348 



AEEOWROOT. 



imparts color and a disagreeable flavor to tlie fecula, which no 

 subsequent treatment can remove. The skinned roots are thrown 

 into a large cistern, with a perforated bottom, and there exposed 

 to the action of a copious cascade of pure water, till this runs 

 off" quite unaltered. The cleansed roots are next put into the 

 hopper of a mill, and are subjected to the powerful pressure of 

 two pairs of polished rollers of hard brass ; the lower pair of 

 rollers being set much closer together than the upper. The 

 starchy matter is thus ground into a pulp, which falls into the 

 receiver placed beneath, and is thence transferred to large fixed 

 copper cylinders, tinned inside, and perforated at the bottom with 

 numerous minute orifices, like a kitchen drainer. Within these 

 cylinders, wooden paddles are made to revolve with great velocity, 

 by the power of a water-wheel, at the same time that a stream 

 of pure water is admitted from above. The paddle-arms beat out 

 the fecula from the fibres and parenchjana of the pulp, and 

 discharge it in the form of a milk through the perforated bottom 

 of the cylinder. This starchy water runs along pipes, and then 

 through strainers of fine muslin into large reservoirs, where, after 

 the fecula has subsided, the supernatant water is drawn off", and 

 fresh water being let on, the whole is agitated and left again to 

 repose. This process of ablution is repeated till the water no 

 longer acquires anything from the fecula. Finally, all the deposits 

 of fecula of the day's work are collected into one cistern, and 

 being covered and agitated with a fresh change of water, are 

 allowed to settle till next morning. The water being now let 

 ofi", the deposit is skimmed with palette knives of Grerman silver, 

 to remove any of the superficial parts, in the slightest degree 

 colored ; and only the lower, purer, and denser portion is pre - 

 pared by drying for the market. 



On the Hopewell estate, in St. Yincent, where the chief im- 

 provements have been carried out, the drying-house is constructed 

 like the hot-house of an English garden. But instead of plants 

 it contains about four dozen of drying pans, made of copper, 7^ 

 feet by 4^ feet, and tinned inside. Each pan is supported on a 

 carriage having iron axles, with Ug7ium vitce wheels, like those of 

 a railway carriage, and they run on rails. Immediately after sun- 

 rise, these carriages, with their pans, covered with M'hite gauze 

 to exclude dust and insects, are run out into the open air, but 

 if rain be apprehended they are run back under the glazed 

 roof. In about four days the fecula is thoroughly dry and ready 

 to be packed, with Grerman silver shovels, into tins or American 

 flour barrels, lined with paper, attached with arrowroot paste. The 

 packages are never sent to this country in the hold of the ship, as 

 their contents are easily tainted by noisome eflluvia, of sugar, &c. 



Arrowroot is much more nourishing than the starch of wheat 

 or potatoes, and the flavor is purer. The fresh root consists, 

 according to Benzon, of 0*07 of volatile oil ; 26 of starch (23 of 

 which are obtained in the form of powder, while the other 3 

 must be extracted from the parenchyma in a paste, by boiling 



