The Planters' banner. [volume] (Franklin, Attakapas Co., Lou.) 1849-1872, 1871-02-01
The Tanyah.
(CALLADIUM EsCULENTUM.)


~ From Our Home Journal
This remarkable plant merits the favora-
ble attention of every Southern planter.
farmer and horticu!turalist. Although it
has been long known and highly apprecia-
ted along the coasts Of South Carolina and
Georgis, 1 have met with few persons in this
State who had ever heard of it. My own
experience in the use of it extends through
about thirteen years, bu; it was during the
late war. when all the necesseries of life
were procured with difficulty, that its true
character became fully developed. During
that time the ingenuity of our wives were
exercised in devising dishes which were not
merely palateable and nutricious to the
healthy and robust, but also appetizing aud
tempting to the most carricious and fastid-
iOus stomachs. Prominent among these
stoood the Tanyah. in its pro;ean forms Of
batter cakes, fritters, custards. pies and
puddings. rivaling the famous English plum;
in short. it Was substitute for all our for
mer luxuries. and formed such an attach
ment for it that can never tire Of speaking
its praises.
will now proceed to give brief descrip-
tion of the plant. and lis proper cultivation
and use: 1t il bulbous root, with leaf stock.
sp-inging from the root and rising to
the h light of from three to eight feet on
rich soil. and these stalks are surmounted by
leaves varying from one to four feet long
and from Oue-to -to-thrA0 feet wide. The
flower stock or scope is also radical and sup
ports flower which is a epathe, from ten
inches to foot long. encioses spadix iron
| five TO six inches lcng. and taking the stock
leaves and flowers altogether. they form a
most beautiful spectacle; so much 50 tina
no stranger on first seeing them can pas:
without inquiring what they are. Th'
large bulbs, when dug and washed, resen
BILE q cocOannt. but many OF th-m arr
larger. and weigh from half apound to fou
or Ave pounds. They are frmer in coasis
tence than the potato. turnip or beet, ant
| keep better than either, as they may b'
kept in the ground all winter by thrasins !
furrow with plow over on each side SO "a
| 10 cover the crown. or they may be piled ii
the patch, and be covered with a depth q
three 10 six inches Of Garth. according 4
the degree of latitude. This is merely +
keep ihein from freezing, as the Iains u
winter do not injure them.
The small buds or Offshoots must be plant
red, aud they in turn form the parent bulb
which soon mature and throw out oIshoots
anf: these form heads or bulbs which il tur
throw off shoots. aud thus a large stool
! formed which by the time the frost kills th
tops, will make peck or more Of roots
the Hill! The hills should be planted tw
!. feet apart in the row and the rows on rici
kaluviai coil, should be about six feet apar
One g,eat advantage which they possess
that they grow on low spots that are too ",
, for, corn or cotton, and they flourish best
those places. not that they require such sol
: out their endurance of water causrs them
stand through All overflow. and after tt
water goes down they grow rapidly. Q
) uplund they should be planted down in I!
niddies. after the bed il formed and covert
.i,h four burrows. After they are ~. l.,