MANIHOT 



UTILISSIMA 

 Tapioca 



THE CASSAVA PLANT 



D.E.P., 

 v., 157. 

 Tapioca. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Stem Cutting 

 Irrigation. 



Weeding. 

 Seasons. 



Crop. 



Preparation. 



Cassava and 

 'Tapioca. 



Chemistry. 



Poisonous 

 Property. 



[<?/. Varthema, Travels, 1510 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 159 ; Baber, Memoirs, 1526 

 (Leyden and Erskine, transl.), 324 ; Garcia de Orta, 1563, Coll., xxxiv. ; Acosta, 

 Tract, de las Drogaa, 1578, 317 ; Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind., 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 

 ii., 23-6 ; Pyrard, Voy. E. Ind., etc., 1601 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 367 ; Jacobus 

 Bontius, Hist. Nat. et Med. Ind. Or., in Piso, Ind. Utri. Re Nat. et Med., 1629, 95 ; 

 Terry, Voy. E. Ind., 1655 (ed. 1777), 91 ; Boym, Fl. Sin., 1656, H. ; Mandelslo, 

 Travels, 1662, in Olearius, Hist. Muscovy, etc., 148 ; Fryer, New Ace. E. Ind. 

 and Pers., 1675, 182 ; Crawfurd, Journ. to Ava, 1834, ii., 218-9 ; Pharmacog. 

 Ind., i., 381-5 ; Moodeen Sheriff, Mat. Med. Mad., 1891, 120-2; Nicholls, Text- 

 book Trop. Agri., 1892, 85 ; Woodrow, Oard. in Ind., 1899, 239 ; Maries, Ind. 

 Mangos, in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc., 1901-2, xxvi., 755-70 ; Joret, Les PI. dans 

 L'Antiq., etc., 1904, ii., 286-7.] 



MANIHOT UTILISSIMA, Pohl. ; Fl. Br. Ind., v., 239 ; Gamble, 

 Man. Ind. Timbs., 589 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, ii., 940 ; M. palmata, 

 Mudl. ; Kew Mus. Guide, 1907, 187 ; EUPHORBIACE.E. Cassava, Tapioca, 

 Manioc, Mandiocca, maravuli, marachini, simla-alu, simul-alu, pulu pinan 

 myouk, etc. According to De Candolle, this is a native of America, but 

 cultivated for so long that the wild parent is no longer recognisable. 

 At the present day there are many widely different races. Some 

 botanists, moreover, regard M. palmata as a separate species, others 

 only as a variety of M. utilissima, from which it differs chiefly in the 

 absence of the acrid taste and poisonous principle of the latter. On 

 this account M. paltnata is known as the sweet, while the other form 

 is the bitter cassava (see p. 444). 



Cassava is cultivated in most of the provinces of India, and in view of the 

 fact that it is a drought-resisting plant, requiring only about 14 to 16 inches 

 of rain per annum, there has been considerable discussion as to whether its culti- 

 vation should not be more widely extended, in view of its value in times of famine. 

 The soil should be rich and light. Propagation is carried on by cuttings from 

 the stem, 4 to 8 inches long, which are half buried in the soil at an angle of 45 

 and placed in rows 4 feet apart. Planting can be done during the whole year, 

 but the best time is at the close of the cold season. Irrigation is employed in 

 some parts, chiefly about Pondicherry and Travancore, but hardly elsewhere. 

 During the first two months the young plants require a moderate supply of 

 water. After the crop is planted, no special cultivation is necessary except to 

 keep the soil free from weeds. 



The time the crop takes to mature depends on the particular race grown. 

 Most require about twelve months, though some only six and others as many 

 as eighteen. The yield per acre is very variously stated. In all cases it is large, 

 running from about 2,500 Ib. to as much as 30,000 Ib. or more (Agri. Ledg., 

 1904, No. 10, 144-5). 



From the roots, various preparations are made. The preliminary operations 

 are the same. The roots are scraped, carefully washed, and then reduced to 

 pulp by being passed through rollers. Subsequent stages vary according 

 to the product required, the most important of which are couac, cassava 

 meal, Brazilian arrowroot and tapioca. Couac is a coarse meal obtained from 

 the pulp by expressing the juice and then pounding and drying the remaining 

 particles. Cassava meal is simply couac of a greater degree of fineness. Brazilian 

 arrowroot is the starch washed out of the root, and tapioca is the same slightly 

 parched. In Cuddalore and Pondicherry the roots are sold after having been 

 part boiled (Agri. Ledg., I.e., 125). The juice of the tubers of the bitter variety 

 can be converted by boiling into a valuable product widely known as cassareep . 

 It is a wonderful antiseptic, will preserve fresh meat for considerable periods, 

 and is also the chief ingredient in many sauces. 



It was formerly supposed that the root consisted chiefly of starch with a 

 varying quantity of prussic acid, which latter in the case of the " sweet " cassava 

 was confined to the bark, but in the " bitter " occurred throughout the root. 

 To this prussic acid the numerous cases of cassava-poisoning which have at various 

 times occurred were said to be due. Leather, however (Cyanogenesis in Plants, 

 Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i., pt. iii., 223-4), states that a number of varieties were 



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