170 
or boiled. Few persons have to acquire the taste for them when 
they are properly cooked and served. Children become par- 
ticularly fond of them, usually preferring them to potatoes. The 
subject of the preparation of this vegetable is treated rather fully 
in a paper on the dasheen published as a part of circular No. 127, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S$. Department of Agriculture, 
which may be obtained by addressing the Department. It may 
slight modification, the same as for the potato. The Trinidad 
dasheen requires no longer cooking than does the potato, as the 
corms and tubers are free from the acrid principle which in such 
varieties as the ie of the South Atlantic states, necessitates 
very long co 
The nutrient es in the dasheen are in about the same 
relative proportions as in the Irish potato but as the former 
contains much less water, the percentages of protein and other 
elements are approximately one half greater than in the potato. 
Wherever dasheens or other aroids are grown they are considered 
to be much more easily digested than potatoes and most other 
starchy foods. In the Hawaiian Islands, taro in the form of poi 
is prescribed by physicians regularly for their patients when 
there is any disturbance of the digestive syst 
Aside from its use as a vegetable the fe is dried and 
ground into flour. A very satisfactory flour has been made 
from dasheens grown in Florida, and in the opinion of some the 
use of the flour will ultimately greatly exceed that of the fresh 
tuber. The tubers have also been successfully shredded, or 
sliced, and dried for later use 
other aveaas derived sath the dasheen is the blanched 
ca secured from the large corms by forcing them in a dark 
ened chamber. nee was done on a small scale at a reen- 
houses of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and 
later on a much larger scale at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, 
Baile Gack Michig The shoots are very tender and have 
a delicate flavor, oe of mushrooms. 
The young leaves and stems of dasheen plants growing in the 
field are also used for food, the former, when properly cooked, 
