Chapter XXIX: Section II (7)

On its arrival at Singapore it is purchased by the Chinese manufacturers of sago, and is thus treated:--Upon being carried to the manufactory, the plantain-leaf covering is removed, and the raw sago, imparting a strong acid odor, is bruised, and is put into large tubs of cold spring water, where it undergoes a process of purification by being stirred, suffered to repose, and again re-stirred in newly-introduced water. When well purified thus, it is taken out of the tubs by means of small vessels; and being mixed with a great deal of water, the liquid is gently poured upon a large and slightly inclined trough, about ten inches in height and width; and in the descent towards the depressed end, the sago is deposited in the bottom of the trough, whilst the water flows into another large tub, where what may remain of sago is finally deposited. As the strata of deposited sago increases in the trough, small pieces of slates are adjusted to its lower end to prevent the escape of the substance. When by this pouring process the trough becomes quite full of sago, it is then removed to make room for a fresh one, whilst the former one is put out into the air, under cover, for a short time; and on its being well dried, the sago within is cut into square pieces and taken out to be thoroughly dried, under cover, to protect it from the sun. It has then lost the acid smell already noticed, and has become quite white. After one day's drying thus, it is taken into what may be called the manufactory, a long shed, open in front and on one side, and closed at the other and in the rear. Here the lumps of sago are broken up, and are reduced into an impalpable flour, which is passed through a sieve. The lumps, which are retained by the sieve are put back to be re-bruised, whilst that portion which has passed is collected, and is placed in a long cloth bag, the gathered ends of which, like those of a hammock, are attached to a pole, which pole being suspended to a beam of the building by a rope, one end of it is sharply thrown forward with a particular jerk, by means of which the sago within is shortly granulated very fine, and becomes what is technically termed "pearled." It is then taken out and put into iron vessels, called _quallies_, for the purpose of being dried. These quallies are small elliptical pans, and resemble in form the sugar coppers of the West Indies, and would each hold about five gallons of fluid. They are set a little inclining, and in a range, over a line of furnaces, each one having its own fire. Before putting in the sago to be dried, a cloth, which contains a small quantity of hog's-lard, or some oily substance, is hastily passed into the qually, and the sago is equally quickly put into it, and a Chinese laborer who attends it, commences stirring it with a _pallit_, and thus continues his labor during the few minutes necessary to expel the moisture contained in the substance. Thus each qually, containing about ten pounds of sago, requires the attendance of a man. The sago, on being taken off the fire, is spread out to cool on large tables, after which it is fit to be packed in boxes, or put into bags for shipment; and is known in commerce under the name of "pearl sago." Thus the labor of fifteen or twenty men is required to do that which, with the aid of simple machinery, might be done much better by three or four laborers. A water-wheel would both work a stirring machine and cause an inclined cylinder to revolve over a fire, for the purpose of drying the sago, in the manner used for corn, meal, and flour in America, or for roasting coffee and chicory in England. But the Chinese have no idea of substituting artificial means, when manual ones are obtainable.

A considerable quantity of sago is exported from Singapore in the state of flour. The whole quantity made and exported there exceeds, on the average, 2,500 tons annually. The quantity shipped from this entrepot is shown by the annexed returns, nearly all of which was grown and manufactured in the settlement. The estimated value for export is set down at 14s. per picul of 1¼ cwt.

EXPORTS FROM SINGAPORE.
Piculs
1840-41 Pearl sago 41,146
" Sago flour 33,552
1841-42 Pearl sago 46,225
" Sago flour 7,447
1842-43 Pearl sago 25,306
" Sago flour 4,838
1843-44 Pearl sago 14,266
" Sago flour 14,067
1844-45 Pearl sago 18,472
" Sago flour 36,141
1845-46 Pearl sago 19,333
" Sago flour 26,925
1846-47 Pearl sago 40,765
" Sago flour 9,025

Imports of sago into the United Kingdom, and quantity retained for home consumption:--

Imports. Home consumption.
Cwts. Cwts.
1826 9,644 2,565
1830 2,677 3,385
1834 25,763 13,827
1838 18,627 28,396
1842 45,646 50,994
1846 38,595 45,671
1848 65,000
1849 83,711 72,741
1850 89,884 83,954

THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE.

_Artocarpus incisa_.--This tree is less cultivated than would be supposed from its useful properties. In the West Indies and the Indian Islands, where it has been introduced from its native place, the South Sea Islands, it is held in very little consideration, the graminea, tuberous roots, and farinaceous plants being more easily and readily cultivated. There are two or three varieties known in the Asiatic regions. The properties of this tree are thus enumerated by Hooker:--The fruit serves for food; clothes are made from the fibres of the inner bark; the wood is used for building houses and making boats; the male catkins are employed as tinder; the leaves for table cloths and for wrapping provisions in; and the viscid milky juice affords birdlime.

_A. integrifolia_is the Jack or Jacca, the fruit of which attains a large size, sometimes weighing 30 lbs., but is inferior in quality to the bread-fruit.

The nuts or fruit of _Brosimum Alicastrum_, an evergreen shrub, native of Jamaica, are nutritious and agreeable articles of food. When boiled with salt fish, pork or beef, they have frequently been the support of the negroes and poorer sorts of white people in times of scarcity, and proved a wholesome and not unpleasant food; when roasted it eats something like our common chesnut, and is called bread-nut.

_Kafir Bread_.--According to Thunberg, the Hottentots being very little acquainted with agriculture, or with the use of the cerealia, and subsisting principally upon wild bulbs and fruits, obtain food also from _Encephalartos caffer_, a species of _Zamia_, with a cylindrical trunk, the thickness of a man's body, and about seven feet high. Having cut down a tree, they took out the pith, that nearly fills its trunk, and which abounds in mucilage and an amylaceous fluid; after keeping this for some time buried under ground in the skin of an animal, they reduced it by pounding and kneading into a kind of paste; and then baked it in hot ashes, in the form of round cakes, nearly an inch thick. The Dutch colonists, in consequence of this practice of the natives, called the plant brood-boon, which signifies literally bread tree.

THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA.

The several varieties of the edible plantain which are known and cultivated throughout the West Indies, Africa, and in the East are all reducible to two classes, viz., the Plantain and the Banana (_Musa Paradisiaca_and _sapientum_). The difference between these two plants is even so slight as to be scarcely specific; it is therefore most probable that there was originally but one stock, from which they have, by cultivation and change of locality, been derived.

The tiger plantain (_M. maculata_) and the black ditto (_M. sylvestris_) are cultivated in Jamaica. The whole of the species and varieties of the tribe are what are called polygamous monoecious plants, each individual tree bearing the male and female organs of reproduction.

The plantain and its varieties invariably bear male, female and hermaphrodite flowers within the same spathe, all of them being imperfect and consequently unproductive of seed. An individual may, even from excess of culture, moisture, &c., be entirely incapable of flowering. During the prevalence of a disease or blight among the plantain walks of Demerara in the years 1844 and 1845, it was seriously proposed to introduce male plantains, or obtain fresh stock by seed.

It is, therefore, necessary to determine with exactness, if possible, whether the Plantain or Banana, (whichever be the parent stock) exists anywhere at present, or has been known to have existed as a perfect plant, that is bearing fertile seeds; or, whether it has always existed in the imperfect state, that is, incapable of being procreated by seed, the only state in which it at present exists in our colonies.

Whether Linnæus be right in his conjecture (Spec. Plant, 1763) that the "Bihai" (_Heliconia humilis_), a native of Caraccas, which produces fertile seeds, is the stock plant of the plantain, it is almost impossible to ascertain; but the absence of any description of a wild seed-bearing plantain, renders it highly probable that the cultivated species are hybrids produced long ago. The banana, from time immemorial, has been the food of the philosophers and sages of the East, and almost all travellers throughout the tropics have described these plants exactly as they are known to us, either as sweet fruit eaten raw, or a farinaceous vegetable roasted or boiled. It is remarkable that the plantain and banana should be indigenous, or at all events cultivated for ages both in the Old and New World. Numerous South American travellers describe some one of these plants as being indigenous articles of food among the natives, thus showing (if the plantain and its varieties be hybrids) a communication between the tropics of America, Asia and Africa, long before the time of Columbus. The older writers on the colony of Guiana, as Hartsinck, Bellin and others, consider the plantain to be a native. It is remarkable that Sir R. Schomburgk, during his travels, found a large species of edible plantain far in the interior. It appears, therefore, from all the investigations that have been made, that the plantain is either a hybrid, or its power of production from seed has been destroyed long ago by cultivation, and that it is not known to exist anywhere in a perfect state; in which case any attempt to improve the present stock by the introduction of suckers from elsewhere, must be totally futile. Mr. A. Garnett recommends the following system of cultivation, as calculated to prevent the blight. The walk or plantation is to be formed into beds 36 feet wide, divided by open drains 30 inches deep. Two rows of plantains to be planted upon each bed at 18 feet distance, both between and along the rows, to afford a clear ventilation to the enlarging plants, and so soon as the plantation has been established, the space of land between each row to be shovel-ploughed 12 inches deep; the same to be repeated annually, and upon the interspace may be planted maize, yams, sugar cane, or eddoes, and the whole kept clear at all times. Thus, with the conjoined principles of good tillage, free ventilation, and mixed crops, the blight may yet be successfully combated.

A great diminution in the cultivation of the plantain has been occasioned in British Guiana by this blight or disease, which first made its destructive appearance in Essequibo, upwards of thirty years ago, where its ravages increased with such fatal intensity as to render the profitable growth of the plant almost hopeless; and up to this hour no one has been able to discover the immediate or remote cause of this extraordinary vegetable endemic; whether arising from the action of insects among the sheathes of the petioles of the leaves, or in the soil, or from organic decay of the plant, remains without solution. The last-named cause seems to be rejected, by the fact that the fructification of the plant is as healthy and abundant in parts of the colony where the blight does not prevail, both in number and size of the fruit upon the spike, as at any former period. On the east coast of Demerara, both the plantain and banana have been grown for more than twenty years upon the same land, without any attack of the disease, and without any extraneous manure or even lime having been applied, and the plants still exhibit great luxuriance, and produce their former weight of fruit.

The foliage of the plantain affords food and bedding, and is used for thatch, making paper, and basket making; and from its petioles is obtained a fine and durable thread. The tops of the young plants are eaten as a delicate vegetable; the fermented juice of the trunk produces an agreeable wine.

The abundance and excellence of the nutritive food which the plants of this valuable genus supply are well known; but of the numerous uses to which they are applied I may mention, the following:--

The fruit is served up both raw and stewed; slices fried are also considered a delicacy. Plantains are sometimes boiled and eaten with salt meat, and pounded and made into puddings, and used in various other ways. In their ripe state these fruits contain much starchy matter. From their spurious stems, the fibres of the spiral vessels may be pulled out in such quantity as to be used for tinder. _M. textilis_ yields a fibre which is used in India in the manufacture of fine muslins, and the coarser woody tissue is exported in large quantities from Manila, under the name of white rope or Manila hemp. Horses, cattle, swine, and other domestic animals are fed upon the fruit, leaves, and succulent trunks.

The same extent of ground which in wheat would only maintain two persons, will yield sustenance under the banana to fifty. That eminent naturalist and elegant writer, the Baron Von Humboldt, states ("Political Essay on New Spain," vol. ii.) that an acre of land cultivated with plantains produces nearly twenty times as much food as the like space sown with corn in Europe. He refers to a place in Venezuela, where the most careful tillage was rendered to a piece of land, yielding produce supporting a humble population residing in huts, each placed in the centre of an enclosure, growing the sugar cane, Indian corn, the Papaw tree, and the Musa--a tropical garden!--upon the elaborate culture of which a whole family relied for subsistence.

Although from the extensive plantain walks in our colonies--which are seldom cultivated with a garden-like care--so large an average proportion may not be obtained as twenty times the production of wheat in Europe, yet I have had practical experience of the prodigious quantity of farinaceous matter obtainable from an acre of tolerably well-cultivated plantains, and no esculent plant requires less labor in its culture upon land suitable for its production. They are readily increased by suckers, which the old plants produce in abundance.

Lindley enumerates ten species of Musa, some of which grow to the height of 25 or 30 feet, but that valuable species _M. Cavendishii_, does not grow more than four or five feet high.

The bananas of the family of the Musaceæ, appear to be natives of the southern portion of the Asiatic continent (R. Brown, "Bot. of Congo," p. 51). Transplanted at an unknown epoch into the Indian Archipelago and Africa, they have spread also into the, New World, and in general into all intertropical countries, sometimes before the arrival of Europeans.

According to Humboldt it affords, in a given extent of ground, forty-four times more nutritive matter than the potato, and 133 times more than wheat. These figures must be considered as only approximative, since nothing is more difficult than to estimate the nutritive qualities of different aliments.

_Musa paradisiaca_ is cultivated in Syria, to latitude 34 deg. Humboldt says it ceases to yield fruit at a height of 3,000 feet, where the mean annual temperature is 68 deg., and where, probably, the heat of summer is deficient.

The banana seems, however, to be found no higher than 4,600 feet in a state of perfection.

No fruit is so easily cultivated as are the varieties of the plantain. There is hardly a cottage in the tropics that is not partly shaded by them; and it is successfully grown under other fruit trees, although it is independent of shelter. Its succulent roots and dew-attracting leaves render it useful in keeping the ground moist during the greatest heats. The plantain may be deemed the most valuable of fruits, since it will, in some measure, supply the place of grain in time of scarcity. To the negroes in the West Indian Islands the plantain is invaluable, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them denominated the staff of life. In Jamaica, Demerara, Trinidad, and other principal colonies, many thousand acres are planted with these trees.

The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line of thread be drawn across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when it begins to expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to have grown nearly an inch. The fruit when ripe is of a pale yellow, about a foot in length and two inches thick, and is produced in bunches so large as each to weigh 40 lbs. and upwards.

The soil best suited to the growth of the plantain is found in the virgin land most recently taken in from the forest, having a formation of clay and decomposed vegetable substances. A large portion of organic matter is required, as well as clay or other ponderous strata, to afford the greatest production of fruit. I have known good plantains produced in the West Indies, upon land considerably exhausted by the culture of cotton, but which was enriched by the application of a quantity of the decomposed seed of that shrub near the roots of the young plantains.

In the Straits' settlements of the East, the following are the most approved varieties:--The royal plantain, which fruits in eight months; one which bears in a year, the milk plantain, the downy plantain, and the golden plantain or banana. A species termed _gindy_ has been lately imported from Madras, where it is in great request. It has this advantage over the other kinds, that it can be stewed down like an apple while they remain tough.

The Malays allege that they can produce new varieties, by planting three shoots of different sorts together, and by cutting the shoots down to the ground three successive times, when they have reached the height of nine or ten inches.

About 144 suckers of the plantain are set on an orlong (1-1/3 acres), each of which spreads into a group of six or eight stems, of about six inches to one foot in diameter, which yield each a bunch of fruit, and are then cut down, when fresh shoots succeed. In very rich soils the plant will continue to bear for twenty years, but otherwise it is dug up after the seventh or eighth year. The cost of cultivating 100 orlongs of land exclusively with plantains, will be nearly 2,000 Spanish dollars until produce be obtained. About 43,200 bunches may be had afterwards yearly, which might give a return of 2,160 dollars, or, deducting the cost of cultivation and original expenses, a profit per annum of 1,450 dollars.

The plantain has frequently been suggested as an article of export from our colonies. A few bunches are occasionally brought over by the Royal West India Mail Company's steamers running to Southampton, but more as a curiosity than as articles of commerce.

In its ripe state no unexceptionable and sufficiently cheap method of preserving it has yet been suggested.

In some districts of Mexico it is, indeed, dried in the sun, and in this state forms a considerable article of internal commerce under the name of "plantado pasado."

It is sometimes so abundant and cheap in Demerara, Jamaica, Trinidad, and other of our colonies, that it might, if cut and dried, in its green state, be exported with advantage.

It is in the unripe state that it is so largely used by the peasantry of the colonies as an article of food. It has always been believed to be highly nutritive, but Dr. Shier states that, in any sample of the dried plantain which he analysed, he could not find a larger amount than 88 per cent of nitrogen, which corresponds with about 5½ per cent. of proteine compounds.

When dried, and reduced to the state of meal, it cannot, like wheat flour, be manufactured into maccaroni or vermicelli, or at least the maccaroni made from it falls to powder when put into hot water. The fresh plantain, however, when boiled whole, forms a pretty dense firm mass, of greater consistency and toughness than the potato. The mass, beaten in a mortar, constitutes the _foo-foo_ of the negroes. The plantain meal cannot be got into this state unless by mixing it up with water to form a stiff dough, and then boiling it in shapes or bound in cloths.

Plantain meal is prepared by stripping off the husk of the plantain, slicing the core, and drying it the sun. When thoroughly dry it is powdered and sifted. It is known among the Creoles of the West Indies under the name of _Conquin tay_. It has a fragrant odour, acquired in drying, somewhat resembling fresh hay or tea. It is largely employed as the food of infants, children, and invalids. As food for children and convalescents, it would probably be much esteemed in Europe, and it deserves a trial on account of its fragrance, and its being exceedingly easy of digestion. In respect of nutritiveness, it deserves a preference over all the pure starches on account of the proteine compounds it contains.

The plantain meal would probably be best and freshest were the sliced and dried plantain cores exported, leaving the grinding and sifting to be done in Europe. The flavor of the meal depends a good deal on the rapidity with which the slices are dried; hence the operation is only fitted for dry weather, unless indeed, when there was occasion for it, resource were had to a kiln or stove. Above all, the plantain must not be allowed to approach too closely to yellowness or ripeness, otherwise it becomes impossible to dry it. The color of the meal is injured when steel knives are used in husking or slicing, but silver or nickel blades do not injure the color. On the large scale a machine, on the principle of the turnip slicer, might be employed. The husking could be greatly facilitated by a very simple machine. Were the plantain meal to come into use in England, and bear a price in any way approaching to that of Bermuda arrowroot, it would become an extensive and very profitable export. Full-sized and well-filled bunches give 60 per cent. of core to 40 of husk and top-stem, but in general it would be found that the core did not much exceed 50 per cent., and the fresh core will yield 40 per cent. of dry meal, so that from 20 to 25 per cent. of meal is obtained from the plantain, or 5 lbs. from an average bunch of 25 lbs.; and an acre of plantain walk of average quality, producing during the year 450 such bunches, would yield a ton and 10 lbs. of meal, which, at the price of arrowroot, namely, 1s. per lb., would be a gross return of £112 10s. per acre. A new plantain walk would give twice as much. Even supposing the meal not to command over half the price of arrowroot, it would still form an excellent outlet for plantains whenever, from any cause, the price in the colony sank unusually low.

In respect of the choice of a situation for establishing a plantain walk, with a mill, boiling-house and drying ground, it will be necessary to fix upon new land with plenty of moisture, and flat if possible, in order that there may be no difficulty in making roads to carry the trees; whilst a deep river traversing the land, where there is no tide or danger of salt water--where facility would be afforded in making the basins wherein to wash the fibre; where a sea port would be near at hand for shipping the produce--where workmen, provisions, and fuel would be readily obtained, and where the climate is particularly healthy, should be especially sought after.

The plantain grows in profusion between the tropics in all parts of the world; but as it is an object to have the London market available for the prepared fibre, the following places may be mentioned as best calculated to produce a good and constant supply, viz:--the West India Colonies, the British Colonies in Africa, the South American Republics, along the Mosquito shore, and other places on the Continent of America, including Porto Rico, Hayti, and Cuba. The advantages to the paper manufacturer in employing the prepared fibre instead of rags, will be numerous, for the fibre is equal in texture, clean, and aromatic; whilst rags are dirty, full of vermin, and very often pestilential.

A large stock of the plantain can always be secured, without fear of its being injured by keeping. The paper will be superior to that made of rags, and the process of making it will be more economical, inasmuch as the _sorting_ of the material will not be required. Another advantage is, that a new article of commerce will be opened for the benefit of the colonial shipping interests, and a stimulus will be given to the cultivation of a fruit which is the favorite food of large masses of the population.

The following is a "specification" of articles requisite for making three tons of prepared fibre in a day:--

Four wooden boilers lined with lead, in the form of coolers, 7 feet deep by 6 in diameter. One hydraulic press, from 400 to 500 tons. One stout screw press, to compress the fibre before it is submitted to the hydraulic press. One iron mill with horizontal cylinders. Six waggons; twenty mules. Utensils, such as spatulas, cutlasses, hoes, rakes, &c. &c. One lever, to take out the fibre from the boilers. One steam boiler, equal to 12-horse power, to steam the four wooden boilers.

It being very desirable that the works should be in the immediate neighbourhood of a river, the machinery should be worked by water-power; but if this mode should be inconvenient, a steam engine in addition must be obtained, of about 8 or 10-horse power; or if one steam engine of 20-horse power were employed, it would be sufficient for all purposes. Thirty men are required to make three tons of fibre in a day.

_Buildings_.--A store, 100 feet long by 25 feet broad, in wood, covered with straw, to contain the dried fibre and the presses. One open shed of the same dimensions, covered with straw for the boilers.

_Capital required_.--It is ascertained that the following outlay will be sufficient:--

The materials will cost £2,000
Buildings 500
Purchase of land 1,500
Working capital 1,000
------
£5,000

The estimated expense in cultivating one quarree, or 5 1-5th English acres, in plantains, will be £30, as the work can be easily performed by one laborer in 300 days, at 2s. sterling per day.

A quarree will produce 18 tons of mill fibre, the cost of the preparation of which is as follows:--

For workmen's wages, soda, lime, and fuel, at £3 per ton £54
Freight to Europe at £4 per ton 72
Managers 30
Duty, insurance, office fees, &c., at £1 per ton 18
----
£174

Thus, making the total expense of producing 18 tons of fibre £174, or £9 13s. 4d. per ton. In 1848 Manila rope, or plantain fibre of good quality, was worth £38 per ton.

A correspondent in Jamaica, who has devoted much attention to the subject, has furnished me with some very valuable detailed information, the most complete and practical that has ever yet appeared:--

_Cultivation_.--The first care of a planter in superintending the
cultivation of the banana tree, with the two-fold object of
collecting both fibre and fruit, will be to study the nature of the
tree to which he will give the preference. A number of experiments
have been made upon different species of the banana with a view of
obtaining therefrom the largest quantity and the best color of
fibre, as well as the finest fruit. Those experiments were very
tedious and minute, but were absolutely necessary, in order to
arrive at the most economical and advantageous method of rendering
the fibre into a state fit for shipment to Europe. At the same time,
it was of the utmost importance to find out the best description of
tree, for producing the strongest, the most abundant, and the most
silky fibre--for containing the least quantity of juice, for
producing the color sufficiently white to facilitate the operation
of bleaching, for bearing fruit of the most esteemed quality, and,
therefore, the most favorable for general consumption.

A banana tree, which seemed at first sight to possess all those good
qualities--being of a large size, with whitish or flaxen colored
fibre, and producing very savoury fruit, only gave 2 per cent, of
fibre after preparation; that is to say, 100 lbs. in its raw state,
only gave two pounds of fibre after it was boiled. In endeavoring to
find out the cause of such a small result, it was discovered that
this specimen of banana (commonly called the "pig banana,")
contained a larger proportion of water than of fibre, compared with
other sorts--that the heart was too large, and that the inside
leaves were so tender that they almost dissolved in the process of
boiling. These were the greatest inconveniences of this species of
tree. There was also another disadvantage, in the quality of its
fruit, which was yellow in color, and not so useful as those
descriptions of banana which are generally eaten as a substitute for
bread. The results of several experiments made upon various
descriptions of banana, demonstrated the properties of each species,
both as regarded fibre and fruit. The most profitable in both
respects is undoubtedly the yellow banana, or common plantain. This
tree grows to the height of about fifteen feet, it is nine or ten
inches in diameter, its fibre is firm and abundant, and its fruit is
used both in a green and ripe state. This plantain abounds on the
continent of Spanish America and between the tropics, where the
natives cultivate it as producing the most nutricious fruit of its
kind. Cargoes of the fruit are frequently exported from Surinam and
Demerara. On the Spanish part of the American continent, land is
measured by _fanegas_, each fanega containing twelve _quarrees_, and
each quarree five and one-fifth English acres. A quarree measures
one hundred geometrical paces, or three hundred square feet.

In the first instance, the suckers of the plantain (the tree being
propagated by cuttings or suckers which shoot up from the bulb),
should be set at ten feet distance from each other; this proposition
gives 300 plants on one line of trees, or 900 on the surface of one
quarree of land. Each plant propagates itself and gives upon an
average ten trees of the same size and bearing. On one quarree of
land, therefore there would be 9,000 trees, yielding four pounds of
fibre and one bunch of fruit each, which is 9,000 bunches of fruit,
and 36,000 lbs. nett of fibre, in the whole. In good ground the same
plant will last fifteen years without any further trouble. Flat
lands ought to be cultivated in preference to any other. The
plantain thrives with the root in the water, and the head to the
sun. On the borders of the river Orinoco it grows to the height of
twenty feet, is one foot in diameter, and the stalks of the branches
are three inches in circumference.

_Cutting_.--The tree which has not produced its ripe fruit ought to
be cut, for two reasons--first, that the fruit be not lost; and
secondly, that the tree will not have arrived at its full growth and
ordinary size, and the fibres will be too tender. In cutting it
down, take it off six inches above the surface of the ground, then
divide it longitudinally into four parts, take out the heart, which
must be left to serve for manure, and if fermentation is decided
upon, leave the pieces at the foot of the tree, otherwise take them
to the mill to be crushed. The tree being very tender, may, on being
bent down, be cut asunder with a single stroke of a hatchet,
cutlass, or other convenient instrument. One man can cut down 800
trees, and split them in a day.

_Carrying_.--The trees being thus divided, may be immediately
carried to the mill to be crushed, or may remain until the
fermentation separates the juice of sap from the fibres and the
pith. By fermenting the trees, their weight will be so much reduced
as to render their carriage considerably lighter than if taken away
when first cut down. A wagon, with oxen or mules, can carry about a
ton per day, and one man can load the wagon and drive the cattle.

_Crushing_.--If the tree is carried from the plantation without
being subjected to fermentation, it must be passed through a mill,
the rollers of which, if made about three feet in length, and one
foot in diameter, will be found a very convenient size. In this
operation, care should be taken, first of all, to separate the
tender from the harder or riper layers of fibre. The tree is
composed of different layers of fibre, which may be divided into
three sorts; those of the exterior, having been exposed to the
atmosphere, possess a great degree of tenacity--whilst those of the
interior, having been secluded from the air, are much more soft and
tender. If, therefore, the layers of the plantain are passed
indiscriminately through the mill, those which are hard or firm will
not be injured by the pressure, whilst those which are soft will be
almost reduced to pulp. Therefore, the rollers of the mill should be
always placed horizontally, and upon passing the trees lengthways
through the mill, the pressure will be uniform and the fibre
uninjured. In this manner, pass the different sorts of layers
separately, and the produce will be about four pounds of fibre from
each tree. The stalks of the branches of the plantain give the best
fibre, and a large quantity, as compared with the body of the tree;
100 lbs. of the stalk will give 15 lbs. nett of fibre. In general,
if a tree will give 4 lbs. nett of fibre, the stalks will give 1 lb.
out of the 4 lbs. The stalks ought also to be crushed separately,
because they are harder than the exterior layers of the tree. About
3,000 trees may be passed through the mill in a day. Whilst the
experiments were in progress it was ascertained that with a single
horse, 100 plantain trees on an average were crushed in twenty
minutes, giving five minutes rest for the horse.

_Fermentation_.--This operation may be performed in several ways. If
the trees are allowed to ferment upon the spot after being cut, a
great saving will occur in respect of _carriage_; this matter ought
to be carefully studied, because, on an extensive scale of
manufacture, it is of serious importance. It is found that the trees
when cut and heaped up, are subject to a drainage of juice, which,
having a tanning property, discolors those pieces which lie at the
bottom; hence much time is consumed in afterwards restoring the
fibre to its natural color. The cut plants should be removed from
the stumps of the trees, and then placed in heaps, shaded from the
sun by laying the leaves over them. They will take several weeks to
ferment. To pursue this process in the immediate vicinity of the
establishment, would give rise to many inconveniences, in
consequence of the very large space of ground that would thereby be
occupied. Fermentation requires a mean temperature. A tree cut down
and exposed to the sun, would be nearly dry at about 30 deg.
centigrade, showing a result quite different to that which ought to
be obtained; whilst a tree placed on a wet soil, and open for the
fresh air to circulate between the plants, covered at the same time
with its own leaves, and shaded by the foliage of the plantation,
would be decomposed at the desired point of about 22 degrees. The
different modes of fermentation require the same proportions. If the
cut plants be covered with a thick layer of earth, they will not
decompose in six _months_; but if, on the contrary, they are covered
slightly, so that they may receive the freshness of the earth, and
the heat of the air, they will decompose in six _weeks_. It is the
same with the fermentation of alkaline baths. Baths at only _one_
degree will produce decomposition, whilst baths at _three_ degrees
will not produce any decomposition. The stuff after being passed
through the mill, or after fermentation, will be put into the
chemical baths, or vats, or chemical liquor, and the persons in
charge of the mill and boilers will do this work. Fermentation may
be advantageously used, in cases where the trees are grown at a
distance from the establishment--but, where they are in the
immediate vicinity of the works, it will be best to crush them by
the mill. The principal saving that is occasioned by fermentation,
will be found in the carriage, as the substance will be much reduced
in weight by that process. In an establishment where the manufacture
is carried on upon a very large scale, trees cut down at a distance
can be fermented, whilst those produced near the mill can be
crushed.

_Chemical Agents._--For decomposing the gluten in the trees during
the process of boiling, soda, carbonate of soda, and quick lime, are
used. The proportions herein given, are those requisite for making
three tons of fibre per day, upon which scale the cost price of the
fibre in a prepared state for bleaching, is subsequently calculated.
To make three tons of fibre per day, it is necessary to have four
boilers of 800 gallons each, and give five boilings in a day, or
1,650 lbs. of nett fibre for each boiler, or 6,600 lbs. for the four
boilers per day. After having put into the boiler a sufficient
quantity of water to cover the material, wait until the water begins
to boil, and then add the chemical agents.

lbs.
To the first boiling of a copper, put of soda 60
To the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th boilings of the same
copper, 15 lbs., each making 60
-----
120
-----
Therefore the four boilings will take of soda 480
The same liquid will serve for two other days, by
adding 15 lbs. to each fresh boiling, say, in the
whole, 40 lbs., or 600
It will consume in soda for nine tons made in three
days 1,080
Or 360 lbs. for three tons made in one day.

On the fourth day commence again in the same manner, and go on for
the two remaining days as above, producing eighteen tons in the six
days. The quick lime is to be employed in each of the boilings, in
the proportion of one-third less than the quantity of soda. Crude
soda may be used in the boilings, without previously discarbonising
it, and quick lime reduced to lime water; but, to render the action
of the chemical ingredients more quick and certain, it is better to
discarbonise the soda before it is put into the boiler. This may be
done by preparing in a small separate boiler the quantity of liquid
necessary for a day's consumption, which is prepared in about an
hour. The carbonisation is effected in the following manner:--

Ten parts of salt of soda. }
Six parts of quick lime. } In weight.
Seventy parts of water (never less.) }

_Boiling_.--This is a most important operation. By it the gluten and
coloring matter are separated from the fibres, which separation is
absolutely necessary, in order to prepare the fibre to receive the
bleaching. It is necessary to observe that the three several sorts
of layers which are found in the tree, and which, under the head of
"crushing," are recommended to be _pressed_ separately, should be
also _boiled_ separately, because the outermost layer has more
coloring matter than the next under it, which again has more than
the innermost layer. As they are boiled so will they be dried and
shipped, and each sort will have a different price in the market;
that fibre which is lightest in color bearing the preference, in
consequence of its not requiring more than _six_ hours to
bleach--whilst the darkest will, probably from its greater tenacity,
take _twelve_ to _eighteen_ hours. It is advisable to place over
each boiler the means of lifting the mass of fibre when boiled, and
suffering it to drain into the boiler before it is carried away to
be washed. This is easily effected by a chain from the roof, to
which may be hung a lever, having at that end over the boiler some
hooks attached to it, whereby the mass is lifted out of the boiler,
and the liquor thus preserved for the next boiling.

_Washing_.--It is absolutely necessary that the fibre should be well
washed after being taken out of the boiler, in order that all
extraneous matter may be separated therefrom. In choosing the site
for an establishment of this kind, care must always be taken to make
choice of a spot in the immediate neighbourhood of a large river, or
other plentiful supply of fresh clean water. The machinery necessary
for cleansing and washing the fibre may be of various descriptions;
but, perhaps a selection from one of the three following sorts will
be found to answer every purpose, viz., those used by paper
manufacturers in England, and by coffee planters and arrowroot
growers in the West Indies.

_Drying_.--The washed fibre, when hung over lines made of the
twisted fibre, or any other convenient material, will be
sufficiently dry in a few hours to be taken down, when more can be
hung up, and then several batches can be dried in a day; and it will
be necessary to have the drying ground as near the water as
possible, in order to save weight in carriage.

_Pressing_.--When the fibre is perfectly dry, it must be well
pressed, for the convenience of packing, carriage, and shipment. The
hydraulic press is the best machine that can be used for the
purpose; but in the absence of that, the lever and screw will make a
large amount of pressure available. A hydraulic press of from 400 to
500 tons, will press bales of from four to five hundred weight each,
which will not be too large for shipment."

STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS INVESTIGATED.

Starch is one of the constituent parts in all mealy farinaceous seeds, fruits, roots, and other parts of plants, and is in large demand for domestic use, the arts, &c. Our common starch is made from wheat, and a good deal from potatoes. Pure fecula is separated by art from a variety of plants.

Of plants yielding starch we have the Indian arrowroot, which is the fecula in the rhizomata of several species of the Marantaceæ. In the West Indies it is obtained from the _Maranta arundinacea_, _Allomyca_ and _nobilis_, and also from various species of _Canna_ called _Tous les mois_, and in the East Indies from species of _Curcuma_, and from _Maranta ramossissima_ in Silhet.

The bread fruit (_Artocarpus incisa_), already alluded to, yields a large quantity of starch; as do the sweet potato (_Convolvulus Batatas_, or _Batatas edulis_). The pith or farinaceous part of the trunk of the _Caryota urens_, is almost equal to the finest sago. In Assam the sago of this palm is much used.

The two varieties of the Cassava afford a very superior fecula, which is imported under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. 8,354 bags of tapioca and farina were imported from Maranham in 1834. Some excellent starch from Norfolk Island was shown at the Great Exhibition.

The Cycadaceous family yields much starchy matter, along with mucilage. From the soft stems of _Cycas revoluta_ and _C. circinalis_, natives of China and the East Indies, a kind of sago is made. These plants are propagated by suckers. _Zamia pumila_, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and other species of this remarkable genus of plants, which is nearly related to both ferns and palms, supply an amylaceous matter, which has been sold as arrowroot. A similar product is obtained from _Alstroemeria pallida_, a perennial plant, with pink red flowers, growing in Chili. From the nuts of the _Cycas circinalis_, the Singalese prepare an inferior kind of starch, by pounding the fresh kernels. These are cut in slices, and well dried in the sun before they are fit for use, otherwise when eaten they are intoxicating, and occasion vomiting and purging.

The quantity of starch in a plant varies according to the period of growth. The results of examination on the comparative yield of starch in the potato, showed that while it abounded towards the latter part of the season, it decreased when the tubers began to germinate in the spring. It was found by Professor Balfour that 240 lbs. of potatoes left in the ground, contained of starch--

lbs. Per cent.
In August 23 to 25 or 9.6 to 10.4
September 32 " 38 " 13.3 " 16
October 32 " 40 " 13.3 " 16.6
November 38 " 45 " 16 " 18.7
April 38 " 28 " 16 " 11.6
May 28 " 20 " 11.6 " 8.3

The quantity of starch remained the same during the dormant state of winter, but decreased whenever the plant began to grow, and to require a supply of nourishment.

Mr. Harris, of Jamaica, some years ago, made experiments upon the nutritious qualities of the principal roots and vegetables of the West Indies. These being well washed and scraped, were grated, in each case into two gallons of clear rain-water, and the whole then filtered through a clean linen strainer, after which it was left to settle; when the amylaceous matter had wholly subsided the supernatant liquor was carefully decanted, and fresh water added, which process was repeated until every foreign substance appeared to be removed; the produce of these several operations was then carefully collected and dried with a temperature of about 110 deg. Fahrenheit, and, when dry, weighed. In this manner the results given in the following table were obtained:--

PRODUCE FROM FIVE POUNDS OF THE
Oz. Drms. Centes. prop.
Root of the sweet cassava (_Janipha
Loeflingii_) 14 1 17.27
Root of ocoes or taniers (_Caladium
esculentum_) 11 17 14.29
Root of the bitter cassava (_Janipha
manihot_), the Yucca amarga of the
Spaniards 11 2 13.90
Full grown but unripe fruit of the plantain
(_Musa paradisiaca_) 11 1 13.82
Root of the Guinea yam (_Dioscorea_
_bulbifera_) 8 6 10.46
Root of the sweet potato (_Batatas_
_edulis_) 8 6 10.46
Root of the arrowroot (_Maranta_
_arundinacea_) 5 6 6.71
The full-grown but unripe fruit of the banana
(_Musa sapientum_) 0 0 0.00

This table exhibits, no doubt, very unexpected results, since it places the sweet cassava at the very top, and the banana at the lowest place in the list, while the bitter cassava, which seems to be little more than a variety of the sweet, notwithstanding its being the staple material of West Indian bread, occupies two places lower down, and is followed by the plantain. The sweet potato and the yam, both of which are considered to be less nutritious than the arrowroot, rank above it in the centesimal proportion of their amylaceous produce. Upon what, then, do the nutritive properties of these various substances depend? Is it upon a gluten which was overlooked by Mr. Harris, in his experiments, or, if not, may we not suspect some inaccuracy in the proportion of starch assigned by him to each? It is to be wished that similar experiments were repeated with care in different quarters, and the list extended to other tropical products applicable to human sustenance, especially the roots which yield the farinaceous starch of the South Sea islanders, to the achira of Choco, &c.

I shall extract largely from a very valuable report drawn up by Dr. John Shier, agricultural chemist, of Demerara, and submitted to the Governor of that colony in 1847, on the starch-producing plants, which is deserving of more widely extended publicity than the merely local circulation it has received. The remarks and results of experiments are worthy of deep consideration; and although they were meant to apply specially to British Guiana, they are equally pertinent to the West India colonies generally, our African and Australian settlements, and many other of our foreign possessions.

For many reasons it is desirable that the number of the staples of cultivation and export of our colonies should be increased. It is the general experience of British agriculturists, that the mixed system of agriculture is more profitable to the farmer and safer for the land, than the continued cultivation of any single crop, or indeed of nearly allied crops; and although fewer valid objections can be urged against the continued cultivation of the sugar cane, when properly conducted, than against that of grain crops, it is nevertheless certain that a well-arranged alternation or rotation of crops would be better. When an efficient system of covered drainage is adopted in British Guiana, there can be no doubt that the sugar cane will be replanted at shorter intervals of time than at present, and that other crops, such as provender crops for cattle, and provision crops for the colonial and perhaps the home market, will be made to alternate in cultivation with the cane. When the cane rows are as far apart as they require to be, to admit of sufficient tillage with the plough and other implements, it will also be possible to intercalate crops of rapidly growing plants; and were this done, as it easily might, in such a manner as to prevent undue exhaustion of the land, or impoverishment of the sugar crop, the returns could not fail to be materially increased. It would then probably be found that the fluctuations in prices would be less felt, for they would not likely, at the same time, affect different crops in the same manner.

It has been ascertained, in regard to some plants at least, that a much larger return can be obtained in the colonies than can be grown in temperate countries, however fertile. This is partly owing to the greater fertility of the soil under powerful tropical atmospheric influences, and partly to the fact that vegetation is continuous throughout the year, so that slow growing plants can do more within the time, from their functions not being arrested by the chill of winter; and of many rapidly growing plants, two successive crops can be grown within the year.

Starch is a substance easily manufactured, and being largely used in several of the arts, as well as an article of diet, there consequently exists a considerable demand for it in England. It may be obtained from a great variety of plants, and many of the most productive of it are natives of the tropics.

The high prices commanded by grain and breadstuffs in Europe, renders the present a remarkably favorable time to ascertain what can be done in this branch of tropical agriculture; for should the potato disease return, or this root be less extensively planted than hitherto, starch must maintain a high price, and it will be worth ascertaining whether some of the superior starch-producing plants of the tropics might not be cultivated to such an extent as to supply the English market, and thus be at once profitable to the colonies and advantageous to the mother country.

Before entering on such a cultivation, however, various points require investigation. We ought to be able to answer such questions as the following:--

1. What differences exist between the characters of starch produced by different plants?

2. What are the qualities or properties that lead manufacturers--calico printers for example--to prefer one variety to another?

3. For culinary purposes, and as an article of diet, what qualities or characters obtain a preference?

4. Can the starches from different plants be distinguished from one another by distinct and well marked characters, so that the substitution of a less esteemed variety for a more esteemed one, or the adulteration of a high priced variety with a cheaper one, could be readily detected?

5. What plants produce the most esteemed varieties?

6. What plants produce it in the largest quantity?

7. What plants produce the largest yield per acre?

8. From what plants is it most easily manufactured?

9. Is the process attended with any particular difficulties that ought to deter the East and West India planters from engaging in it?