The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1890-01-08
Planting Cassava.
w PheJDs. Sanford. FIOrida:

You have been recommended to me by
Hon. L. B. Wombwell, Commissioner
of Agriculture of Florida, as a gentleman
that would be able to inform me as to
the merits ofcassava. Ihave seen livery
highly extolled in the newspapers as being
the very article for poor man to raise.
have entered homestead, built me
house, cleared one and One-half acres OF
land, and it leaves me just as poor
"cuss" as there is in West Florida.
Therefore [ have got to get me a start of
seed adapted to this climate, as reasona-
BILE as possible. The commissioner kind
ly sent me lot of garden seed. What
does cassava look like? How is it plant
ed? How is it cultivated? How does it
look growing? How much seed does it
take to the acre? How is it prepared for
the table? How and where can | get
enough seed to get start of it as cheap
as will compOrt with the limited finances
of the aforesaid ''cuss?" Let me hear
from you at your earliest convenience. Ifit
is good for hogs maybe it will make my
'razor backs" thick enough for me to see
them endways. CHARLES R. WEBER.
/ Holt Santa Rosa Co., Fla.
The above letter was referred to us for
answering, and although the same ground
has been gone over before, we will repeat
the information, as we have added many
new subscribers to our list within the
past three weeks.
We have seen very few newspaper arti-
cles that extoled cassava one whit too
high, except in case where one enthusi-
asst figured the production of an acre
from the yield of few hills that were ia
vorably located.
The valuable part of the cassava is it's
roots, which grow from one to four feet
in leng tn, and arefrOm one 10 four inches
in diameter. The raw root has flavor
similar to chestnuts. 1t is prOpaGated
| by planting pieces of the stalk from four
to six inches long, according to the num-
Der OF eyes, and should be planted AKA
feet; this will give 2.722 hills to the acre.
Allowing four inches of stalk, Or cane, to
each hill, it would require little less than
1000 feet to plant an acre. The cane
from one hill will plant twenty to fifty, if
properly cared for. The canes should be
buried with the top about one inch from
the surface. After it comes up it can be
cultivated the same as corn. but after
the large roots begin to form the cultiva-
ton should be very shallow. @ ssava,
like eve rything else, yields in compari-
son to the attention and fertilizer given
it. For stock the roots are dug as want
ed, was led, sliced and fed raw. For the
table it is cooked the same as Irish po
tatoes, with the exception that a spoon
full of vinegar is added to the water in
which it is boiled. Our ADVERT ing col
umns will give soon the addresses ofthose
who are able to furnish seed cane,
There is nothing grown in Florida for
hogs that will yield better returns than
cassava. Mr.. Baily, of Glen St. Mary,
Fla. says that he fattened twenty hogs
on one acre of cassava, and their meat
was firmer and better than any corn-fed
hogs he ever saw, and had nutty flavor
peculiar to hogs raised in countries
where nuts are plentiful. There is moth
ing SO productive in Florida, and which
can be used so many differ ent ways, as
cassava, and yet the area planted is very
small.
o-I No4o1ooa,,on D