The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-02-04
THE ROOT ROT or TARo.

when a stranger in Ireland MACS
some MN on the word potato.
the angry Irishman replied that 70
+atoes was too SPURIOUS matter to joke
about" The Kanaka, also, would see
a lack of refinement and propriety II
any joke about taro.
Prof. T. F. Sedgwick has published
under the supervision of the expert
ment station, of which Prof. Jared Or
Smith has charge, most VaIuaDIe
monograph on the diseases of the taro'
especialIy that called the rot. II is
the first article published which scien-
tifcally treats of the diseases which
threaten this important food of the ma
tiyes. and of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. here who
have wisely discovered its great value.
1t is one of the evidences of the value
of annexation that it has placed here
men who are thoroughly capable OF
treating our agricultural problems, es-
pecially those which are not connected
with sugar production. We are, and
must be, always in the agony of de-
pending on the "single string industry
of sugar making, until other agricul-
turaI resources are developed. AS a
monarchy We did nothing. But the
strong breath of republican energy is
now upon US, and breathes into us the
air of new life on the soil.
1t is not necessary here to discuss
Prof. Sedgwick's valuable paper. 1t
should be read by those who take any
interest in the matter. It's pages are
well illustrated. The experiments made
in determining the nature and cure
of the rot are extremely practical
and far more intelligently made than
If made by the hard working farmer"
who has no aptitude for such investi-
cation. Prof. Sedgwick seems to have
reached one conclusion of great value.
That is, that the taro plant does best
and is usually free from the rot in run
ming water. The natives use water,
but not in a manner to place all the
plants in active water. Tt is quite pos
sible that the methods of irrigation
plant with the running stream.
Very little has been hitherto done in
the fertilization Of the taro patches.
The same soil has been used. in many
cases, for more than a quarter of al
century. The extreme backwardness Of,
its cultivation is due to the fact that
only natives and Asiatics have been
engaged in it.
have an important serious effect on the
native diet. The very fact that the SUI
perb physical races of Polynesia have
grown up on taro and poi is the best
races without dyspepsia, entire COM
munities without nervous prostration
AT a time of life when so many of the
Teutonic race are buried in sanitariums
for treatment, Christian Science is ex-
tending its domain of grotesque illu-
sion, and the "pathics" are securing the
earth for remedies, here are and have,
been these dark races rioting in the
The high price of this article is driv-
ing the people to use -four in the form,
OF poi, mixed with the taro. 1t is said
that the natives like it, 1t is natural
enough that they should acquire a taste
for the mixture. No one will claim
that the mixture is not good and whole
some food. But it may not produce the
good effects of the plain poi
1t seems to be now well settled by
long experience that the taro is excel
lent food for the white man in the
tropics. For children it is nearly per-
feet food. But the white man is gradu-
ally abandoning its use and SUBSTITUTE
ing the foods of the temperate zone.
From hygienic point of view this is an
error, but the white man prefers yet
to ''eat and drink and die" rather than
restrain his appetite and promote his
best health. A pessimist lately said
that with the plague has come the pie
into this Paradise. The early mission
aries were ravenously fond of pies, but
the were constrained to forego such
expensive food, and lived on taro, with {
benefit to themselves and their de- I
scendants.
-%-
Evidently the lady in the recent
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