603 



pp. 13, 14). In Malacca planting is done with 4 in. cuttings 

 ^1 in. thick, laid flat | in. below the soil, 4 ft. by 4 ft. for the 

 fiirit crop and 3 ft. by 3 ft. for the second and third; the crops 

 are ready in 20, 17 and 14 months respectively when the hght; 

 variety is planted and 10 months wdth the dark variety (Bamber. 

 Roy. Bot. Gardens, Ceylon, Circ. No. 13, Oct, 1908, p. 103), 

 Harvesting is started when the roots are mature which may 

 vary as stated above according to variety, if for the production 

 of starch they should be treated immediately and if for food 

 dug up as required. In the Hausa, Yoruba and Nupe Countries 

 under cultivation it is an unmanured plant, usually grown in 

 separate fields surrounded by mud walls or guinea-corn malting 

 hedges made of intert\^ined thorn branches, p\si,nted Euphorbia^ 

 Jatropha or Acacia, the crops following being usually cotton, 

 the field for this being manured ; near Bida (Nupe) cassava is 

 frequently grown as a shade crop for onions, in this case being 

 planted around the onion beds twenty days after the planting 

 of the onions and harvested a month later than this crop ; the 

 high state of cultivation necessary for the onions is beneficial 

 to the Cassava (Dudgeon, Agric. & For. Prod. W. Afr. p. 152; 

 3rd Ann. Rep. Agric. N. Nig. Gaz. July 31st, 1909, pp. 150, 



157). 



For export the root may be dried, made into starch or 

 prepared as *^ Tapioca," In drying the root t^e usual practice 

 in India is to first remove the skin, then cut into tliin sUces and 

 expose them to the sun for five or six days consecutively until 

 quite dry (Pillay, Agric. Journ. India, iv. 1909, p. 85). 



Cassava starch is made in much the same way as that of 

 Arrowroot {Maranta armidinacea ^ q.t\ p. 668) and briefly the 

 roots are washed peeled and grated (by machinery) and the 

 grated mass washed and re-washed until the deposit — all the 

 lighter particles float off — or staifeh is a pure white, after wliicli 

 it is dried and packed for use as starch or the semi-diied mass 

 is made into Tapioca— the following being the method practised 

 in the Straits Settlements,—** At this point (completion of the 

 manufacture of the starch the processes for the making of peaii 

 and of flake tapioca diverge. Pearl tapioca is made by taking 



the damp half-dried blocks of starch breaking them up and in 

 a cloth by a jerking backwards and forwards movement making 

 the meal to form into pellets. The jerking requires skill and 

 upon the way in which it is done the size of the pearl depends. 

 By means of sieves the pearls are afterwards graded and then 

 torrefied in big ovens on hot plates. Flake tapioca is made by 

 taking the starch slightly damp and putting a thin layer on 

 the hot plates, stirring gently until it is torrefied enough.*' 

 (Burkill, Agric. Ledger, No. 10, 1904, p. 137). 



It is probable that where starch can be prepared it is better 

 to ship it as such or prepared as " Tapioca,'^ and up to 1909 

 cassava from Brazil was almost entirely shipped in the form of 

 flour; but it has been found that it is more remunerative, owing 

 to the difficulties of grinding and preparing it, to export the 



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