CUSH-CUSH. EUPHORBIACLE. 255 



vine. Yams are generally laid in when they ask to be planted, to 

 use a local expression, that is, when they send forth shoots, which 

 they infallibly do, however dry may be the place where they have 

 been kept. The tubercles may be dug up in December, or after 

 nine months ; they weigh from twelve to twenty-five pounds ; and 

 an acre of land, well prepared and properly attended to, may 

 yield from 7,000 to 9,000 pounds. The outlay may be calculated 

 at from sixty to seventy dollars per acre. Yams commonly sell 

 at three dollars per 100 pounds. 



Cush-cush (Dioscoreaalata). The cush-cush is very different 

 from the yam, and is perhaps the most delicate of all known 

 tubercles, but, with the drawback of not keeping beyond a few 

 days, it cannot be expected that it will ever be cultivated to any 

 great extent. The tubercles weigh from two to four pounds, and a 

 single plant may give from forty to sixty pounds. The cush-cush 

 requires a good light soil, and the same care as the yam ; it grows 

 from tubercles which must be planted immediately after being 

 dug. The crop is from February to May. 



Euphorbiacece. Manioc or Cassava root (Jatropha manihot). 

 This is divided into bitter and sweet cassava ; the latter of which 

 is an edible root, very farinaceous, and may be used either boiled 

 or roasted. The litter cassava is poisonous, and must undergo 

 certain processes before it can serve as food; there are three 

 varieties of the litter kind. From the roots are prepared flat 

 cakes called cassava bread, and also a coarse meal known as 

 farine, or manioc meal ; both of these are extensively used as a 

 substitute for bread, especially the farine which keeps a long time 

 when properly stored. From the same part of the plant is also 

 prepared a fine starch, which is in great request among washer- 

 women. 



To be made into these various preparations the roots are first 

 scraped clean, then washed, and grated ; after this, the pulp is 

 pressed so as to extract nearly all the juice it may contain. 

 When the pulp is to be made into cakes, it is laid on an iron 

 plate over a fire, and baked to the required point ; when to be 

 converted into meal, it is placed in a sort of a large pan, or on a 

 similar plate with a low rim, and stirred backwards and forwards, 

 as well to favour the regular diffusion of heat throughout the 

 mass, as to prevent its burning or uniting in lumps. The juice 

 is allowed to subside for two or three days, and then drawn off 



