98 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



be warm (say, from 65deg. to 70deg.), which brings 

 the planting into September and October in the cooler 

 sections of the country. In about 14 days, strong spiral 

 shoots appear above ground, and the soil has to be kept 

 clean as for corn. The plants grow rapidly. The eaves 

 are broad at the tops, and borne upon stalks not unlike 

 those of maize. In three months the tops spread over the 

 whole of the field, and are from three to five feet in height. 

 The bulbs at the same time are growing in a cluster around 

 the base of the stems to which they are firmly attached. 

 As the cultivation proceeds, the soil is worked up around 

 the stems. From six to eight months bring the crop to 

 maturity, some of the bulbs peeping above ground ; a 

 touch of frost aids ripening by shrivelling up the tops 

 and concentrating the sap in the bulbs. In other cases 

 when the tops wilt and dry up, the crop is ripe. Forks 

 and pronged hoes are used for digging, the work being 

 similar in many respects to potato digging, but with the 

 arrowroot the tops and tubers come out in a mass. The 

 latter are trimmed in the field, the tops, and as much of the 

 adhering soil as possible being trimmed off with heavy 

 knives. 



Manufacture. The bulbs are washed until they are 

 absolutely clean, and then grated into pulp in a very simple 

 sort of mill, to make which a sheet of galvanised iron, into 

 which holes have been punched, is nailed upon a round 

 piece or frame of wood, with the rough or grating surface 

 outwards. This grater is fixed under a hopper box, and 

 is turned with a handle. The bulbs must be pressed against 

 the grater, and there must also be a steady stream of water 

 flowing in upon the bulbs. They are thus quickly reduced 

 to a dark brown mass of fibry-looking pulp, which is 

 ran into long troughs, boxes, or tubs, in which it 

 is stirred and beaten about briskly in the clean water, the 

 object being to free the starch that is held in the cells and 

 fibres. The starch, being the heavier substance, falls to the 

 bottom, and the fibre and other lighter substances are 

 gathered or drifted off from the surface. The water has 

 to be changed several times, or better still when the settling 

 of starch is in long troughs, a current of water flows over 



