Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-05-09
FOOD RESOURCES
Of THE j. s. ARE
UNLIMITED

Few, even among well informed
people" have an inkling OF the OPP
portunities we could grasp to Increase
our food resources We have. up to
the present, relied more or less on
conservation Of resources, greater
areas OF land under cultivation. and
increased yields from improved plants
through better tiIlage A fourth. q
scarcely touched means the Htillxa-
ton of IS yet undomesticat plants
promises far wider opportunities than
either of the three mentioned.
For centuries the multiplicity OF
edible plants as means OF augment
ing cur food supply has attracted In
significant attention: yet no branch
of agriculture offers such potentiali-
ties for Increasing the necessities as
wen as the Injuries through domesti-
eating edible wild escnIents. through
better distributing little known food
plants, and by anleliorating crops now
grown by breeding them with their
wild or little known relatives
Fruits Brought From Abroad.
Thousands Of species beckons us to
improve and utilize them In certain
quarters of our large cities people
born abroad demand and receive
fruits and vegetables which are
scarcely even names to the American
ear. certainly strangers to the Amer
lean palate opuntia, anocchio, loquat,
chervii, witloof, pomegrannate. chiye,
martynia, kumquat, celeriac, fictitious
and mango. to mention only few the
writer has seen on New York push
carts Were American housewives
familiar with these, the cultivation
and consumption Of countless yeget-
ables and fruits would be much more
general than il is.
The late Or. e. Lewis Sturtevant.
first director Of the New York state
experiment station, in an unpublished
manuscript ennmerates 113 special ac-
tlally domesticated and now cultivat-
ed for food, besides 4447 species some
part or parts Of which are edible. DR..
Sturtevant spent 20 years In gather
ing the material mentioned for book
on THE Edible Plants Of the World !"
Americas Natural Orchard.
North America Is d natural orch.
ard. Here are found more than 200
species OF tree, brush and vine fruits
commonly used for food by the abor.
Iigines. In addition there are nuts
and many fruits occasionally used.
to say nothing Of native vegetables
America has given to the world count
less varieties Of fruits. For instance,
the IL species Of native plums have
furnished about $50 pure bred and
$50 hybrid varieties. More than 400
pure and nearly 200 hybrid varieties
of grapes have come from its 10 ma.
tive species. The four species Of
raspberrfes have to their credit near
" 800 varieties; six species Of black.
berries, about so varieties; two spe-
cies Of cranberries, SO varieties; two
OF gooseberfiess S5 varieties. "a total
E0f 40 American speeies which have
produced nearly 1000 varieties, prac-
tically all within the past hall CEN
fury.
This seemingly splendid record is
but beginning Hundreds Of species
as yet remain untouched, or practical-
ly so. For instance, there are the
beach plum found wild in sand dunes
along the Atlantic seaboard from New
Brunswick to South Carolina, the hue
kleberries of which there are nuInef-
Gus native species, gooseberries and
currants
Besides all these plants there are
the custard-apple group lsour-soup,
pond apple, alligator apple, cherimo.
va, sweet-sop, ete.), suitable for the
warm South; bufEalo berry. wild cher.
ries, cloudberry, crowberry, high.bush
cranberry, native mulberries, various
cacti, paw, persimmon, salad and sal
mon berries: squash berry pear Der
~, curlew berry and numerous 9TH
,.ers.
Cultivation Of Nuts.
Nuts! Nothing said about them yet
A recent government bulletin lists 81
varieties of pecans alonei OF these
more than 100000 trees have been
nlanfad Rnf there are chasfnnfs