114 GAEDENT PLANTS. PART II. 



of a spurious kind is also obtained from the roots of two or three 

 other plants. I have been informed that large quantities, the 

 produce of Curcuma angustifolia, are exported to England from 

 the Madras Presidency under the name of Indian Arrowroot. 

 This is of a very inferior kind, and may be distinguished at once 

 from the genuine, which is pure white, by its yellow tinge and 

 by its not thickening in boiling water. Genuine Arrowroot 

 may also be discovered by aid of the microscope, its granules 

 being very distinct from those of any spurious kind. I cannot 

 tell why any but the genuine kind should be produced at all 

 in this country, or whether any difficulty is experienced in the 

 cultivation of M. arundinacea on the Madras side; in Bengal 

 the plant may be obtained in any abundance, and cultivated 

 with the greatest ease. Dr. Jameson states, too, that it thrives 

 in the Saharunpore district and throughout the North-West 

 Provinces. 



The roots should be put in the ground in the month of May. 

 Drills should be made about three or four inches deep and two 

 feet apart, in which the roots should be laid at the distance of 

 a foot and a half from one another, and the earth covered over 

 them. As the plants grow, they should be earthed up in the 

 same manner that Potatoes are. They love a good rich soil, 

 and plenty of water during the time of their growth; which 

 latter, indeed, they get naturally, as their growing time is 

 during the Rains. They bear their small white flowers about 

 August, and in January or February the crop may be taken up 

 for use. A month or two previous, however, water should be 

 entirely withholden, to allow the roots to ripen. They are of a 

 pure ivory-white colour, and should be as large as moderate- 

 sized Carrots. The smaller ones should be reserved for a fresh 

 planting, and the pointed ends also of the larger ones, at the 

 extremities of which the eyes are situated, should be broken off, 

 three inches in length, and kept for the same purpose. 



The mode of preparing the Arrowroot is very simple. The 

 roots after being well washed should be pounded to a pulp in a 

 wooden mortar, which may be hired for the occasion from the 

 bazar. The pulp should be thrown into a large vessel of water, 

 which will become turbid and milky, a portion of the pulp 

 remaining suspended in it as a fibrous mass. The fibrous part 

 should be lifted up, rinsed, pounded again in the mortar, thrown 



