XV TOUS-LES-MOIS 283 



In the process of manufacture the greatest cleanliness Cleanliness 

 must be observed, and care must also be taken to exclude ^^^^"^'^ • 

 dust and insects from the arrowroot. On estates in St. 

 Vincent and Bermuda, where the starch is made in large 

 quantities, the buildings and the machinery are kept scru- 

 pulously clean, and highly polished German silver shovels 

 are used to take up and pack the arrowroot. In St. Vincent, ^^^H^^ 

 too, the various process of manufacture and drying and 

 packing are done in houses roofed with glass so as to keep 

 away dust and other foreign matters, and thus to ensure the 

 making of a product of great purity. 



TOUS-LKS-MOIS. Ca7ina ediilis. 



A KIND of arrowroot called tous-lcs mois was imported into Cultivation 

 England from St. Kitts about the year 1836 ; and, as it was '" ^^- ^'"'• 

 found to be a valuable article of food, it has made a place 

 for itself in the home markets. The imports into England 

 are still mainly from St. Kitts, but the plant producing the 

 starch is now cultivated extensively in Austraha. The The starch 

 starch granules of tous-les-mois are very large, and they can g^^""^^^ ^'"^ 

 be distinguished with the unaided eye ; whilst, in the case 

 of all other starches, with the exception of that from the 

 potato, the granules can only be detected by means of the 

 microscope. 



Tous-les-mois is obtained from the fleshy underground Habitat, 

 stems, or tubers, of Canna edulis, a plant closely allied to 

 the Marantas, and found growing wild in Brazil, Peru, and 

 Trinidad. Other varieties of Canna., producing tous-les- 

 mois, are natives of Jamaica, Dominica and St. Kitts, but 

 C. edulis is the one usually cultivated for the sake of its 

 starch. It is a very hardy plant, and in Peru, where it is 

 called Adeira, it is eaten like potatoes. The flowers are Description 

 highly coloured ; in Canna edulis they are bright red, and °^^^^p^^"> 

 in other species they are various shades of yellow and orange, 



