Nov. 1, 1886.] 



THK TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



;jj5 



The alcoholic richness of sweet potato is unquestioned, 

 and the foUowiag table will give its -superiority 

 over the cereals ordinary employed at present for 

 distilling in Europe : — 



Francs Litres 



AYheat 19-75 to 21-30 28 to 30 



Rye 15-50 to 1(5-25 22 to 23 



Barley 17-75 to 20-00 U to 25 



Oats 17-23 to IQ'SO 20 to 21 



Buckwheat ... 16-00 to 17-00 24 to 25 



Maize 14-00 to 14-50 28 to 30 



Eice 18-00 to 1900 32 to 33 



Sweet Potato 

 Flour 1400 to 1500 38 to 39 



Maize, it will be seen, is the only cereal which is 

 as cheap as the potato flour, but it requires 324 kilog. 

 (714 lb.) of maize to make one hectolitre (22 gallons) 

 of pure alcohol, whilst it requires only 235 kilog- (519 

 lb.) of the flour to make the »ame amount of alcohol. 

 There is a great saving of time and combustibles when 

 distilling from the flour, as compared with the maize. 

 Alcohol from maize costs 10 f . per hectolitre more to 

 make, and when made sells from S f . to 10 f . less than 

 the alcohol made from the sweet potato flour. 



The question for the planter, however, is, AVill it 

 pay to grow sweet potatoes and to prepare the flour 

 for e.xport purposes ? 



The sweet potato at present cultivated in .Jamaica 

 is mostly intermingled with other plants in the provision 

 grounds of the negroes. Hardly any is cultivated by 

 Europeans. No definite area is returned as exclusively 

 devoted to this cultivation, and no returns or yield per 

 acre are available from authentic sources. A negro in 

 the same ground will have yam {Dioscorau), corn 

 (maize), sugar-cane, and possibly, also, two or thred 

 other plants, such as bananas, plantains, cocos 

 (Colocasia). 



Sweet potatoes thrive best in rich friable soil free 

 from clay. 



At the foot of the Liguanea Hills, and, indeed, in 

 most localities with the soil indicated above, they are 

 found to thrive. They are easily propagated by slips 

 or i^ortions of the stem planted in rows or in hills. 

 The roots come to maturity in three or four month.s, 

 » and the cultis-ation is continued by covering up the 

 stems when digging up the more perfect roots for 

 use. The crop comes in practically all the year round : 

 there is no regular season for it, and hence it can 

 be best harvested by examining the state of the roots, 

 iind taking out those that are found perfectly ripe. 

 The crop may be gathered at least three or four times 

 in the year ; but as to the amount or value of each 

 cropping, no data are immediately available. 



If the cultivation were undertaken by sugar planters, 

 and large areas were jjlanted with sweet potatoes, 

 there is no doubt that in Jamaica they might be 

 grown as advantageously and as successfully as any- 

 where. 



We apprehend that few of the West India Islands 

 would care to grow sweet potatoes to be utilised 

 simply in the manner indicated by M. Ealu. Why 

 should they go to the trouble and expense of drying 

 the tubers, reducing them to a meal and export the 

 latter to Europe to be there converted into spirit ? 

 If the whole process can be accomplished at the 

 Azores, there is no reason why it should not be also 

 accomplished in the West Indies. We say this with 

 due regard, of course, to auy patent rights hell by 

 M.- Ealu or his friends. At least, it is well worth 

 trying; and the number of sugar planters now on 

 the look-out for something to supplement the meagre 

 profits (or something worse) of a West Indian sugar 

 estate should lead to some concentrated and united 

 action being taken to examine and test everything 

 having the slightest hope of aiding them at the present 

 juncture. 



In relation to its size, Barbados at present grows 

 sweet potatoes more extensively than other West 

 Indian islands. They are grown as a catch-crop 

 between the regular intervals of planting the sugar 

 cane, and are generally sold as they stand, the pur- 

 chaser harvesting them himself. Here there would 

 b e uo difficulty in growiug sweet potatoes on the 



most extensive scale commensurate with the size of 

 the island ; but there are no stills already in existence 

 as in Jamaica, and botli the plant and the knowledge 

 of distilling would have to be introduced. Jamaica 

 has the advantage in this respect, for every sugar 

 estate there has its still-house, and when once the 

 modus operaHcli is known has regards this special 

 industry, it would be a very simple matter for the 

 Jamaica planter to distil alcohal pure and simple 

 from the sweet potato, as for him to distil rum from 

 molasses. The Barbados planter at present ships his 

 molasses either to Europe or America, or sells it to 

 the distillers., at Martinique, where it is used in the 

 preparation of French rum. 



It is not our intention to advocate, in auy decided 

 manner, the preparation of alcohol from sweet pota- 

 toes, or cypress a strong opinion either way. We 

 only wish to point out the AVest Indian planter a 

 possible means, in these hard times, of meeting a 

 demand which evidently exists for a certain article, 

 and to throw out suggestions which may be of ultimate 

 benefit to him. At St. Vincent, for instance, where 

 nothing at present appears to pay a well-established 

 industry connected with this method of utilising sweet 

 potatoes might give the i nitial start to local enterprise 

 and lead to a more prosperous state of things. Or, 

 again, there is Tobago, with its Metayer or quasi 

 co-operative system, which might oft'er an excellent 

 openiug for and industry of this kind, provided, of 

 course, it were taken up in a business-like and 

 systematic manner, and adapted to the special circums- 

 tances of the island. In fine, this is essentially a 

 matter which commends itself for consideration to 

 West Inilian planters in general, and they would do 

 well to look carefully into it. — European, Mail. 



THE PLANTAIN AND THE IIORSE-SHOE 



BAT IN BOENEO. 



The plantain of Paradise obtains its name from a 

 legend that Adam and Eve clothed themselves with 

 its broad green leaves after they had eaten the forbid- 

 den fruit. In India, where it is indigenous, the plan- 

 tain is termed Pisany ; here, as elsewhere, it is cult- 

 ivated as one of the principal sources of food. Jamaica, 

 it is said, would be scarcely ha bitable without the plant- 

 ain, as no species of flour or bread could supply its 

 place to support health and strength in the negro. 

 Bananas and plantains, when fully ripe, are eaten as 

 fruit, but unripe are boiled as a vegetable, and eaten 

 with meat or fish. In South America the ripe fruits 

 of both i^lantain and banana are first dried, then 

 pounded into flour, which is made into biscuits- One 

 iiundred weight of dried fruits yields forty pounds of 

 dry meal; four hiuidred and fifty pounds yield a weight 

 of meal (sic). A fermented liquor, also an excellent 

 temperance drink, is made from both plantain and 

 banana. The ripe fruit of either being pressed through 

 a cane sieve, is first wrapped in the green leaves, and 

 then dried in the sun for future use ; one of these 

 dried portions being dissolved in water, there results 

 a pleasant, nourishing, and refreshing drink. The 

 plants of all the tribe Musaca^ attains perfection in 

 ten mouths from the first planting to the ripening of 

 the fruit. The growth of the fruit, either banana or 

 plantain, is peculiar and unlike any other. When the 

 tree-stem is fully grown, spikes of flowers appear from 

 the centre of the top ; these spikes are from four to 

 six feet lon^ with knots of blossom on one side only ; 

 this is followed by the fruit, each being about twelve 

 inches long, growing in green clusters, forming a 

 bunch sometimes upwards of forty pounds in weight. 

 The bulb at the end of the spike somewhat resembles 

 in colour and shape a bullock's heart. The cluster 

 of fruit is generally taken olf before ripe, it mellows, 

 turns yellow, and .eatable. Sometimes it is left to 

 ripen when it becomes a dainty to be stolen by 

 animals. Bats are fond of bananas, particularly the 

 horse-shoe bat, which has a dark projecting ridge 

 over its upper lip, resembling a horse-shoe. These 

 bats are precisely similar to those of Madagascar; 

 there they are termed itousettes, lu Borneo this bat 



