In cutting, do not cut too close to the root, for another growth is made directly after the cutting, which matures in from three to four weeks, and still two other crops can be grown in this way, so that from a single planting four full crops can be had.  Considering, then, that eight such treats can be had for the cost of a single dozen roots, we can all now enjoy what was formerly a luxury.  This method is most interesting, for you can watch the daily progress of the growth of the roots, fascinating to young and old, and with three weekly plantings of a pot each this treat can be enjoyed twice a week from the 1st of February until May.

For those who wish to enjoy it more often or in larger quantities, we suggest the following: 

Prepare a bed of soil 12 inches deep in your cellar in a dark place where the temperature is always above freezing.  Plant the roots as close as their size will permit and cover the crowns with at least 3 inches of soil.  On top of this put straw so that when the crowns come through the soil they will not strike the light.  When ready to cut, remove the soil as far back as the original root so that you can intelligently cut the growth to produce the crops to follow.

As a substitute for the potato of commerce the “Dasheen” long ago passed the experimental stage.  It has been served at a number of banquets in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York.

While the tops of potatoes are useless as food, the tops of the dasheen make delicious greens, and tests indicate that good growers can depend on a crop of from four hundred to four hundred and fifty bushels per acre.

The Udo is the plant intended by the Department of Agriculture as a substitute for asparagus, a delicacy which it closely resembles.  It is more prolific than asparagus, grows in the same soil, and requires less attention.

Not only plants but animals are experimented with by Uncle Sam’s experts.  Officials of the Bureau of Animal Industry claim that before long we will partake of antelope steak.  For the antelope has been found to be particularly adapted to the more arid western sections of the country.  And beyond that the gastronomist of the future will have to reckon with loin of hippopotamus!

The lower valley of the Mississippi is admirably suited to these huge beasts, the flesh of one of which equals a score of cattle.  African traveled epicures maintain that hippopotamus steak is as tender and inviting as the choicest beef.  “For those who like that sort of thing, it is just the sort of thing they would like.”

It seems a bit remote to urge hippopotamus on us who do not yet know enough to eat sharks, tortoises, painted turtles, or even English sparrows.  Anyhow the small gardener is more likely to succeed raising pheasants than to muss with a hippopotamus, at least in the suburbs.  Pigs are more practical and make prettier pets.

Our population bids fair to approximate two hundred million within the next fifty years, and, because of the exigencies of business, an increasing number of people will be engaged in non-food-producing vocations.  These people, however, are all consumers and must be fed and clothed, and even now America offers the greatest market for the produce of the farm that any farmer in any country has ever had in all history.