390 The Supplement to the Tropieal Agriculturist 



CASSAVA CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 



of special interest to learn, as we do from a 

 Jaffna paper, that it is the intention of 

 some leading gentlemen of Jaffna to float 

 a Joint Stock Company to undertake agri- 

 cultural operations in the Northern Province. 

 The immediate object of the Company is to en- 

 courage the cultivation of Cassava in Jaffna by 

 importing machinery and converting the root 

 into tapioca in large quantities for export to 

 Europe. This is considered to be the only means 

 in the existing circumstances, of preventing the 

 over-production of tobacco in the District and 

 of introducing another remunerative industry 

 here. The capital of the Company will be 

 R200.000 divided into 2,000 shares of RlOOeach. 

 The capital required for the tapioca business 

 not being large, it is the intention of the pro- 

 moters or the Company to call upon the share- 

 holders to pay only about R30 per share ; the 

 balance will not be required till the Company 

 undertakes other agricultural and industrial 

 operations on a gigantic scale. The preliminary 

 arrangements for the formation of this Company 

 are in the hands of Mr. William Mather, the 

 founder and Managing Director of the Jaffna 

 Commercial Corporation. 



CASSAVA AS FAMINE FOOD. 



By F. Booth-Tuckek. 

 While travelling in Travancore last January, 

 I learned from inquiries that the high prices 

 of rice and other staple grains had reached even 

 this distant and comparatively isolated corner 

 of India. Yet the people seemed unusually 

 prosperous and well-fed. Famine, I was told, 

 had been unknown for the last thirty years, in 

 the senso in which it afflicted other parts of 

 India. Droughts there had been, and scarcities, 

 and high prices, but the population by famine 

 deaths, were things unknown to the present 

 generation. My informants pointed to the 

 familiar Jassava plant, a plot of which was at- 

 tached to every cottage home and the cultivation 

 of which had now become practically universal. 



Each acre could produce from five to twenty 

 tons of the tuber, so that a small patch would 

 supply an entire household with food and render 

 them independent of the fluctuations of the 

 grain market. The redns may fail and rice may 

 be dear, but there is always an abundant supply 

 of the drought-resisting "Marachini" to fall 

 back upon. We were the guests of a retired 

 Travancore J udge, and were thus in a good posi- 

 tion to gain the most reliable information possi- 

 ble. Specimens of the> raw tuber were shown 

 us, and in different forms it was included in the 

 generous diet which our kind hosts had provided 

 for us. What struck me, however, most of all 

 was the Indianisatian, of the Cassava in Travan- 

 core. To persuade In< lians to take to tubers as 

 a staple article of die! c had always appeared to 

 me an almost hopelesf s task, As a mere "bonne 

 bouche, " appetiser, or addition to their veget- 

 able curries, or as an > enforced but disliked "der- 

 nier ressort : ' in case o f actual famine, its popu- 

 larity would be limite d and there seemed little 

 hope of securing fo >v it a place amongst the 



staple foods of India. Here in Travancore, 

 however, a simple device had been adopted 

 which, I could see at a glance, placed Cassava 

 amongst the front rank foods of India, and gave 

 her the entree to all castes and classes of the 

 people. The roots had been boiled, cut and sun- 

 dried for purposes of preservation. The next 

 step was an easy one, to reduce it to powder 

 with an ordinary rice-pounder or country hand- 

 mill. It then made a delicious and tasty flour, 

 very wholesome and capable of being mixed 

 with other forms of flour. 

 The next inquiry was naturally in regard to 



PRICES, 



and here I was glad to find that it had not so far 

 been affected by famine conditions. In ordi- 

 nary seasons the price of the sun-dried product 

 ranged in various localities from 20 to 40 seers 

 per rupee. Cassava land, I was told, rented as 

 high as R25 per acre and brought in an income 

 to the cultivator of from R100 to R150. Hence 

 t was a profitable crop to the agriculturist, and 

 with a wider market would become still more so. 

 The next difficulty was the question of 



TRANSPORTATION. 



It was obvious that unless the new food could 

 be carried at a reasonable rate, it would be im- 

 possible to deliver it in the famine regions at 

 such a price as would enable it to be of any use 

 to the people. Another more serious difficulty 

 to overcome was the univereal incredulity on 

 the part of all concerned (outside Travancore 

 itself) as to the willingness of the people to take 

 to any kind of new food. However, persistence 

 and enthusiasm in a cause, regarding the ulti- 

 mate success of which I entertain no shadow of 

 doubt, has enabled us in a large measure to 

 overcome the initial difficulties. The leading 

 Railway Companies have consented, at least 

 temporarily, to admit the new intruder to the 

 same privileges as other staple articles of 

 the people's diet, instead of placing it on 

 the shelf among luxuries denied to all but the 

 rich and well-to-do. In this we have received 

 some assistance from Railway Board. In regard 

 to the circulation of the new food, I have con- 

 sulted freely with Indian grain merchants. 

 Indeed, it has been here that I have received 

 the largest measure of co-operation and sup- 

 port, the importance of which it is impossible to 

 exaggerate. I have felt from the first that if we 

 could create a demand for the article on the part 

 of those who had their fingers on the pulse of 

 the food supplies of India, success would be 

 assured. They would see to it that the agri- 

 culturists of India were made acquainted with 

 the merits of Cassava, and would make suitable 

 arrangements for a supply commensurate with 

 the demand. Calling personally on some of the 

 leading merchants of the bazaar, I showed them 

 Casi-ava, both in its 



SUN-DRIED FORM AND WHEN REDUCED TO FLOUR. 



They liked the taste and appearance, experi- 

 mented with a small quantity and then ordered 

 several maunds for further trial. They then 

 tasted it by itself and also when mixed with 

 other kinds of flour. So satisfactory was the 

 result,' that I have already received orders for a 

 supply of about 1,000 maunds, and have been 

 asked to make arrangements for a regular and 



