CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



The Doum Palm of Egypt.— Fruit edible — Kernel made into beads . , 291 



The Dwaep Palm. — Its distribution in Africa — Use of tbe leaves for 

 paper-making — " Crin vegetal " or curled fibre — Its uses — Statistics 

 of exports from Algeria 292 



SECTION III. — The Tropical Cereals and Starch-producing Plants. 



Indian Maize or Corn. — Wide distribution of the plant — Of American 

 origin — Immense yield in the United States — Tlie produce equals the 

 wheat crop of the whole earth — Prejudice against corn meal — Its use, 

 however, extending in Europe — Large proportion of oil in maize — 

 Chemical composition of differeut varieties — Broad divisions of maize 

 into table maize and farm maize — Use of the stem and leaves for paper- 

 making — Sorts best adapted for maize — Names of varieties grown — 

 Instructions for culture — Planting corn — Preparation of the soil — 

 Statistics of crops in the United States — Imports into the United 

 Kingdom — Production in Australia — Description of the principal 

 varieties of maize grown — Food preparations of maize — Various 

 economic applications of the grain — Sugar from the saccharine sap — 

 Chica, or maize beer — Food for stock — Grain sometimes so plentiful 

 as to be biu-ned for fuel — Production in France, in Italy, in Hungary, 

 in Greece and Algeria — Maize starch, or corn flour 295 



Rice. — ^Most extensively diffused and useful of the grain crops — Com- 

 mercial qualities — Statistics of imports into the United Kingdom — 

 Enumeration of botanical species and varieties of rice — Analyses and 

 chemical composition of various rices — Growth of rice in Italy — 

 Statistics of exports to India — Extensive culture in — Three recognised 

 classes of paddy in Bengal, with more than 1100 varieties — Loss in 

 husking paddy, one-third to half — Statistics of consumption in Bengal 

 and Behar— Average yield — Comparative results of irrigation and dry- 

 crops — Comparative yield in various countries — Statistics of exports, 

 and their nature, from India — The Burmese recognise a hundred 

 varieties of rice — Exports of rice from India, distinguishing Indian 

 and foreign ports — Countries to which sent — Siam : Statistics of pro- 

 duction and exports — China : System of culture — Growtli in Formosa 



— Mode of husking or cleaning rice — Japan : Statistics of production 



— Eice wine, or sake — Java : Kinds of rice cultivated — Acreage under 

 rice — Exports — Culture in Borneo and the Philippines — Statistics of 

 production in the Eastern Archipelago in 1874 — Growth in Africa — 

 Rice grounds of Egypt, Brazil, United States — Statistics of exports — 

 Rice crops at various periods — South Carolina and Georgia — Louisiana 



— Progress made — Statistics of rice production in the diiferent States 

 of the Republic — Exports for a series of years — Upland rice — Land 

 under culture in various countries with rice 313 



The Millets, or Small-seeded Food-grains. — Our imports of these — 

 A third part of the inhabitants of the globe feed on the millets — 

 Various uses to which they are applied — Great confusion in their bota- 

 nical classification — Enumerated species by Professor Parlatore — 

 Great Indian millet, or Guinea corn — The yellow Cholum, or Jowaree 

 of India — Chemical composition of its grain and the plant — Useful as 



a fodder plant — Acreage under millet in Madras — Red Cholum, 

 Dhurra, or Dourah — Land under culture with it in Algeria — Sorghum, 

 known as Kafir corn in Natal — Acreage and produce 335 



The Sugar Millet " .. .. 218 



Broom Corn or Millet. — Its range of culture — Grown in Italy and 

 in the United States for its panicle, used in brush-making — Mode of 

 cultivation 339 



