224 



250 tons per diem. 



Internal fittings and appliances £12,500 



Buildings ... 10,000 



Total cost £22,500 



Allowing for interest, depreciation and all charges, the cost of 

 working a ton of potatoes amounts to 8/ ; with tubers containing 

 22 per cent, of starch a ton of starch costs 37/ to produce and with 

 ordinary grades of tubers with 16 per cent, of starch the cost of 

 production rises to 536 per ton of starch, although 15/ must be 

 deducted from this as the value of the extra output of pulp reducing 

 the net cost of manufacture of starch from potatoes to 38/6 per ton. 



So far as I am able to judge, it appears clear and plain that if we 

 can bring to bear upon the cassava industry in Jamaica a modicum 

 of brains, enterprise and business acumen we should be able 

 entirely to replace the German potato starch at present being placed 

 upon the English market with a far better product produced at 

 half the cost of the German article. 



Cassava and cotton should form an admirable rotation : both 

 flourish under the same conditions. There are large areas in 

 Jamaica just too dry for bananas or cocoa and at present not 

 producing a net return of 5/ per acre to their owners that might 

 easily produce starch worth £lOO,000 to £200,000 per annum in the 

 English market. 



CITRONELLA AND LEMON-GRASS* 



By J. Ch. Sawer, F.L.S., F.C.S.** 



From all quarters arrive complaints about the obscurity still ex- 

 isting with regard to the actual identity or correct nomenclature of 

 the grasses both wild and cultivated, which yield on distillation oils 

 of considerable commercial importance, and notwithstanding the 

 efforts of botanists, contradictory assertions have been made in 

 text-books, by authorities of repute, especially with regard to the 

 citronella and lemon-grass of the West Indies. Thus, Tschirch 

 ("Indische Heil and Nutzpflanzen" (Berlin 1892, R. Gaertner), page 

 124) mentions Andropogon Schccnauthus Lin., as the mother plant of 

 lemon-grass oil ; the same statement being made in Engler and 

 Prantl's " Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien" and in the annual report 



• Reprinted from the Chemist and Dettggist, July 30th, 1904' 



•* It is with great regret that the death of Mr. J. Ch. Sawer on 23rd August is 

 recorded. He was always most willing to assist enquirers and add to the vast 

 amount of information stored in the works published by him, — " Odorographia, 

 a Natural History of Raw Materials and Drugs used in the Perfume Industry, 

 intended to serve growers, manufacturers, and Cv-nsumers." Gurney and Jackson, 

 London, 1892. The .^econd volume, published in 1894, is a continuation and 

 includes the aromatics used in flavouring. Editor. 



