Edible Products. 



34 



TJANUARY, 1909. 



advantages. The use of cane in this way— 

 as is practised, for instance, in Mauritius 

 and Reunion— is distinctly bad from the 

 standpoint of either plant, for they 

 compete throughout their lives and reach 

 their greatest development at the same 

 time. Maize is used on a plantation in 

 Basilan, and is harvested and out of the 

 way before the manioc needs all the 

 space. But if a catch crop is to be used, 

 there is no reason why it should not be 

 one which, like mongo or some other 

 legume, will leave the soil actually 

 bettered by its presence. There is at out- 

 door a market for mongos as human food, 

 and there are various legumes which 

 produce a fodder which could be mixed 

 with the waste from the starch mill to 

 make a well-balanced fodder for beasts. 



While, so far as I know, no comparative 

 tests have been made, there is no doubt 

 that thorough ploughing and harrowing 

 have the same general effect on manioc 

 that they have on other crops. In the 

 case of manioc, hard ground not only 

 prevents the proper growth and activity 

 of the feeding roots, as it does for other 

 crops as well, but it interferes directly 

 also with the development of the part of 

 the plant to be harvested. Even if the 

 fleshy roots became as large in hard and 

 uneven ground— which they could not— 

 they would still be less valuable, for it is 

 much more difficult to clean and peel an 

 irregular root than a stout, symmetrical 

 one. Moreover, as has been seen, the 

 bark and cortex are strong in hydrocyanic 

 acid, while the starch is confined to the 

 fleshy interior ; therefore a stout and 

 symmetrical root, having less surface in 

 proportion to its bulk, will contain the 

 least poison and the highest percentage 

 of starch, while an irregular root or a 

 very long one, such as may grow where 

 the ground has been cracked, will be 

 comparatively bitter and weak in 

 starch. 



While ploughing is, in the abstract, 

 desirable, we may as well recognize 

 frankly that on freshly cleared tropical 

 land it does not pay. The laborious 

 removal of* stumps and roots, work to 

 which the native labour is not used, costs 

 fully as much here as in the United 

 States ; while if fresh growth is kept 

 down, termites and the teeming organ- 

 isms of decay will destroy almost every 

 kind of wood completely within a year 

 or so. The land can be ploughed for 

 subsequent crops. Hand cultivation is 

 cheap here, and can be made to give very 

 good results. When manioc is planted on 

 unploughed land each cutting should be 

 set into a spot of thoroughly worked 

 ground 20 centimeters deep and at least 

 30 centimeters in diameter. The plants 



should be in rows, as regular as possible. 

 Because of stumps a given area will take 

 less plants than could be put into land 

 well cultivated. 



If mongo is interplanted with manioc 

 the two should be planted at the same 

 time, so that the mongo may mature and 

 be harvested before the manioc needs its 

 room. If, as has already been suggested, 

 the rows of manioc be 125 centimeters 

 apart and the cuttings 80 centimeters 

 apart, two rows of mongo, themselves 30 

 centimeters apart, can be planted between 

 each two rows of manioc. The two crops 

 will need but little more cultivation than 

 should be given manioc alone. Whether 

 or not the mongo is present, the land 

 should be thoroughly cultivated not more 

 than one month after planting, making 

 the ground soft and fine, and killing all 

 weeds — a weed is a plant of whatever 

 kind which grows where it is not wanted. 

 At this first cultivation it is advisable to 

 hill the manioc slightly. 



Mongo needs cultivation twice within 

 the first two months, while manioc 

 might do with one, but will certainly 

 grow better for the greater attention. 

 After the mongo is removed the ground 

 will still want to be cleaned and worked 

 once. After the plants are four or four 

 and half months old they take care of 

 themselves. 



The roots are ready to be used for 

 human food at any time after they are 

 five or six months old. Sometimes all 

 the roots of a plant are taken at once, 

 sometimes they are dug one at a time- 

 In these young roots the percentage of 

 sugar is probably as great as it ever 

 becomes, but they are relatively weak 

 in starch, and less woody than older 

 ones. The roots of the Philippine varie- 

 ties are probably best suited for direct 

 use as human food when they are not 

 more than nine months old, although we 

 have seen succulent roots on plants said 

 to be sixteen months old, from which 

 other roots had been removed earlier. 

 In Hawaii, two year-old roots are often 

 hard and fibrous, containing little 

 starch. One African variety is edible 

 when six years old. For making meal 

 or manufacturing starch the roots can- 

 not profitably be gathered until they 

 are well beyond the best age for direct 

 use as human food; thus, in one African 

 district they are eaten fresh when about 

 nine months old, and not used until 

 twelve to fourteen months old for 

 making meal. In some parts of the 

 Philippines the roots are said to be 

 grated and eaten when three years or 

 more old. 



(To be continued.) 



