FOOD OF MAN"' STUDIES. 221 



6528. Cassava. (Manihot sp.). This is a plant of the 

 milkweed family, widely grown in the tropics and to some 

 extent in Florida, for the production of starch and also as a food 

 for stock. For these purposes only the roots are used. These 

 are from one to two inches in diameter and from one to four 

 feet in length. They grow in clusters, the roots from a single 

 plant weighing from 5 to 30 pounds, and the yield per acre 

 averaging from five to seven tons.* 



Four small roots were examined, weighing about no grams 

 each. The outer skin, amounting to 4 per cent of the whole, was 

 rejected. 



6530. Cocoanut (Cocos nucifera). This well known fruit 

 needs no description. The single specimen gave the following 

 proportions of shell, meat and milk : 



Shell 1 7S-4 grams 22.53 P er cen ^ 



Meat 441.0' " 56.66 



Milk 162.0 " 20.81 



Only the meat was analyzed. 



6533. Papaya, papaw. {Carica Papaya). The tree is a 

 native of tropical America, but is widely naturalized. The 

 young fruit is cooked and eaten, while the ripe fruit is often 

 eaten raw. According to Bailey, it is also employed as a vermi- 

 fuge and a cosmetic. A remarkable property of the plant is 

 the possession of a proteolytic ferment, capable of converting 

 proteids into soluble forms (proteoses and peptones). Advan- 

 tage is taken of this property in the preparation of meats for 

 the table. The flesh is rolled in the bruised leaves and allowed 

 to stand several hours before cooking, the effect being to make 

 the meat very tender.t 



A single specimen was received, weighing a little over half 

 a pound (277.8 grams). Only 40 per cent of the fruit could 

 be considered edible, nearly 60 per cent being removed as skin 

 and seeds. 



6534-6. Swfft potato. (Ipomoea Batatas). This vege- 

 table is too well known to require a detailed description here. 

 It seems to have been in general use by the aborigines of tropi- 

 cal and subtropical America and its cultivation has been greatly 



* Tracy, Farmers' Bulletin 167, U. S. D. A. 



t Bailey, Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, Vol. II, p. 246. 



