[Found under: “NO KA MAHIAI.”]

Not all kinds of huli are suitable for planting in wet patches. If the corm has been too closely cut off from the bottom of the huli and the huli itself is too small, it is not good for planting. If the taro has rotted and only a third remains good, the huli should not be replanted in the patch, for it will rot again and you will not get a good taro. So it is with a huli that has blossomed, if it is found on an old parent stalk. The huli of wild taro are not good, nor are those from some other varieties.

These are good huli: the kind that is called wae [selected]. This is the term applied to the first [generation of] offshoots of taro irrespective of variety. The old parent stalk is called muo. Each variety has a name, and the wae of each should be planted in the center of the patch and the muo along the borders; that is, if it is not very good; but if it is healthy it can be planted in the middle.

[This is part of an article on farming by L. Pule of Waialua, Molokai, written on 7/16/1857. The translation is once again taken from the soon to be released ebook from Bishop Museum Press: Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment, pp. 94–95.]

(Hae Hawaii, 8/12/1857, pp. 77)

Ka Hae Hawaii, Buke 2, Ano Hou.—Helu 20, Aoao 77. Augake 12, 1857.