El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-03
wy AsHINGTON. D. C., Oct. d
M For a number of years the de-

states as the potato is in the north.
The potato crop in the southern states
comes early and is practically over by
| July or August and the climate IS so
! warm that 1t cannot be kept through
| out the year. Consequently. the SOUTH
| eTn menu is apt to depend too much
! upon corn pone and bacon 1t Is now
| thought, however, that the cultivation
of the dasheen will solve the difficulty
| and already it has become known IA
| vorably in a number of the larger no.
| tells to which it has been sent from the
| government experiment stations where
for several years it has been cultivated
I assiduously-
The dasheen is a vegetable brought
! from the tropics, being native especial
! ly to Central America and it can be
used in so many ways. and can be
| raised with so little difficulty, that it
/ promises within few years TO become
+ one of the staple food articles of the
/ country. At recent banquet of the
/ National Geographical society, held in
! Washington the dasheen was given a
/ prominent place upon the menu and
was highly commended by those in at
/ tendance. 1t is now being raised in
! considerable quantities as far north as
} that it has achieved its highest success,
! since a half acre connected with the
! BrOOkVille experiment station in that
/ state last year yielded 225 bushels Of
I thousands of acres of wet land in the
Southern states which can be utilized
| in dasheen cultivation, thus adding ma
! terially to the food supply of the. ma
! ton. The tuber natures in August or
September, or even later in some Of
( the states and in the localities unaf-
fected by frost may. be left in the
l ground without injury during the win
/ ter months.
similar to elephant Ear"
In aDOea "a nee the dasheeu DIapf &
similar to the elephant ear or caIadium
which is so widely cultivated as an or
namental plant. Its tubers are also
I similar to that Of the caladium and
they grow in large clusters beneath the
ground. Some of these tubers are as
much as six inches in diameter, al
I though they will doubtless vary as
much in size as the ordinary Irish pO-
tato. The flesh of the tuber is similar
to that Of the potato when cooked, al
! though it is apt to be somewhat gray
or violet in color. The department Of
agriculture has already formulate re-
cipes for cooking the dasheen and
these directions are practically the
same as for cooking potatoes, since
they are boiled. baked. stuffed, fried
or creamed- The taste of the cooked
dasheen is similar to that of boiled
chestnuts.
While the tuber is the most impor-
tant part of the dasheen food supply.
il is not the only one utilized The
entire plant is edible and highly pala-
table. The leaves are succulent and
when cooked as spinach form excellent
greens and the flower, which is yellow
in color in most varieties. is used as
salad. while the leaf. stalks and shoots
which are grown by placing the tubers
in a dark place and allowing them to
SprOut, are said by epicureS to be vast
" superior to asparagus in flavor and
are totally lacking in the fibrous quail
ity which is often Objectionable in as
paragus.
The efforts of the department of
agriculture to broaden the list of plant
foods require the services of plant eX-
perts who are sent to all parts of the
world in guest OF new dainties to add
to the menus for the American palate
From Japan and China, as well as from
Turkey. Africa and South America, new
plants are constantly coming which the
American experiment stations are test
ing with a view to placing them upon
the food markets of the country.
New salad Plant.
A new salad plant which has lately
been tried satisfactorily in the New
York market and is already becoming
well known in California, IS the Japa-
nese "udO." which is grown in man
ner similar to asparagus and can be
easily forced for the winter market
As a salad, Udo has been commended
by the chefs Of some of the leading
hotels in New York 1t has also re-
far it is not produced in commercial
quantities as it takes years of educa-
ton to popularize a new food, but one
truck farmer in California has this
year planted 20 acres of udo with the
intention of growing il for the eastern
market.
1t is quite within the memory of
most people when bananas began to be
a popular fruit. To many people the
taste for them had to be cultivated al
though their introduction has now be-
come so complete that they threaten in
popularity the peaches. pears and ap-
pies which are native to the country.
In the same way the department of az
Ticulture expects to popularize the
avocado, or alligator pear, which with
IN the last five years has made its ap
pearance upon the market of every city
OF any size The annexation of tropi-
cal territory to this country has added
TO the variety OF our food supply and
the economic advantage of utilizing
these new foods is apparent to anyone.
Fabulous Prices for Avocado Trees.
In Hawaii the cultivation of the ave-
cado has been undertaken in a scien-
tific manner by the experiment sta
ton, so that its adVanta Ees were es-
tablished to those familiar with it
even before the attachment of Porto
Rico and even of the Panama canal
zone. Now it is becoming quite ex-
tensively cultivated both in Florida
and southern California, so that the
supply is each year becoming greater,
although it is not Yet sufficient to /
make the price low enough for popu-
lar demand. There are stories told of
fabulous prices still being paid for the
fruit of a single avocado tree. It has
one disadvantage, however, which the |
experiments of the department of agri- |
culture are working to overcome. The
fruit does not ship well, chiefly be-
cause the seed is large and hard and I
rather loose inside. In the shipment
this seed frequently becomes entirely
free from the fibers restraining il and
rolls around. bruising the inside flesh
of the fruit so that il becomes rancid
and turns dark. To make a satisfac-
tory commercial product. the fruit
should have a smaller seed more tight
" attached and it is believed that this
will soon be achieved by those en-
gagged in its cultivation.
How the term alligator pear ever
became applied to this fruit is I'M
known, unless. as some one has sug-
gested, it was a drunken sailors at
tempt to ask for aqua carte" which /
is the old Spanish name for the fruit
in Central America. 1t has been called |
'midshipmans butter" and this name !
is not much Of a misnomer. since the /
fruit is so oily that it makes an excel |
lent substitute for butter when eaten !
with dry bread and a little salt The |
taste. for the avocado must be cult !
ad ht- al hui ar,fs s-r,-