350 



ARROWEOOT. 



table by its means. Arrowroot, on the other hand, requires from 

 twenty-five to thirty minutes to acquire a like tenacity. 



The Lancet recently stated that, on a microscopical analysis 

 of 50 samples of arrowroot, purchased indiscriminately of various 

 London tradesmea, 22 were found to be adulterated. In 16 

 cases this adulteration consisted in the addition of a single inferior 

 product much cheaper in price, such as potato flour, sago meal, 

 or tapioca starch, while in other instances there was a combination 

 of these articles, potato flour being usually preponderant. Ten 

 of the mixtures contained scarcely a particle of the genuine 

 Maranta or West India arrowroot, for which they were sold. 

 One consisted almost wholly of sago meal ; two of potato flour 

 and sago meal ; two of potato flour, sago meal, and tapioca starch ; 

 one of tapioca starch ; and four of potato arrowroot, or starch 

 entirely. The worst specimens were those which were done up 

 in canisters especially marked as " G-enuine West India arrowroot," 

 or as being "warranted free from adulteration;" and one, which 

 contained a considerable quantity of potato flour, was particularly 

 recommended to invalids, and certified as the finest quality 

 ever imported into this country. The profits to the vendors 

 of the inferior compounds are to be estimated from the fact 

 that the price of sago meal and potato starch is about 4d. per 

 lb., while the genuine Maranta arrowroot is from Is. to 3s. (id. 

 per lb. 



The arrowroot of Bermuda has long borne a high reputation, 

 being manufactured on a better principle and being therefore 

 of superior quality to that produced in Antigua, St. Vincent, and 

 other West Indian islands. The process is tedious and requires 

 a good deal of labor. There is no doubt, however, that the quality 

 of the w^ater has a great deal of influence on the fecula. Bermuda 

 arrowroot is necessarily made from rain water collected in tanks 

 or reservoirs, and the lime and the deposit from houses, &c., may 

 alter its properties. After the root is taken from the ground it is 

 placed in a mill, and is thereby cleansed of its exterior excrescences ; 

 it is then thoroughly washed, when it is ready for the large 

 machine, the principle of which is similar to the " treadmill." A 

 horse is placed on something like a platform, and as he prances 

 up and down, the machinery is set in play. A person stands at 

 .the end, and places the root in the wheel of the machine, which, 

 'after being ground, falls into a trough of water. After going 

 through this process, it is re-washed and then placed in vessels to 

 dry in the sun. It is packed in boxes lined with blue paper or 

 tin, and sent to the markets in England and America, where it 

 generally meets with ready sale. 



At a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Bermuda, held in 

 May, 1840, Mr. W. M. Cox submitted a new arrowroot strainer 

 which he had invented. It consists of two cloth strainers fixed 

 to hoops from 15 to 20 inches in diameter. The strainers work- 

 ing one within the other, are kept in motion by a lever, moved 

 by hand. The whole apparatus is not an expensive one, and is 



