Edible Products, 



212 



[March, 1912. 



but generally speaking, only inferior 

 varieties of which are used, and then 

 mostly by the savage tribes in this 

 Archipelago. 



Beans, the lack of interest in which is, 

 according to dietitian, largely responsi- 

 ble for many of the physiological evils 

 and probably some of the diseases 

 occurring throughout the Archipelago. 



Cowpeas, which are grown to a limited 

 extent, but which for various reasons 

 are not sufficiently well known, 



And last, but not least, the coconut 

 could be utilized as human food to a much 

 greater degree and in more ways than 

 at present. It is said that "one ripe nut 

 per meal per man is enough." 



ARROWROOT— ITS CULTIVATION 

 AND MANUFACTURE. 



By the Editor, 



(Prom the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. XXVIII., Part, I, 

 January 1912.) 



Although several papers on arrow- 

 root growing and on the manufacture 

 of tlie commercial starch have from time 

 to time been published in the earlier 

 issues of the \\ Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal," yet, as the present-day subs- 

 cribers are unable to obtain copies of 

 those journals owing to their being out 

 of print, it is deemed advisable to collate 

 all available information on the indus- 

 try and present it in pamphlet form 

 to intending arrowroot-growers, from 

 many of whom inquiry is being fre- 

 quently made as to the prospects of the 

 industry in Queensland. 



It is now over fifty years since the 

 industry was first established by the 

 late Mr. George Grimes at Oxley Creek, 

 where he erected the first machinery 

 for manufacturing arrowroot on a com- 

 mercial scale. As soon as this took 

 place, the writer who had been growing 

 arrowroot in the same district and 

 manufactured it with most primitive 

 appliances, as will be shown later on, 

 entered more largely into the business 

 of cultivating the plant, and abandoned 

 the manufacture in favour of supplying 

 Mr. Grimes' mill with the raw material, 

 to their mutual benefit. 



The bulbs were sold at £2 10s. per ton, 

 and on the then virgin scrub soils bet- 

 ween Oxley Creek and Rocklea (then 

 known as the Rocky Water-holes), and 

 on the Brisbane River, the yield was 

 enormous. Two varieties were grown 

 at that period— the Bermuda or Maranta 

 arundinacea ; and the large purple 



variety, Canna edulis, called in the 

 West Indies " Tous-les-mois." These 

 differ materially from each other both 

 in habit of growth and in size, shape, 

 and colour of the bulbs. 



The Bermuda plant is diminutive, 

 rarely attaining a greater height than 

 from 3 to 4 ft. The blossom is white, 

 and the tubers, which cluster round the 

 roots, are also white, with a thin shiny 

 skin and bare of rootlets. They adhere 

 to the roots of the plants much in the 

 same manner as potatoes, and are 

 neither very large nor numerous. The 

 starch yielded by the Maranta is of 

 excellent quality and usually commands 

 a higher price in the English market 

 than that of Canna edulis. How little 

 actual difference there is between the 

 product of the two varieties is indicated 

 by the following analysis, taking the 

 best Bermuda arrowroot at 2s. per lb. 

 and the Queensland arrowroot (Canna 

 edulis) at 3d. per lb : — 



Moisture 



Stavch 



Ash 



Proteids 

 Fibre 



Bermuda 

 Arrowroot, 



13-00 to 16 '50 

 82 '24 



0-124 



0-052 



4-09 to 1-20 



Queensland 

 Arrowroot. 



, 17-36 

 , 81-52 

 0-142 

 , 0-078 

 . 0-90 



The result is, therefore, chemically, 

 about the same, particularly in regard 

 to starch, which is the chief constituent. 

 There is a little more moisture in the 

 Canna, and more fibre in the Maranta. 

 Under the microscope, the Canna arrow- 

 root shows a more silky texture, and the 

 grains are slightly coarser. 



The reason why Maranta has never 

 become popular in this State is that it 

 does not yield one-quarter the weight of 

 bulbs, nor is the starch content equal to 

 that of Maranta grown elsewhere, be- 

 sides which the excess of fibre in this 

 variety makes the matter of treatment 

 mere difficult. 



A remarkable point about the sale of 

 Queensland, or "Australian Arrowroot" 

 as it is called in England, is that it can- 

 not be sold in Great Britain without 

 some qualifying tercn attached, such as 

 "Queensland" or "Australian" arrow- 

 root. How this has come about is 

 rather interesting. When the Drugs 

 and Food Act was passed by the Im- 

 perial Parliment, it was specified that 

 "Arrowroot is the product of the plant 

 Maranta arundinacea." That is what 

 Bermuda and Mauritius arrowroots are 

 made from. Manufactured arrowroot 

 from the Canna edulis was then practic- 

 ally unknown in Great Britain. I have 

 shown about what little difference there 

 is between the two. It has actually 



