TARO. Colocasia anliquorum, var. eseulenta. (Ca ladium Coloeasia.) Aroidem. Figs. 852, 853 ; also Figs. 131, 132, 135, in Vol. I.
The taro plant is cultivated for the thickened starchy underground parts. The plant is a peren nial herb, with large cordate-peltate leaves. The spadix terminates in a club-shaped appendage des titute of stamens, half as long as the staminate inflorescence. The species, in some forms, is in common cultivation for ornament. Taro is the chief food plant of the natives of Hawaii and other of the Polynesian races. It is supposed to be a native of India, whence it has been distributed to Malay, Sumatra and the Polynesian archipelago. It reached Hawaii, no doubt, with the early migra tions from the south.
Varieties.
Although propagated by asexual parts, the taro has run into many varieties. In the ancient Hawaiian cultivation there were thirty to fifty named varieties, more or less distinct. They varied in size, form, color of flesh, color of leaf and leaf stalk, in texture and flavor, and in the period required for maturity. There was a variety known as the Royal taro, which was used by the kings and high chiefs. Most of these varieties are not extensively cultivated to-day, but a large number could doubtless be collected among the native Hawaiians.
There are two general types of taro, the one growing partly submerged, and known as water taro, and the other growing on uplands which are abundantly supplied with moisture, but not sub merged. The latter is spoken of as dryland taro.
Culture of water taro.
soil for water taro should be heavy and retentive of moisture. Muck soils of the valley bottoms are usually selected. The whole valley bottoms in Hawaii are frequently laid out in taro patches. These vary in size and shape, no two of them being alike, and are no arranged that the water may pass over the higher patches, through those adjoining, to the lower fields.
To prepare a new taro patch, dikes must first be thrown up around it and the bottom prepared so that it will hold water. To do this the land is
plowed, water is turned on, and the subsoil packed to make it tight. This puddling, of course, is not necessary for an old taro patch. When the land has been thoroughly prepared, and the water has been partly drawn off, the taro patch being a mass of mud, it is ready for planting.
Planting.—Taro is propagated by planting the crown of the former plant. An inch or two of the crown, together with about six inches of the leaf stalks, is planted in the mud. This cutting or plant is known as a "hull." The hulls are set about one foot apart in a row, and the rows one to two or three feet apart, according to variety and method of cultivation. Some growers plant in hills, four or five hulls being placed in a little circle slightly elevated.
The lower part of the hull beneath the soil sends out roots and enlarges, forming the central taro plant around which are arranged the younger plants, which arise from buds on the corm of the parent.
Subsequent care.—The after cultivation consists in pulling the weeds, which is usually done by hand or with a hoe, in removing the outer and dead leaves, and in keeping the patch supplied with water. In hoeing, the weeds which are not likely to grow again, and the outer and dead leaves of the taro plant, are buried in the soil under the water, and thus used as fertilizer. No horse tillage is used in cultivating the water taro. The water must be kept running continuously,or must be changed frequently.
Harvesting.—The crop matures in thirteen to fifteen months, according to variety. It frequently is gathered before it is mature because of the de sire to reap rapid returns. This fact may be respon sible, in part, for the deterioration of taro. The laborers pull the plant by hand, throwing it out on the banks, where the tops are removed and the corms are bagged for marketing for the manufacture of poi. If it is to be marketed as a vegetable, it is tied in bunches by the tops, there being three to five corms in a bunch.