CHAYOTE. 



353 



articles of food, but the fern starch is also used in various industries, 

 as it produces a very strong paste, called " shibu," on being carefully 

 mixed with the sap of unripe persimmons. The fibres of the fern 

 root, after the starch has been washed out, are made into ropes, which 

 are used in the mud walls of the buildings, so as to afford a better 

 hold for the loam. It may be added that the manufacture of starch 

 sugar has long been known in Japan. Millet and rice are used for 

 this purpose, and after having been steamed, they are mixed with 

 a certain quantity of malt or ferment and kept for several hours at a 

 fixed temperature in close vessels, after which the liquid portion is 

 strained and concentrated by evaporation to a strong syrup or a solid 

 mass, which is formed into bars while still hot. Vendors of this starch 

 sugar are often to be met with in the streets, where, to the great 

 enjoyment of children, they manufacture all sorts of animals and 

 figures with this material, by a process quite similar to that of glass 

 blowing. 



Chayotb [Sechium edule, Sw. ; Chayotis edulis, Jacq.). — This climb- 

 ing plant of the Cucurbit family, yields excellent fruit, and the heavy 

 tubercular roots contain a large quantity of starch. Of this starch 

 good samples were shown in the Mexican section of the International 

 Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. The fruit is green, large, and 

 covered with thorns. In the mountains and inland parts of Jamaica 

 the plant is much cultivated to fatten hogs with the fruit. The fruit 

 is sometimes boiled and served up at table, but the flavour is rather 

 insipid. When sown in a sandy soil it grows luxuriantly in the first 

 year, yielding abundant fruit. The second year it produces tubercles, 

 which can be taken off without killing the plant. This operation may 

 be repeated for six or eight years. A plant under favourable circum- 

 stances will produce from 80 to 100 pints and a great number of 

 tubercles. The culture is very simple, and the chayote is not subject 

 to the diseases which affect other tuberous plants. The ancient Aztecs 

 cultivated this vegetable largely, giving it the name of Chayotli, which 

 means squash covered with thorns. The roots have a large pro- 

 portion of starch, as is shown by the following analysis of Professor 

 Herrera : 



Water 71-00 



Starch .. 20-00 



Kesin, soluble in water 0-20 



Sugar 0-32 



Albumen 0-43 



Cellulose 5-60 



Extractive matter "j 



Tartrate of potash I 2 • 25 



Chloride of sodium | 



Sulphate of lime and silica] 



Loss 0-20 



Total 100- 



2 A 



