The Florida agriculturist., 1908-02-01

A valued subscriber sends us an
interesting article prepared by DR..
Charles B. Cooper, of Hawaii, re-
garding a plant which is quite COM
mon in Florida, from which the toll
lowing is extracted, the entire paper
being little too professional tor
The Agriculturist:
Taro, botanically known as colo
casia, antiquorum esculentum, IS
perennial plant from one to three feet
high, with heart-shaped peltate leaves
and large heshy rootstocks.
From remote antiquity taro has
furnished an important item OF the
food supply of the nations of south
ern India, Australia, portions Of Atr1-
ca and many of the islands OF the
Pacific, and is today one Of the plants
most commonly cultivated through
out the Tropics. The taro cultivated
for food may be one of a number of
the genus colocasia, there being no
less than forty-flve separate strains
known to the Hawaiian people:
Chinese literature makes mention OF
this plant as far back as 100 B. I.
The chief food Of the native Ha-
waiian is still, as it has been from
time immemorial, poi, a fermented
paste prepared from the farlnaceous
tubers Of the tarO.
Foreign residents also make extern
sive use of the taro root and it can
be prepared in a great variety of
ways to make most appetizing and
nutritious dishes for the daily bill Of
fare. The leaves Of the young plant
when cooked as spinach are very de-
licious, rivalllng that palatable dish.
The dry-land taros Of which there
are many varieties, generally require
two years to reach maturity; while
the. wet-land varieties mature IN
twelve or fourteen months and are
depended on chiefly for the poi sup
ply.
Taro is cultivated in patches of
varying Sizes Each patch is sur-
rounded by a dyke containing open
ings admitting water and allowing its
exit. These patches are extremely
irregular and depend on the contour
- of the land both as to size and shape.
A. valley containing one or two
square miles will have, perhaps, two
hundred taro patches Or fields, and
hardly two of them will be alike in
size or shape. Before planting the
taro the water is allowed to drain
off the fields; the ground is then
dug up or plowed up and fertilized.
The taro plant feeds heavily on
phosphoric acid and potash, and re-
moves a large amount of these ele-
ments from the SOIL 1t is essential
to add lime to the soil from time
to time and this dressing is applied
after the removal Of the crop, when
the. soil should then be thoroughly
mixed and left bare for several weeks.
The taro plant does not absorb fer
tillzers from the water except through
it's roots, and as it's roots are in the
soil beneath the main body of water,
even though a large amount of solu
bic fertilizer is added to the irriga-
ton water only a comparatively small
portion will be absorbed by the mud
at the bottom of the patch and in
TURN be taken up by the roots. Land
taro or taro grown without irrigation
makes excellent poi, and does not
seem as readily affected with the root
rot as that grown under irrigation.
The land suitable for the cu1tiva-
t1on of the water taro, the variety
which is principally grown, is a rich,
deep, muck soil, bordering the
streams, or occupying the lowest por-
tion of the valleys extending back
into the mountains. Land to be
capable Of growing taro must have