CASSATA. 



367 



The best land for sweet potatoes is tlie light sandy kind ; a 

 rich friable black mould, or a rocky substratum ; for hill sides, 

 rocky ravines, and places which woLiId be called barren and un- 

 profitable for other crops, are found to yield a good return when 

 planted with sweet potatoes. The best time to plant slips to get 

 stock from, is the latter end of August or early in September, as 

 the season may suit. 



The sweet potato of Java, says Mr. Crawfiird, is the finest I 

 ever met with. Some are frequently of several pounds weight, 

 and now and then have been found of the enormous weight of 

 50 lbs. The sweetness is not disagreeable to the palate, though 

 considerable, and they contain a large portion of farinaceous 

 matter, being as mealy as the best of our own potatoes. In Java 

 it is cultivated iu ordinary upland arable, or in the dry season as 

 a green crop in succession to rice. 



A tuberous root {Ocymiim tuberosum'), an inhabitant of the hot 

 plains, is frequently culti\'ated in Java. It is small, round, and 

 much resembling in appearance the American potato, but has no 

 great flavor. Its local name is kantang. 



CASSAVA OE MANIOC. 



Or this plant, which is a shrub about six feet high, extensively grown 

 for its farinaceous root, there are several species, nearly all natives 

 of America, principally of Brazil, wlience it derives one of its 

 common names of Manihot or Mandioc. Two species of Manihot 

 have been found indigenous in South Australia. The varieties com- 

 monly cultivated for their roots, are the sweet and the bitter. 



1. Sweet cassava {Janiphi (or Jatropha^ Loeflingii, Kunth ; 

 Maniliot Aijji, of Pohl). — This species has a spindle-shaped root 

 brown externally, about six or seven ounces or more in weight, 

 which contains amylaceous matter, without any bitterness, and is 

 used as food, after being rasped and washed, so as to cleanse it 

 from the fibrous matter, in the same manner as arrowroot is pre- 

 pared. It is distinguished from the bitter cassava by a tough 

 ligneous fibre, which runs through the heart of the tuber. Mani- 

 hot starch is sometimes imported into Europe under the name of 

 Brazilian arrowroot. The cassava is known in Peru as yucca. 



A dry mixed soil is best suited to its culture. So exhausting is 

 this crop, that it cannot be raised more than two or three times 

 successively on the same land. The roots arrive at maturity in 

 eight or nine months after planting, but may be kept in the ground 

 a much longer time without injury. Sweet cassava might be 

 sliced, dried in the sun, and sent to Europe in that state. In dry 

 weather the process succeeds remarkably well, and the dried slices 

 keep for a considerable time. Dr. Shier ascertained that when 

 these sliced and dried roots were first steeped and then boiled, 

 they return to very nearly their original condition, and make an 

 excellent substitute for the potato. 



The plant thrives on even the poorest soil ; the mode of planting 



