THE SWEET POTATO IN HAWAII. 
15 
infected, notwithstanding its receiving every precaution to make it 
disease free, it should be allowed to lie fallow for a year or two and 
then be planted with about 20 varieties of sweet potatoes. Selection 
should then be made for future planting from the varieties appearing 
healthy and producing luxuriant foliage and good crops of sound 
roots. 
VARIETIES OF SWEET POTATOES IN HAWAII. 
Approximately 70 distinct varieties of sweet potatoes having 
Hawaiian names are known to the native growers, and fully 200 
others are either unnamed or bear English names. 4 Many of these 
varieties are undoubtedly cultivated elsewhere under different names. 
For practical and commercial purposes the following listed varieties 
are recommended for table use and for feeding to live stock : 
Varieties of sweet potatoes which are adapted for both human consumption and for live- 
stock feeding. 1 
Varieties. 
Color of skin. 
Color of flesh. 
Early maturing: 
Delicious Yellow 
Purplish pink 
Pumpkin. 
Orange. 
Light yellow. 
White. 
do 
Medium earlv maturing: 
No. 111-A 
White 
do 
Light yellow. 
White. 
Native Red 
Red 
Straw 
Pumpkin. 
Light cream. 
Cream. 
Light yellow. 
Late maturing: 
Dark buff 
Tantalus 
Light brown 
White 
1 The late-maturing varieties are especially recommended for live-stock feeding because they are prolific 
bearers, and good keepers, and contain a high percentage of starch. 
A great variety of potatoes is needed in Hawaii to meet the demands 
of the cosmopolitan population. The occidental population in 
Hawaii prefers sweet potatoes having orange or pumpkin-colored 
flesh, while the oriental population prefers a red-skinned variety 
having flesh varying from white to canary in color. 
COMPOSITION OF THE SWEET POTATO. 
Sweet potatoes vary considerably in chemical composition ac- 
cording to the variety and the place where they are grown. The 
follow r ing table gives a comparison of the sweet potato with other 
starchy crops: 
Relative value of the sweet potato and other starchy root crops. a 
Crop. 
Sweet potato (whole). 
Sweet potato (peeled). 
Sweet potato (peeling) 
Cassava (whole) 
Taro (whole) 
Potato (whole) b 
Water. 
Ash. 
Crude 
protein. 
Carbo- 
hydrates. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Percent. 
Per cent. 
68.89 
0.90 
2.12 
27.83 
68.50 
.94 
2.18 
28.18 
74. 35 
.31 
1.29 
21.96 
64.17 
.86 
.77 
32.61 
60.55 
.73 
1.10 
37.49 
78.30 
1.00 
2.20 
18.50 
Fat. 
Per cent. 
0.25 
.20 
1.03 
1.59 
.13 
.13 
a Practically compiled from Hawaii Sta. Press Bui. 53. 
t> Unpublished analysis made by the Hawaii Experiment Station. 
* Sweet -potato breeding has been carried on by the experiment station since 1917, since which time mora 
than 700 seedlings have been produced. 
