85 



where the only cassava starch factory in the world is located, we find 

 that unmanufactured starch in the form of corn, at 45 cents per 

 bushel, costs four cents per pound, and the same material in the form 

 of potatos at 50 cents per bushel, costs the manufacturer six cents per 

 pound, while cassava yields raw starch at one cent per pound. 



" It thus appears that cassava is to-day the cheapest known source 

 of starch, costing at present market values of raw material only about 

 one-fourth as much as its nearest competitor.* 



"The matter of the relative cost is one for which no actual data 

 exist, other than the experience cf the single company, which has 

 had two years experience in the manufacturing of cassava starch. The 

 process however with the latter crop, is essentially the same as that in 

 use by potato starch manufacturers, and therefore, the higher starch 

 yield and greater freedom "from impurity should render the process 

 less expensive and therefore more remunerative. 



" In this connexion it should be stated that cassava starch possesses 

 certain properties not found in other starches, which seem to make it 

 a favourite in markets into which it has been introduced, so that there 

 appears to a steadily growing demand for the product at prices 

 considerably higher than are quoted for other starches 



"With either starch or glucose manufactured from ossava, there 

 must necessarily result very large quantities of waste products, which 

 would be found valuable as either stock foods or for fertilizing pur- 

 poses. In either case the chief of these would be the pulp which con- 

 tains most of the cassava except that its starch has disappeared." 



One of my correspondents in Florida, an expert on starches, says, 

 in a recent letter : — 



" Looking to the present value of Indian corn s'arch the standard 

 value < f the starches in New York, viz: £15 10s to £16 10s. and 

 that it takes 100 bushels of corn to make one ton of starch, tha~ corn 



is at present selling at 60 cents in Chicago equal to £12 10s. 



cassava starch should be worth at least £13, f. o. b. in Jamaica." 



In order to indicate the importance of another product of cassava I 

 quote the following from the " Encycl >pedia Britannica." 



" Starch Sugar. — This, known in commerce as glucose or grape 

 sugar, an abundant constituent of sweet fruits, &c , is artificially 

 elaborated on an extensive scale from starch. The industry is most 

 largely developed in Germany, where potato starch is the raw material, 

 and in the United States, Indian corn starch being there employed. 

 The starch is acted on by a weak solution of sulphuric acid, whereby 

 soluble starch is formed, whichultimately results in a mixture of glucosa 

 and dextrose in varying proporti ms, constituting the starch sugar of 

 commerce. The operations embrace the boiling of the starch with water 

 containing the requisite proportion of acid, the neutralization of the 

 acid with lime, and the formation of a precipitate of ulsphate of lime, 

 which is separated by filtration in a filter press. The filtered liquid is, 

 when necessary , deprived of colour by passing it through a bed of animal 

 charcoal, and then it is concentrated to a density of from 40 to 45 

 Baume in a vacuum pan. If the resulting syrup contains little 



* One or two of thesa extracts have already been quoted in myReport on trip 

 to Florida. 



