100 AUSTRALIAN AQBICOLTUBK. 



through fine perforations on the outside of the drums, is 

 then carried in suspension by the water to a long series of 

 troughs, where it is gradually deposited in a solid mass, 

 and the water flows off. The arrowroot, now a creamy- 

 coloured starch, is then washed in vats, and becomes 

 almost white. It is then put into centrifugal machines 

 and freed from the water. To complete the drying pro- 

 cess, the arrowroot (now beautifully white and sparkling) 

 is laid out in trays in the sun. When perfectly dry it is 

 put up in the bags and packets familiar all over the 

 country, and is ready for use a delightful, light, nourish- 

 ing warmth giving food for the invalid and healthy. The 

 yield of bulbs of the purple varieties varies between ten 

 and fifteen tons per acre. A ton of bulbs gives rather more 

 than one cwt of manufactured arrowroot. The white 

 variety is grown and manufactured in the same way as 

 the purple, but the yield is much less. 



MILLETS. Broom Corn, Sorghum, &c. Under the name 

 of millet, sorghum, farmer's friend, &c., a great variety of 

 grain-bearing plants are cultivated, but mostly for cutting 

 green for feed. They all require hot weather, and are 

 annual summer crops, sown in the cooler districts in August 

 to October, and in the hot districts from April to January. 

 As grain, none of the millets are used to the extent they 

 deserve. In Italy, parts of Germany, in India, China, 

 and many other countries, millet seed, ground into meal, 

 is an important portion of the food of the people. It is 

 inferior to oats or wheat for that purpose, but being an 

 easily produced crop on ordinarily good soil, it is 

 worth growing, first as green feed (it stands cutting 

 four or five times during the season) and secondly 

 as grain for poultry and pig-feeding, &c. Some of 

 the varieties also yield sugar (crushed out of the 

 cane and manufactured in the same way as cane-sugar), 

 but it is an inferior article for that purpose, and will not 

 stand competition with the cane. The soil may be either 

 strong or medium for the millets. Plough as for a 

 grain crop; when wanted for cutting green, drill in the 

 seed in rows of 29 inches apart, and cultivate between the 

 rows until the ground is shaded by the plants. For seed, 



