HAWAII AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 
HONOLULU, HAWAII 
Under the supervision of the 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN NO. 57 
Washington, D. C. 
April, 1928 
EDIBLE CANNA IN THE WAIMEA DISTRICT OF 
HAWAII 
By J. C. Ripperton, Chemist, and R. A. Goff, Extension Agent for the Island of 
Hawaii 
CONTENTS 
Introduction 1 
The Waimea district 2 
Climate 2 
Soils 5 
Agricultural retrospect 6 
Adaptation of edible canna 7 
Field practices 7 
Windbreaks 9 
Experiments with edible canna.- 11 
Methods of investigation . 11 
Application of methods 12 
Results of genealogization - 13 
Page 
Experiments with edible canna (Continued). 
Selection of rootstocks for "seed" 14 
Treatment of "seed" 19 
Depth of planting 22 
Number of "seed" per hill 23 
Spacing and mulching with canna tops.. 24 
Fertilizers 24 
Time of harvesting 25 
Feed and fertilizer value 35 
Manufacture of starch 38 
Summary 40 
Literature cited 41 
INTRODUCTION 
The farmers of Hawaii have at different times attempted to pro- 
duce starch from the root crops of cassava, sweet potatoes, and taro. 
None of these attempts, however, proceeded any further than to 
meet the needs of a small local demand. Tree-fern starch was manu- 
factured on a small scale on the island of Hawaii in 1920, but the in- 
dustry was abandoned two years later because of the high cost of 
securing the raw material from the forests and the very slow rate of 
growth of the trees, which makes it impracticable to replant cut- 
over areas (8, pp. 7-9)} 
The remarkable growth of small plantings of edible canna {Canna 
edulis) at Waimea, Hawaii, led to a fertilizer experiment with the 
crop in the Homestead tract in that region in 1923. Since then 
experiments totaling 15 acres have been carried on in cooperation 
with a private starch-manufacturing concern. The homesteaders 
of the district have shown considerable interestTin the development 
of the edible canna, devoting approximately 125 acres to their first 
crop. 2 A starch mill was erected at Waimea in October, 1925, manu- 
» Reference is made by numbers (italic) to "Literature cited." p. 41. 
i The writers wish to thank the Waimea Starch Co. for its generous cooperation and help in making pos- 
sible the experiments reported upon. 
83065—28 1 
