234 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAGB GABDENKB. 



[ Septombei- 10, 187-J. 



vasea in some shady sheltered place for a few weeks after 

 filling in summer, before being placed on exposed places on 

 terraces in the blaze of the sun ; this is not so necessary in the 

 case of large vases with a large body of boU. — The Squire's 

 Gabdeneb.— (r/ie Gardener.) 



SAGO. 



Saqo is nearly pnre starch, obtained from various species 

 of Lidian Palms. In the ladian Archipelago it is procured 

 from Sagus Eumphii, Sagus Isevis, and Sagus genuina ; on 

 the Coromandel coast from Phcenis farinifera ; in Ceylon from 

 Corypba umbra- 

 culiiera; and in 

 Assam from Cary- 

 ota urens. 



These trees are 

 cut down, and 

 from the pith fill- 

 ing their stems the 

 sago is extracted. 

 The pith is tho- 

 roughly washed, 

 and from the wash- 

 ing, when allowed 

 to rest, the fecula 

 or stai'oh subsides ; 

 this is the sago 

 flour of commerce, 

 of which large 

 quantities are used 

 in the manufac- 

 ture of calico. 

 When used as food 

 it is granulated, 

 and known as pearl 

 sago. Tapioca is 

 really sago in 

 lumps, and was so 

 called merely be- 

 cause the French, 

 who introduced it 

 from India, named 

 it Sagou-tapioka. 

 About eight thou- 

 sand tons of sago 

 are annually im- 

 ported. 



Sagus Kumphii 

 (fuj. 72), is a small 

 tree, comparative- 

 ly speaking, not 

 above 30 feet high. 

 It is a native of the 

 Indian Archipela- 

 go, particularly of 

 Malacca, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, Celebes, 

 and the Moluccas. 

 Before the tree has 

 arrived at maturi- 

 ty the stem con- 

 sists of a mere 

 shell, about 2 ins. 

 thick, filled with 

 a great mass of 

 spongy pith, be- 

 coming gradually 



absorbed, and ultimately the stem remains hollow. At the time 

 when the pith is fully developed, and before it has begun to di- 

 minish, which is indicated by the superior leaves being covered 

 with a sort of farina or white dust, the tree is felled, and the 

 trunk cut into lengths of G or 7 feet long, which are split to 

 admit of the pith being more easily removed. The pith is iu the 

 state of a coarse powder, and is mixed with water in a trough 

 having a sieve at one end ; the water, loaded with farina, 

 passes through the sieve, and is received iu convenient vessels, 

 where it is allowed to stand till the insoluble matter has sub- 

 sided. The water is then strained o£f, and the farina which 

 is left maybe dried into a kind of meal, or moulded into what- 

 ever shape may be desired. Sago, as it comes to this country, 

 is prepared by forming the meal into a paste with water, and 



rubbing it into grains; it is produced in the greatest abundance 

 in the Moluccas, but of the finest quality on the eastern coast 

 of Sumatra. The Chinese of Malacca refine it, so as to give 

 it a fine pearly lustre, and large quantities are also prepared 

 at Singapore. It is said that a single tree will yield from 5U0 to 

 600 lbs. of sago. Sago forms the principal food of the natives 

 of the Moluccas. A decoction of sago fermented yields alcohol 

 by distillation, and by asceseence it forms vinegar. The fruit 

 of this Palm is the size of a hen's egg. The base of the leaf- 

 stalks is covered with long fibrous filaments, that serve to 

 make cordage and sacking. 



Fig. 72.— Sago palm— saods Knupmi. 



NOTES AND 

 GLEANINGS. 

 The growth of 

 Tea and Sugar in 

 European soil are 

 perhaps branches 

 of culture which 

 we can scarcely 

 expect to be re- 

 munerative in a 

 commercial point 

 of view. Be this 

 as it may, the Su- 

 gar-cane is now 

 grown and sugar 

 manufactured to 

 some extent in the 

 neighbourhood of 

 Malaga, Spain. 

 Tea has also been 

 introduced Into 

 the southern dis- 

 tricts of SicUy ; 

 and though the 

 first attempt made 

 last year to raise 

 the plants on a 

 large scale was not 

 successful, owing, 

 it is said, to the 

 injury caused to 

 the plants and 

 seeds by immer- 

 sion in sea water 

 on their transit 

 from Japan, it is 

 confidently hoped 

 and believed by 

 the promoters that 

 another attempt 

 with healthy seeds 

 and plants will 

 prove quite suc- 

 cessful. Mean- 

 while Tea is being 

 grown at the Cin- 

 chona plantations 

 iu Jamaica, and a 

 sample has re- 

 cently been re- 

 ceived at the Kcw 

 Museum, which 

 was grown and 

 manufactured as 

 above from Assam 

 So far as the ap- 

 roughly manipn- 



Taa plants received through Kew iu 18G9. 

 pearanoe of the sample is concerned, it is 

 lated, not being sufficiently twisted or curled, and apparently 

 not sufticiently roasted. Nevertheless, its manufacture is little 

 inferior to that of the earliest samples of Assam Tea that ap- 

 peared in the English market. Its quality, however, is another 

 thing, for it produces a very watery infusion of a very herby 

 flavour, and devoid of the aroma for which Tea is noted. Care, 

 however, in the, cultivation of the plant, as well as in the 

 selection and manipulation of the leaves, may in time produce 

 a more marketable article. — (Nature.) 



Nature remarks that the OcnRO (Abelmosohns eson- 



leutus), a Malvaceons plant, is well known in all tropical 

 countries, being cultivated for the sake of its fruits, which are 



