GKAMINE^.. 286 



Europeans the sago loustitutecl the ijiiiicipal I'<km1 of the natives of Malacca, 

 soutliern China, and the adjacent isles. 



Preparation. — The tree grows best in a muddy l)i)g. An acre yields about 

 300,000 pounds, and a single tree produces about 500 pounds, — a very large 

 tree, 900 pounds. It is cut at the foot, just as it is about to fruit, which 

 occurs when the tree is from fifteen to twenty years old. The top is taken off, 

 and a strip of the shell or outer coating is removed the wliole length of the 

 trunk, and with an instrument constructed by fastening a sharp stone to a 

 stick the pith is removed, leaving a thin shell not more than an inch thick. 

 The pith is kneaded in water, in large trouglis, by which jjrocess the starch or 

 sago is washed out and sinks to the bottom ; the water is tlien run off. This 

 starch, or sago, is then made into balls or rolls, which weigh thirty pounds 

 each, when it is ready for use, as crude or raw sago. The natives make it 

 into cakes, and bake it, iu which condition it will keep for years, and when 

 used it merely needs soaking. One tree will produce sufficient food to keep a 

 man for a year. 



There are several varieties of the sago, due to different methods of prepara- 

 tion. Pearl sago, the variety which reaches the American market, is prepared 

 in Singapore by the Chinese ; the raw sago is made into a paste, forced 

 through sieves and dried in pans over fire, and constantly stirred while under- 

 going the process. 



Use. — Sago furnishes the inhabitants of Malaysia and southern Asia a 

 food material equal in importance to rice in other parts of Asia. Many mil- 

 lions know no other food but fish and the crude sago. 



In Europe and the United States it is a popular material for puddings 

 and custards. It is pure starch, free from all irritating character, and 

 hence constitutes an excellent food for infants, old people, and convalescent 

 invalids. 



The leaves are used for thatching ; the leaf-stalks, immense in size, furnish 

 building material, and the fiber is used for cordage ; in fact, all parts of the 

 plant are applied to some use. 



Order LXI. GRAMINE^. 



Flowers perfect, occasionally monoecious or dioecious, sometimes 

 polygamous, each mostly with 2 opposite bracts or pale;^, the lower of 

 which is larger. Inflorescence in spikelets, the spikelets variously col- 

 lected into panicles or spikes. Perianth imperfect, seldom wanting, 

 composed of whorled hypogynous, membranous, or fleshy, irregular 

 scales, free or connate, 3, 2, or 1 in number, the outer alternate with 

 the paleae. Stamens hypogynous, 3 or 6 in number, seldom 4-2 or 1 ; 

 ovary free, 1-celled, 1-ovuled ; styles 2, very rarely 3, free or connate 

 at base, or united : stigmas with simple or branched hairs. Leaves 

 alternate, springing from the nodes; petiole dilated, convolute, sheath- 

 ing; sheath split in front, blade entire, mostly linear; stipule axillary 

 at the top of the leaf-sheath. Stem cylindrical, rarely flattened, fistular 

 or solid, mostly jointed at the insertion of the leaves; nodes annular, 

 solid, and swollen. 



Annuals or perennials, with fibrous or creeping rhizome, frequently 

 stoloniferous at the lower node. 



