28o 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP 



tudes of weather than almost any others that can be pro- 

 duced " in the tropics, wet weather and dry weather appear- 

 ing not to alter the yield to any appreciable extent provided 

 the soil is sfood. 



Propaga- 

 tion. 



Furrows. 



Weeding. 



Cutting off 

 the flowers. 



Cultivation. — The plant is propagated by means of 

 young shoots detached from the parent stool, or by division 

 of the rhizomes. The land should be ploughed deeply and 

 then harrowed. Afterwards furrows are made to a depth of 

 six inches at the distance of three feet from each other. 

 The shoots are planted in these furrows about twelve inches 

 apart, and covered with soil either by means of the plough 

 or the hoe. The land is kept weeded ; and, in the early 

 stage of growth of the plants the soil may be advantageously 

 turned over between the rows by light ploughing. It has 

 been advised that the flowers should be cut off as they appear, 

 so that the rhizomes may be increased in size and number 

 by preventing the waste of the strength of the plants in the 

 effort of flowering. Such a system is in accordance with 

 scientific teaching, and its adoption is to be recommended. 



Crop.— Returns may be expected in eleven months, and 

 as May is the best month for planting, the rhizomes may 

 be dug up in March or April, and they will then be found to 

 be densely packed with starch granules. The maturity of 

 the rhizomes is known by the flagging and falling down of 

 the leaves ; and when this occurs the plants should be 

 dug up with the fork, and the rhizomes should be broken 

 off from the leafy stems, and washed so as to remove the 

 adhering particles of earth. In the process of lifting the 

 plants, small pieces of the stems and roots are always 

 left in the ground, and from these remnants fresh plants 

 The hardy Spring up. For this reason, it is very difficult to eradicate 

 pfan[.^° "^ arrowroot from land where it has once been cultivated, for 

 the plant is of a hardy nature, and thus very small portions 

 of the rhizomes are capable of growing into large clumps. 

 The rhizomes contain twenty per cent, or even more of 



Returns in 



eleven 



months. 



Digging 

 up the 

 rhizomes. 



