Culture of upland taro.
The so-called dry-land taro might better be known as upland taro, since a dry soil is in no way suitable for its cultivation. It re quires abundant moisture and is cultivated only where there is a lib eral rainfall. The land is prepared as for any root crop. It should be plowed, harrowed and furrowed, making the rows about three feet apart, to allow for tillage by horse power. The method of propagation is the same as that employed in the growing of water taro.
Uses and manufacture.
Poi.—The chief use of taro in Hawaii has always been in the man ufacture of poi. For this purpose the corm, or root stock, is cooked by steam. The skin is then removed and the taro beaten on a long boat-shaped taro board, with stone pounders. This is the ancient method and is still in vogue, but has been replaced to some degree by machinery. In this method, suffi cient water is added to the taro by moistening the stone pounder.
In the modern method, essentially the same results are obtained by machinery. The taro is steamed and run through a machine similar in con struction to a meat chopper, a small quantity of water being added as necessary. The consistency of this poi in the old days was varied by the use of more or less water, and if very thin was known as "two-finger" poi, or if thick as "one finger" poi, since it could readily be eaten according to the Hawaiian method, with the use of one finger. In the absence of spoons the Hawaiians dip one or two fingers in the poi, giving it a twirling motion, and dexterously convey it to the mouth. Poi is not con sidered ready for use by the Hawaiians until it has fermented for one or two days.
As a vegetable.—The taro corm is also much used as a vegetable, being a good substitute for potatoes. As such it is steamed, boiled or baked.
The young and tender leaves from the center of the growing taro plant are also used for food. When boiled they make an excellent pot-herb, not unlike spinach. The unopened floral spathes are also cooked.
Flour.—The manufacture of poi flour from the corm is an industry which has received some atten tion. Taro in all forms being a most wholesome and nourishing food, and particularly easy of digestion, has commended itself as a health food. Practically the only way to put it on the market as such is in the form of flour, since the taro itself does not keep well. Taro flour, if pure, is simply the "root" cooked, dried, and ground to a powder. It is sold under various proprietary names.
Enemies.
There are no serious insect enemies of taro. A fungous disease known as " root-rot" is a somewhat serious hindrance to successful taro-growing, but may be controlled by judicious methods of culti vation, including proper selection of hulis, rotation of crops, fallowing and fertilization. [For further
notes on taro, see Index, Vol. I.] TEA. Camellia Ma, vars. Link. (rhea Sinensis, T. Bohea, and T. viridis, Ternstrcemiacece. Figs. 854-857 ; also Figs. 173, 174.
Tea is a shrub grown for its leaves, which are used in the preparation of the well-known beverage by the same name. It sometimes becomes a tree, reaching a height of thirty feet ; leaves elliptic-lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate and gla brous, sometimes pubescent beneath ; flowers white and fragrant, one to one and one-half inches broad; petals five ; stamens many. It is largely grown in China and India.
Tea-culture in America.
One hundred years ago the French Michaux, set out the first tea plant in America at the beautiful gardens of Middleton Barony on the Ashley river, near Charleston, S. C.; its subsequent thrifty growth to nearly twenty feet in height attested the congeniality of the climate. Some forty years thereafter a South Carolina woman observed the. striking similarity of the climate and flora in the tea-producing region of British India with those of her home, and thus led her father, Mr. Junius Smith, of Greenville, S. C., to undertake on his plantation his most interesting experiments in the cultivation of tea. Unfortunately, these efforts were brought to an early close by the sudden death of that pioneer. Just previous to the civil war, and probably as a result of the "boom" in East Indian tea, the United States government in troduced considerable quantities of tea seed into the southern coast states. This gave rise to many small domestic gardens, and clearly demonstrated the feasibility of profitably producing tea of excel lent quality and amply sufficient for household wants. But the ravages of war destroyed most of these little gardens. A few, however, survived hardships and neglect ; and as the plants had escaped pruning, they grew into "seed-groves" as distinguished from "tea gardens," where the bushes are systematically restricted in size. About twenty years later, Hon. Wm. G. LeDuc, United States Commissioner of Agriculture, started a tea experi ment station on a part of the same "Newington" plantation from which ten years afterwards "Pine hurst," near Summerville, South Carolina, was cut off. After a few years of existence and the further confirmation of the suitability of the tea plant to this region, the station was abandoned by Dr. Loring, the next commis sioner.