard laborer nothing, 

 not even corn meal, can beat dasheen. The new 

 plant is as old as Balboa. 



Have often thought of you, Mr. Root, and our 

 friend Parson Frazier, of Guanajay and the "black 

 beans." W. W. S. 



Candalaria, Cuba, W. I., June 25. 



I sup])ose the above is about right, mak- 

 ing, perhaps, a little allowance for friend 

 Somerford's characteristic ( ?) enthusiasm. 

 But my impression is that the melanga that 

 I saw in Cuba several years ago is not ex- 

 actly the same thing as the dasheen now 

 grown extensively in Florida. At that time 

 I did not understand that the young shoots 

 and the stalk and leaves are in use as a food 

 as well as the tubers. 



Yes, friend Somerford, I often think of 

 Parson Frazier and of his class who were 

 learning to speak English while I was get- 

 ting a little smattering of Spanish. May 

 God bless the dear friends who were just 

 then learning " What a friend we have in 

 Jesus ! " sung in Spanish. I hope they are 

 still growing in grace and wisdom. 



MOTH-BALLS AND SQUASH-BUGS. 



Our friends will remember that I recently 

 mentioned a cheap way of getting rid of 

 squash-bugs on vines. The following, from 

 the Jacksonville Times-Union, gives further 

 Ijroof ol^the efficacy of moth-balls: 



JIOTH-BALLS SAVED SQUASHVINES. 



For several years I had waged a losing fight with 

 the long black squash beetle, and the slender striped 

 harlequin bug, and had lost all my pumpkin and 

 squashvines. When I crumpled a dry leaf, a myriad 

 of little demons would scatter in all directions. 



Last year I had a good stand of squashvines plant- 

 ed in fertilized soil among the potatoes. One day a 

 visitor and myself went over all the vines, turning 

 up every leaf and destroying both bugs and eggs. 

 Dropping otf to play " possum " on the ground did 

 not help them. W^e made a clean sweep of the bugs, 

 and I forget how many hundreds were killed that 

 day. Then I got a bag of moth-balls and laid them 

 at close intervals along each vine under the thickest 



