Edible Products. 04 



4. It can be used for fattening animals. 



5. Different kinds of beans and other grain can be grown with it. 



6. I t 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. 



7. There will be a market for it always, as the natives of this Island are 

 accustomed to its use as a nourishing food. 



Methods of Hand Preparation.— The bitter Cassava is only used for prepar- 

 ation of starch for the laundry &c, and therefore the following particulars are given 

 only as regards sweet Cassava : — 



(1.) Rasp the pieces of the tubers and soak the material in water. The sedi- 

 ment which is formed at the bottom of the water when collected and dried is good 

 flour which can be used in the preparation of cakes or as starch. 



(2.) Skin the tuber and boil it, then use it immediately in place of potatoes 

 or yams or dry it. These dried tubers can be pounded and made into flour. The 

 flour is good for baking native cakes or " Rottees." 



(3.) Scrape the skin and make into curries. 



(4.) Scrape the skin and boil with chillies and salt and saffron and use as 

 diet as any ordinary food. This is the most common mode of eating amongst the 

 Sinhalese and Tamils. 



Cassava Poison.— It is said that there is Prussic acid or Hydrocyanic acid in 

 Cassava, and it is therefore considered a poisonous substance. 



Prussic acid is easily got rid of by thoroughly heating the substance, and 

 therefore if the following precautions are taken, deaths from improperly-prepared 

 Cassava will not be heard of. True that these deaths are amongst the badly-fed and 

 neglected children, but the remedy or precautions are simple, and there is no need to 

 neglect them. 



(1.) Carefully Scrape off the skin and the other portion or rind whereby the 

 greater portion of the poison will be removed. 



(2.) Thoroughly heat the remainder by boiling, or otherwise so as to destroy 

 or drive off any remaining Prussic acid. 



(3.) Eat Cassava only after it has been freshly cooked, as Cassava which may 

 have been cooked and kept may yet be a dangerous substance. 



References.— In addition to my personal experience and knowledge of Cassava, 

 I am indebted to Mr. Charles Taldena, R. Mi., and others for their kind assistance, and 

 to the articles on Cassava plants published in the several copies of the Tropical 

 Agriculturist noted below. I invite reference to those articles as they are worth 

 perusal : — 



Vol. XXI. No. 7 of January, 1902. 



„ XXII. „ 1 of July, 1902. 



„ XXI. „ 12 of June, 1902. 



„ XXII. „ 4 of October, 1902. 



Conclusion.— It is imposible to exaggerate the importance of a great Cassava 

 industry in Ceylon. The land is rich without artificial fertilisers. The cultivation 

 should be encouraged, as every villager can cultivate a few acres yielding at least ten 

 tons per acre. Besides its uses as a food which are very numerous in form, its 

 produce is sure to find a sufficient market as soon as the large capitalists take up the 



