204 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



CULTIVATION OF TAPIOCA. " VALCANINA." 



A Valuable Cheap Food. 

 A paper is issued by the Revenue Department 

 dealing with the cultivation of tapioca in the 

 Bombay Presidency. It appears that in January 

 last Commissioner Booth-Tucker, of the Salva- 

 tion Army, asked Government to favour the ex- 

 periment of dried tapioca root as cheap food. 

 The root, he said, could be boiled or made into 

 flour with rice powder and could be delivered in 

 Bombay at twenty to twenty-five seers per rupee. 

 The Director of Agriculture thought the matter 

 worth investigating, and now states : — "Indica- 

 tions appear to show that tapioca may prove 

 very useful in this Presidency, if not as a 

 regular field crop, at any rate in gardens and odd 

 corners. It has grown most successfully on the 

 Poona and Manjri farms, and I am having it 

 tried this year at Dohad, Dhulia and Dharwar 

 and in the Ratnagiri District. I hope next year 

 to be able to offer free sets for planting to the 

 people in those localities, and to be able to tell 

 them what results they may expect to obtain. 

 The cultivation of this plant requires very little 

 trouble and it seems likely that the Bhils in 

 Khandesh and thePanch Mahals will take kindly 

 to it." 



A note on the tapioca plant has been.prepared, 

 in which it is stated that the best soil for grow- 

 ing tapioca is a sandy loam which must be vvoll 

 drained, for the roots soon decay in water-logged 

 ground. The soil must be rich, for tapioca is an 

 exhausting crop. The plant thrives best in the 

 low-land in the neighbourhood of the sea. In 

 the Bombay Presidency it will thrive well in 

 the 'bhata' (alluvial) lands of Surat and in the 

 regions all along the sea coast. In the coastal 

 tracts the rainfall is assured and the crop can 

 be successfully grown without any irrigation. 



The root contains a poisonous principle, which 

 is however dissipated by boiling, In Travan- 

 core, where the plant is acclimatised, the well- 

 to-do people boil the tubers three times 

 before eating. Each time the water is thrown 

 off to remove the poisonous properties, but 

 the ordinary people are satisfied with two boil- 

 ings, and are apparently not aware of the exist- 

 ence of poisonous properties. They say that 

 they boil the root because it then becomes good 

 for eating. The sun-dried slices are boiled 

 twice and the boiled sun-dried slices are boiled 

 once more, and after each boiling the water 

 is drained off. The slices are then seasoned 

 with chilly powder and other condiments. The 

 very poor oat the boiled root without any sea- 

 soning. The sun-dried root is also made into 

 flour with a rice-pounder. For this purpose the 

 ordinary mortar and pestle can be used. It can 

 also be ground into flour with an ordinary hand- 

 mill. From the flour thus obtained ordinary 

 cakes may be made with a mixture of bajri, 

 jowari and maize flour. The cakes made of 

 tapioca flour alone are palatable but a little 

 tough. This toughness, however, does not 

 appear in cakes made of mixed flour, 



Its value as food is slightly better than sweet 

 potato dried to the same extent. It is not equal 

 to wheat, but about equal to rice. The Collec- 

 tor of Panch Mahals reports that it is purchased 

 readily and appreciated by Bhils, and has been 

 sold at 40 lb. per rupee. — B % Gazette, July 25, 



It is stated in a , Brazilian paper that a 

 Company has been organised for the exploit- 

 ation of a Brazilian invention known as Vulcani- 

 na, which is a preparation of rubber to be used 

 for road paving and other purposes. It is 

 further stated that the building in which the 

 Company will establish its offices has been 

 acquired. In this connection I read in an 

 account of the new premises of John Dewar and 

 t 8on, Limited, in the Haymarket, London, that 



' the floor of the main hall is laid with rubber 

 tiles such as are now used in the best offices in 

 America." Geokgos. 



—M. Mail, July 25. 



PRESERVATIVE EFFECT OF ROAD- 

 SiDE TREES. 



In the American Florist we read that in 

 answer to enquiries from the United States 

 Consul-Gene) al Robert P Skinner, of Marseilles, 

 furnishes the following information relative to 

 the effect of wayside trees on French roads : "It 

 is proposed to plant trees along the roadsides 

 of New York State in order to keep the moisture 

 in the road and prevent ravelling, and the ques- 

 tion has been raised w*hether or not the roots of 

 such trees may spread cut underneath the road 

 surface and eventually create great damage in 

 a severe climate where there are extremes of 

 heat and cold. While French roads are not 

 always borderod with shade trees, they are so 

 very frequently, and my information is that the 

 trees are planted not only for furnishing shade, 

 but in order to protect the roads themselves 

 against the effects of excessive heat and drought. 

 It is believed that the long dry summer season 

 is much more inimical to roads than severe cold. 

 The chief officer in charge of the public roads 

 in Marseilles is of the opinion that, on the whole, 

 New ¥ork roads would be benefited if bordered 

 with trees, suggesting, however, that only such 

 should be planted as have vertically descending 

 roots." 1 Birot, civil engineer and former con- 

 ductor of the bureau of bridges and highways, 

 expresses himself as follows on the subject: "In 

 countries where the climate is damp, roadside 

 trees are prejudicial to the maintenance of the 

 highways, as they prevent the circulation of the 

 air and the drying of the soil ; in most of the 

 southern French regions such plantations are, 

 on the other hand, very useful in dry weather, 

 as they maintain the roadbed in a state of fresh- 

 ness favourable to its conservation. In general, 

 trees should be selected with high, spreading 

 branches, such as the Poplar, the Elm, and the 

 Ash, and they should be planted generally upon 

 the outer edge of the road-box and at distances 

 of 10 metres (32.80 feet). Each tree should be 

 placed in a hole 1 metre (3.28 feet) deep and l£ 

 metres (4 '92 feet) square, and should be trimmed 

 to a height of 2^ metres (8.20 feet) above the 

 surface. The earth about newly-planted trees 

 should be loosened in March and November 

 — in March only after the third year — and there- 

 after until their permanent growth appears 

 assured ; small trenches should be directed to- 

 ward the foot of the tree, in order to secure the 

 benefit of rains. Finally, the tree itself should 

 be trimmed annually during the first 10 years." 

 —Gardeners' Chronicle, July 4, 



