Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-21
MEMBERS MARSHALL
THE FOOD OF THE TROPICS
EXPERIMENTS PROVE VALUE
OF THE AR0IDs TO AMERICA.
Root Crop Comparable to Potatoes.
Yield Enormous-Called
Tropic staff Of Life.
From the Los Angeles Times.

From the Los Angeles Times.
When Americans learn to eat the
food of the tropics they may live on
five cents day. That men may live
at this cost and maintain health and
vigor is proven by the fact that mill
lions are doing it today. That one OF
the cheap foods upon which they thrive
may be grown throughout the southern
half of the United States is among the
new revelations of the Department Of
Agriculture. That it will stand ship
ment to. the balance Of the country
is also shown.
A ton and a half Of this food was
last year harvested from a sixth Of an
acre in South Carolina It will this
year there will be plants for distribu-
ton to wide circle of experimenters.
The plants THAT make this cheap liv-
ing. possible in the tropics are the
aroids. one representative OF which is
the elephants ear with which Amer.
leans are familiar as an ornamental
plant. 1t is one OF these arolds when
Yields the poi Of the Hawaiians: the
the Panamans. Yautias. dasheens and
various other plants somewhat widely
known belong to the same family.
which is called by a. hundred different
Roughly. they are all aroids; They
grow in abundance in Central Amer
lea. South America, the West ~ Indies Lies
waiian Islands. Japan. China. In all
these countries the natives plant them
crudely in damp places and reap
for eating in hundred ways. They
are toothsome, nourishing. economical
They far surpass many Of the expensive
foods of this country. and have much
that recommends them to the entire
world.
Grow Like Potatoes.
The aroids are root crops. They are
more nearly comparable with potatoes
than, with anything else we know. The
tubers grow in clusters on the roots of
the plant They are often larger than
ones sfist and are covered with q some
what rough skin. This may, however,
easily be removed or it may be left on
until after cooking. The tubers may De
baked or boiled or fried: Baking is
probably the best method of cooking
them They may be mashed and pre-
pared with milk or butter or eggs.
There are great numbers OF ways OF
preparing them, the detail of which is
unnecessary until they are procurable.
the plantations of the tropics and no
meal is complete without them.
These aroids will grow wherever the
elephants ear flourishes. but too FAR
north Will not COHle W IudIuiieS. nv
are many varieties, and some OF these
flourish much farther north than others
The aroids are wet land plants. They
thrive on lowlands that are much flood
ed, provided the water does not stagnate
on them. Their favorite conditions are
those under which potatoes would not
thrive Some varieties grow well under
conditions suitable for rice. There are
In the south millions of acres that are
lying idle because they are too wet, and
some of these great areas would be ideal
lands upon which to grow the aroids.
They require little cultivation as com.
pared with other crops. 1t is because OF
this small labor demand that the crop
has always been SO popular in the trop-
les where men are not given to over
exertion.