December, 1908- ] 



525 



Edible Products. 



nas of the soil moisture they require, 

 but under more favourable circum- 

 stances the practise would be as bene- 

 ficial in Jamaica or Barbados as in Cuba. 



The operation of pruning is very 

 necessary and important in connection 

 with banana growing. Suckers that are 

 not intended to bear fruit should be 

 removed when not more than 1 to 2 feet 

 high, and only two, at the most three, 

 stalks left to each plant. These should 

 be at different stages of development, 

 one being fully matured, while the other 

 is only half grown. Banana growers 

 are well aware that if left without 

 pruniug, there would be too great a 

 number of suckers, and the bunches of 

 fruit would be small and poor. 



The fir«t bunches of fruit are pro- 

 duced in about 18 months from setting 

 out the plants, while the subsidiary 

 suckers fruit when from 12 to 16 months 

 old. 



The apple banana, which possesses an 

 acid flavour (see Agricultural News, 

 Vol. V., p. 404) is largely grown in Cuba 

 for local consumption, while the plan- 

 tain is also cultivated and used for 

 cooking purposes. 



The average crop of bananas yielded 

 in Cuba, after the plantation has come 

 in full bearing:, is stated to vary from 

 200 to 600 bunches per acre per annum. 

 The average price obtained is from 15 

 to 20c. per bunch according to size of 

 bunch and season of the year. — Agricul- 

 tural Neivs, Vol. VII., No. 165, August, 

 1908. 



MANIOC OR CASSAVA. 

 By Edwin B. Copeland. 



Cassava comes nearer furnishing the 

 Florida farmer with a more universally 

 profitable crop than any other which 

 he can grow on equally large areas. It 

 can be utilized in more ways, can be 

 sold in more different forms, can be 

 more cheaply converted into staple and 

 finished products, and can be produced 

 for a smaller part of its selling price 

 than any other crop. 



This quotation is from a, bulletin of the 

 Florida Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion. The plant it speaks of can be 

 grown more cheaply in the Philippines 

 than in Florida, and will here produce 

 much larger crops. As a food, especially 

 as a famine food, it has the great advan- 

 tage, in addition to its cheapness, that 

 it will keep in the ground for long 

 periods, without deterioration, and can 

 be har vested at any season. For these 

 reasons a note as to its origin and nature 



and its production in other countries 

 will be of interest, and a description 

 of its proper cultivation and its utili- 

 zation and values will be valuable. 



The writer has for several years been 

 studying this plant in the Philippines. 

 During the past six months, Dr. R. F. 

 Bacon, of the Bureau of Science, has 

 been associated with him in a more 

 detailed study of it, and this paper, 

 except in the writing, is their joint 

 product. Material has been obtained 

 and analyzed from a number of places. 

 The cost of planting has been tested on 

 a commercial scale, and different 

 methods of extracting the starch have 

 been tested as to efficiency and practi- 

 cability. 



Description. 

 Manioc or cassava is the plant known 

 botanically as Manihot utilissima, of 

 the family Euphorbiacece, Thi-> family 

 includes, among other useful plants, 

 several sources of commercial rubber, 

 as the Para, and the genus Manihot 

 itself includes Ceara rubber and several 

 other species which seem likely to prove 

 useful in the same way. There are more 

 than eighty varieties of manihot, all 

 natives of tropical or sub-tropical 

 America. Throughout the Philippines 

 manioc is known as "camoting cahoy" 

 (sweet-potato tree) or by an equivalent 

 name ; but in Cagayan it is more 

 commonly called "camote moro." 



Manioc is a perennial shrub with a 

 branching stem and palmate leaves, 

 whose divisions are usually 5, 7, or 

 9 in number. As a result of long propa- 

 gation by cuttings, it rarely forms seed ; 

 when it does, the staminate and pistil- 

 late flowers are borne separately on the 

 same plant and the seeds are in shape 

 and size like those of castor bean (tlie 

 tangantangan of the Philippines). At 

 the base of the stem is a cluster ot long, 

 fleshy roots, which are the valuable 

 part of the plant. All parts of the plant 

 contain a poisonous, milky juice. The 

 poison contained in this is hydrocyanic 

 (prussic) acid. Some varieties contain 

 very little of this and are called 

 "sweet;" others contain much and are 

 called " bitter." None contain enough 

 so that it could profitably be extracted. 

 The poison can be completely removed 

 by perfect washing or drying of the 

 ground roots, by roasting, or by long 

 boiling. 



History. 



Manioc is very old in cultivation in 

 Tropical America, having been the 

 staple cultivated crop throughout that 

 region at the time of the discovery by 

 Europeans, Very soon thereafter it 



