LAND AND OTHER AGENTS OF PRODUCTION 157 



43. UTILIZING PLANTS OF HIGH WATER REQUIREMENTS 1 

 BY O. W. BARRETT 



For many years the lack of a wet-land root crop has been felt 

 throughout the South Atlantic and Gulf states. There is a vast area 

 of semicultivated or uncultivated land in these sections which is too 

 wet to admit of the cultivation of general crops. Some 40,000 acres 

 in the Carolinas and Georgia have been fully abandoned, and at least 

 half as much ground is only planted once in two to four years on 

 account of the decreased profits in rice culture in that region. As a 

 result, efforts have been made to find profitable crops which may be 

 grown in the rich soils of the coast-plain area of both of the sections 

 mentioned which are too wet for profitable potato culture. The 

 recent interest in starch roots, which may be utilized in the produc- 

 tion of alcohol as well as for stock feeding, has lent a still greater 

 importance to this question. 



There are four types of root crops known as aroids, namely, 

 yautias, alocasias, dasheens, and taros, which promise much 

 in this direction. Though they have been cultivated in the tropics 

 for centuries, they are practically new to the agriculturists of America. 

 However, their crop season is sufficiently short to allow of their 

 maturing in ordinary seasons before the advent of killing frosts. 



Many of the varieties are of use as salad plants, though the prime 

 object, especially of the yautia and dasheen varieties, is the production 

 of starch. The tubers of many varieties are suitable for table use, 

 and the roots of nearly all forms may be used as stock food, either 

 fresh or when ground into meal. Those which produce small but 

 numerous tubers are particularly adapted for the production of 

 alcohol. 



These crops require only a moderate amount of attention, ferti- 

 lizers are seldom required, and insect and fungous pests are com- 

 paratively few. Yields are heavy, in some cases two to four times 

 the average yield for potatoes. Finally, they are adapted to soils too 

 wet for other root crops, such as sweet potatoes and cassava. 



NOTE. Some other writers are less enthusiastic concerning the 

 possibilities of the aroids. Whatever the event may prove, they 

 represent a significant line of experiment in the utilization of wet lands. 

 The newspapers reported last season that flour was being milled from 



1 Adapted from "Promising Root Crops for the South," Bulletin 164, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, -pp. 7-8, 28-29. 



