Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-10-04

America, and be many ways, and
be raised with little difficulty that it prom
within few years to become of the staple
food articles the country. At a recent banquet
of the National Geographical society, held in wash
ington, the dasheen was given prominent place upon
the and highly commended by those in at
tendance 1t IS being raised in considerable
quantities far north the Carolinas' although IL
is in Florida that it has achieved its highest success
since half connected with the Brookve exper-
iment station in that state last year yielded 225
bushels of. dasheens. 1t is believed that there ere
thousands land in the southern states
which be utilized in dasheen cultivation, thus
adding materially to the supply of the nation
The tuber natures in August or September, or even
later in Of the states, and in the localities I'M
affected by frost may be left in the ground without
injury during the winter months.
appearance the dasheen plant is similar to the
elephant ear caladium which is widely Guilt
waited ornamental plant. Its tubers are also
similar to that of the caladfum and they grow IN
large clusters beneath the ground Some OF these
tubers much six inches in diameter al
though they will doubtless vary much in size as
the ordinary Irish potato The flesh of the tuoer
is similar to that of the potato when cooked al
though it is apt be somewhat gray or violet IN
color. The department of agriculture has already
formulated recipes for cooking the dasheen and these
directions are practically the as for cooking
potatoes since they boiled, baked, stuffed fried
The taste of the cooked dasheen is SIM
liar to that of boiled chestnuts.
While the auber is the most important part of the
dasheen food supply it is not the only utilized
The entire plant is edible and highly palatable Ihe
leaves are succulent and when cooked as spinach
form excellent greens, and the flower which Is yer
most
leaf stalks and shoots, which are grown by piae
the tubers in dark place and allowing them 10
sprout said by epicures to be vastly superior 70
asparagus in flavor and are totally lacking IN 'he
fibrous quality which often Objectionable in aspar-
agus
The efforts of the department of agriculture to
broaden the list of plant foods require the services
plant experts who all parts he
world in quest of dainties to add to the
for the American palate. From Japan and China,
well as from Turkey, Africa AID South America, new
plants are constantly coming which the American
experiment. stations testing with view to plac-
ing them upon the food markets of the country.
A salad plant which has lately been tried sat
isfactorily in the New York market and is already
becoming well known in California is the Japanese
"udo' which is grown in a similar to aspara,
gus and be easily forced for the winter market
AS a salad udo has been commended by the chefs
of of the leading hotels in New York. 1t has
also received great favor vegetable So far it as
produced in commercial quantities. it takes
years of education to popularize food, but one
truck farmer in California has this year planted Cor
ty of udo with the intention of growing it for
the eastern market
It is quite within the memory of most people
when bananas began to be popular fruit. To
people the taste for them had to be cultivated, al
though their introduction has become
plee that they threaten in popularity the peaches
pears and apples which are native to the country.
In the the department of agriculture ex-
poets to popularize the avocado, alligator pear,
which within the last five years has made its ap-
pearance upon the market of every city of size
annexation of tropical territory to this country
added the variety of food supply, and the
economic advantage of utilizing these foods is
apparent to any
In Hawaii the cultivation of the avocado has been
undertaken in scientific by the experiment
station that it's advantages established to
those familiar with it. before the attachment of
Porto Rico and even OF the5 Panama zone. Now
it is becoming quite extensively cultivated both in
Florida and southern California that the supply
is each year becoming greater although is not vet
sufficient to make the price low enough for popular
demand There are stories told of fabulous prices
still being paid for the fruit a single avocado
tree 1t has one disadvantage however, which the
experiments of the department of agriculture are
working to overcome. The fruit does not ship WELL
chiefly because the seed is large hard and
rather loose inside. In the shipment seed sre-
quently becomes entirely free from the fibers re-
strainng it and rolls around. bruising the
flesh of the fruit that becomes rancid
dark To make a satisfactory commercial product,
the fruit should have smaller seed tightly St
tached, and it is believed that this will be
achieved by those engaged in its cultivation