THE STARCH-PRODUCING- PLANTS OP CEYLON. 195 



The plant thrives on even the poorest soil, bnt it does not appear to be 

 so generally used as one might expect. The mode of planting it is simple. 

 It consists in laying cuttings a foot long in square pits a foot deep, and 

 covering them with mould, leaving the upper ends open. From two 

 to four pieces may be planted in each square. The planting 

 ought to be in the rainy season ; the cuttings must be made from the full 

 grown stem. Eight months after the planting the roots are fit for use. At 

 Putlam, the sweet cassava, after being planted for three or four months, is 

 fit to be dug for use. The plant soon exhausts the soil, and no more than 

 three successive crops can be raised on the same spot. A humid soil causes 

 the root to decay ; a dry soil is, therefore, more adapted for its cultivation. 



The name " Jatropha," the original generic name, is derived from two 

 Greek words, signifying " a remedy " and " to eat." The poisonous pro- 

 perty in the root may be removed by washing and boiling, and it is owing 

 to the carelessness of persons in not attending to these points that serious 

 consequences have been known to residt. 



The fecula or starch of the cassava is called moussache or cipipa ; the 

 grains of which, when prepared in hot plates burst and agglomerate in 

 irregular gurn-like masses. This receives the name of tapioca. To prepare 

 tapioca, take 1 oz. of the grains, steeped in soft water for an hour, pour off 

 the superfluous water, and boil with 1 lb. of water for an hour ; a trans- 

 parent uniform lymph-like fluid is obtained, which jellies on cooling, and 

 has a peculiarly rich and agreeable flavour. 



The Cassava affords a very superior arrow-root, which is imported into 

 Europe, under the name of Brazilian arrow-root. The imports into the 

 United Kingdom of this powder and tapioca now reach nearly 3,917 cwts. 



I prepared some starch of the sweet Cassava, growing at Putlam, by 

 grating the tuberous root. From a large root weighing 10^ lb., I obtained 

 nearly 1 lb. of pure starch. 



Arrow-root, on the score of nutritious properties, is not to be compared 

 to it. The Cassava plant will grow anywhere in Ceylon, and it is cul- 

 tivated in considerable patches by the natives of Jaffna, for the sake of its 

 yams, which grow freely, and to a large size in the loose sandy soil of the 

 peninsula. The natives do not often take the trouble of reducing the roots 

 to flour. Like a great many other products to which agriculturists are 

 invited to turn their attention, the Janipha Manihot is of an exhaustive 

 nature, and patches of deep rich soil are not over-plentiful in Ceylon. 

 Still it might be grown profitably in the neighbourhood of houses. The 

 raw root when immediately out of the ground is poisonous — when exposed 

 to the sun for a short time it is innocuous, and when boiled quite whole- 

 some. The juice forms one of the ingredients in the celebrated pepper- 

 pot of the West Indies. The plant, which bears a considerable resemblance 

 to the tree cotton, is propagated by cuttings, and grows easily if not killed 

 by too much damp. As blossoms are occasionally plucked off potato 

 plants, so the Manihot is deprived of its buds to increase the size of its 

 roots. The Manihot, like so many other tuberous plants, is indigenous to 

 South America. In Madagascar it is the ordinary food of the inhabitants, 



p 2 



