Z BULLETIN 57, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
facture of the commercial product was begun in March, 1926, and the 
starch appeared on the local markets shortly afterwards. 
The data presented in this bulletin represent largely the results of 
field experiments with edible canna at Waimea. 
THE WAIMEA DISTRICT 
The Waimea district (fig. 1), comprising an area of approximately 
15 miles square, is a slightly rolling table-land lying 2,600 to 2,700 
feet above sea level. The plateau is volcanic in origin, the surface 
being a mixture of disintegrated lava, pumice, and ash. The ash 
extends to a depth of 2 to 3 feet in some places, and small outcroppings 
of partially intact lava flows occur in others. That part of the dis- 
trict in which the Homestead tract is located is the only part devoted 
Fig. 1.— General view of the Waimea district. Foreground, a section of the homesteads; background, 
Mauna Kea 
to agriculture at present, lies close to the foothills of the Kohala 
Range, and is overlain to. some extent by the wash from the mountains. 
The growth of the dense forest which covered the plains 40 or 50 
years ago is said to have been destroyed by fires and cattle, and the 
light, fluffy surface soil to have been carried by the constantly recur- 
ring strong winds from the plains to the lee of the Kohala Mountains 
in the Kawaihae district. This fact probably accounts for the poor 
growth made in the central part of the plains by range grasses which 
grow luxuriantly at the base of the mountains. 
CLIMATE 
The climate of the Waimea district is influenced by its location 
between two comparatively high mountains. The height of Mauna 
Kea^ (13,825 feet) deflects the normal northeast trade winds along 
the lower Hamakua district toward the Waimea pass, where, at 
