MARANTA 



TIIK \i;i;<>\\ i;<Mii n.\\r ARUNDINACEA 



Arrowroot 

 the Others at IK 71, f><>.",; live y*tn later (1904 5) t|... Others 



-.panded i.. I; ''..L'nVSril. It is lieli. increased trallic mav, Kxporfeot 



in- extent, represent, the expansion in the manufacture 

 manures, the surplus, not required for India, lieinjj exported. I 

 (his increase in the exports of manures from India ha* 



from Madras and Burma. The imports of foreign manures are KO un- Import*. 

 important as >carcel\- to deserve notice. In 1904-6 thev \\er<- valued at 



0,080, and in l!>Oo-7 at R0. 66,106, and came almo | 

 from the l ; nited Kingdom. 



[Cf. Buchanan-Hamilton, Topog. Slat., etc.. East Ind. (od. Montgomery Murtin) 

 (many passages) ; Nicholls, Textbook Trop. Agri., 1892, 49-61 r>rov. 



Ind. Agri., 1893, 93-134; Somerville, Journ. Board Agri., Sept. I 

 146-51; Leather, Indian Manures, Agri. Lnl-:.. Is'.u, No. 3; I l<>; 



\o. 8, 1-38; 1903, No. 2; also Final Rept. Agri. Chem., 1897, eh. iii., 

 4!l -5U ; Thorpe, Diet. Appl. Chem., 1899, ii., 504-11 ; Shutt, Barnyard Manure, 

 U.S. Dept. Agri. Bull., 1898, No. 31 ; Woodrow, Gard. in Ind., 30-9, suppl. 7-10 ; 

 Ind. For., xvi., 112-9 ; Mollison, Textbook Ind. Agri., 1901, i., 83-133 ; Mukerji, 

 Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 502-69; Wheeler and Hartwell, Conditions D< < 

 Poison. Action of Chlorides, Agri. Exp. Stat. Rhode Island, 1903, 287-304 ; Watt 

 and Mann, Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant, 1903, 119-64 ; Roberts, Comm. 

 Fcrtil.,Agri. Exper. Stat.Calif. Bull., 1905, No. 171, 1-30; also Bull. 1904. 

 159, 1-30; Proc. Board Agri. Ind., 1906, 13-4, 117-20; Exper. Farm. Repts. 

 (all I'rov. for past decade) ; Comm. Fertil., extensive series Repts., etc., issued 

 l>\ tho U.S. Dept. Agri. from 1903 ; Dept. Land. Rcc. and Agri. Madras, Bull. 

 No. 31.] 



MARANTA ARUNDINACEA, Linn.; Prain, Beny. Plants, 

 1903, ii., 1047-8 ; SCITAMINE^:. West Indian Arrowroot, tikhar, tavkil, 

 nra rut. kuaka neshasteh, kuva mavu, tavaksha, pen-bwa, etc. A native of 

 Tropical America and of the West Indies, cultivated in India. It yields 

 the genuine or West Indian Arrowroot, so called to distinguish it from 

 K;i-t Indian, the. produce of Ciirrunnr iinijusti fulfil (see p. 444), with 

 which it is often confused. 



Cultivation. The cultivation of this rhi/ome is briefly as follows : Drills are 

 maile nlioiit 3 or 4 inches deep and 2 feet apart. On these the roots are planted 

 in May, it a distance of a foot and a half apart, and covered over by earth. 

 As i he plants grow, they should be earthed up in the same way as potatoes. 

 They reijuire good, rich soil and plenty of water, which should, however, be 

 withheld for a month or two previous to gathering the crop (Firminger, Man. 

 <i'iir<l. Ind. (ed. Cameron), 143-4). Of Cuttack, Banerjei states that it grows 

 \\ell on rather sandy soil, and of Bombay, Woodrow remarks that as rv^inU 

 soil it is by no means fastidious, " fine sand at Nariad and loam and clay- loam 

 at Poona being equally suitable provided heavily manured and irrigated." 

 Flowering takes place in August, and in January or February the crop may be 

 taken up. The maturity of the rhizomes may be ascertained by the falling 

 down of the leaves. In digging up the crop it is impossible not to leave behind 

 small portions of the rhizomes, and from these fresh plants spring, so that it is 

 often difficult to eradicate the plant from soils on which it has been once grown. 

 The smaller rhizomes and the pointed ends of the larger ones, on which the " eyes " 

 are situated, should be kept for fresh planting. According to Woodrow, the 

 I >n id nre in green tubers is generally 6 to 7 tons per acre, though over \- t<ms 

 have been produced at Poona. According to Nicholls the rhizomes contain 

 20 per cent, or even more of starch, and in Natal as much as a ton of arrowroot 

 has been made from the rhizomes derived from an acre. It is generally said 

 that cultivation should not be attempted in localities remote from a liberal 

 supply of water, since irrigation 'may not only be required by the crop, but water 

 is essential in the manufacture of the arrowroot. 



Manufacture. The method of preparing the arrowroot is simple. The rhizomes 

 after being well washed are scraped with a knife to remove the rind, and at the 

 same time diseased or imperfectly formed portions are picked out and thrown away. 



773 



D.E.P., 

 v., 180-4. 

 Arrowroot. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Mfc 



.- I.-"! - 



Propagation. 

 Yield. 



Prepara- 

 tion. 



