THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1888. 
differ in this respect from its allies, and the juice 
even of its tubers is very acrid and poisonous. Yet, 
from the amylaceous stores of these tubers, after 
the poisonous juice has been removed, is prepared 
the nutritious and wholesome cassava bread, much 
used as an article of food in the various places 
it is cultivated, and also the tapioca, well known 
throughout the world, and one of the most esteemed 
varieties of starch. 
The root of the mandioc is branched and woody. 
Its lateral branchlets swell into tubers, which are 
black externally, knotty and somewhat tapering, and 
of a great 6ize, sometimes weighing fifty pounds. 
The rind being removed, the tubers are reduced to 
a pulp by rasping, or by holding them against a 
wheel or grindstone the pulp is washed with water, 
pressed and baked upon iron plates, and now be- 
comes cassava bread ; while the starch which floats 
off in the water, is sometimes imported into Europe 
under the name of Brazilian arrowroot, but is more 
generally subject to a process of granulation, by which 
it becomes flake and pearl tapioca : this is the 
wet process. The dry process is carried on as follows :— 
The mandioc is rasped by hand, water added and 
then put to be pressed ; afterwards dried, sifted and 
subsequently baked. In making the starch, the de- 
posit in the water is left for some time to allow 
the starch to settle ; it is then washed three times, 
dried in the sun, and is then fit for sale. 
Singapore, Penang and Malabar tapioca is put into 
bags weighing about 110 pounds each for exportation. 
No less than thirty varieties of the mandioc are 
grown in Brazil. There are two prinoipal species (for 
most of the others seem to be but mere varieties), 
the bitter or poisonous species, and the sweet species. 
The root of the latter is reddish and harmless, and 
can be used, unlike the bitter species, without any 
further preparation than boiling as a culinary esculent, 
its starch being also available for tapioca. Rio tapi- 
oca is prepared from the fine, creamy 6tarch, by sift- 
ing the puba manioc in water, after which it is 
strained and pressed in a sieve and made into small 
flakes : the dietetic nature of which is excellent, con- 
taining more gluten, one pound being equal to two 
pounds of the kinds grown in other countries. Bio 
tapioca is put up for exportation in barrels weighing 
120 pounds each, and commands double the price of 
all other grades. 
The poisonous substance of the tubers, which is 
supposed to be hydrocyanic acid, is completely re- 
moved either by washing or by heat. It is very 
volatile, and although cattle are poisoned by eating 
the fresh root, yet, if it is cut in small pieces and 
exposed to the sun, they eat it without injury. It is 
said that the expressed juice of the mandioc root is 
one of the substances used by the Indians for poison- 
ing their arrows. A gentleman who has been a re- 
sident in Jamaica for many years, gave the writer 
the following information respecting the Obeah Man: 
(Webster's definition of Obeah means a species of 
witchcraft practiced among the West India negroes.) 
Some of the Obeah men are very expert in pre- 
paring poisons. They have several kinds to be used 
according to circumstances: one of the worst of them 
is made from the root of cassava. They express the 
juice from the rind, and allow it to ferment. Quan- 
tities of small worms are soon seen in the liquid, one 
of which taken into the stomach is almost certain to 
came death. One of the woirns is concealed under 
the thumb nail, which is allowed to grow long for the 
purpo e and the operator in banding his victim a cup 
of coffee or some dbh of food, manages to drop 
the worm into it. 
The juice of the bitter cassava mixed with mo- 
lad.'cs and ferminted, forms an intoxicating liquid, much 
relished by the negroes and Indians. The concen- 
trated juice, known as cassareep, is highly antiseptic. 
The mandioc is a woody plant, with slender stalks, 
and grows to the height of about eight feet. The 
leaves are smooth, palm shaped. It has small green 
fhwers, which grow in clusters, and it is generally 
propagated by cuttings. In about eight months after 
it is planted, the tubers may be gathered. 
On a single Chinese plantation near Kwala Lumpor, 
Malacca, there are over two thousand acres of tapioca 
under cultivation, and the enterprising Chinaman who 
owns it has imported European steam machinery for 
converting the cassava roots into tapioca, which is 
sent to Singapore for shipment to the different markets 
of the world. In the appendix to " Coffee from 
Plantation to Cup," by Mr. F. B. Thurber, page 307, 
there is a very interesting account of a visit made 
by him to a pearl tapioca manufactory in Singapore. 
An intelligent Floridian told the writer that the 
cassava raised in Florida as food for live stock is 
more in quantity than can be produced in hay on the 
best land in any Northern State, that it contains 
more nutriment than either timothy or clover. Its 
roots are used by natives for puddings, it is adapted 
to the poorest soil, and is always welcome as food 
for cattle. 
A man who has tried cassava raising, says : — " Enough 
can be raised on five acres to fatten from 75 to 100 
head of cattle for the market, and they will be as finely 
flavored as any Ohio cornfed stock. Hogs like it, and 
fatten on it rapidly, and it seems to be admirably suited 
to table usesj as a substitute for the white potato. 
A factory to manufacture starch from the cassava 
was started, but was not a success, not having suit- 
able machinery, and the cost of freight being so great 
as to prevent it being sold as cheap as the starch 
made from corn." 
Its method of cultivation is not difficult. It should 
be planted in hills four feet apart, so as to be worked 
byharrow both ways. Deep cultivation will not answer, 
as it interferes with the lateral roots, which are a 
foot or more in length. It should be planted in 
February or March, having been cut in lengths — the 
tops only— of two or three inches, and covered about 
four inches below the surface of the ground. There 
will be about 3,000 hills to the acre, and, as each 
hill will yield probably fifteen pounds, the product 
would be 45,000 pounds— over twenty tons. This will 
fatten three sets of 1,000 cattle each, during a single 
year : the net profit on which would reach about 
§10,000. In the West Indies it is dried and ground 
into flour, and is the staple article of food for the 
whole population. 
The large amount of gluten that is in the starch 
made from the cassava root has not escaped the 
attention of manufacturers of floor oil-cloth, who use 
it very extensively as a filling. 
Tapioca is recommended to the convalescent as 
being easy of digestion. It may be used in soup or 
broth, or mixed with milk or water or butter. It is 
excellent food for either the healthy or sick, for the 
reason, that it is quickly digested without fatigue to 
the stomach. 
HOW TO MAKE A TAPIOCA PUDDING. 
Ingredients — Four ounces tapioca, one quart milk, 
two ounces butter, four ounces sugar, four eggs, 
flavoring of vanilla, lemon or bitter almond. Mode 
of making: — Wash the tapioca, and let it strew gently 
in the milk by the side of the fire for fifteen minutei , 
occasionally stirring it ; then let it cool a little, mix 
with it the butter, sugar and eggs, which should be 
well beaten, and flavor with either of the above in- 
gredients, putting in about twelve drops of the essence 
of almond, vanilla or lemon, whichever is preferred. 
Butter a pie dish, and line the edges with a puff 
paste; put in the pudding, bake in moderate oven for 
one hour. If the pudding is boiled, add a little more 
tapioca, and boil it in a buttered bowl an hour and 
a half. If the botanists lave classed the tapioca of 
commerce under different names, the merchants in 
New York City have not been slow to follow their 
example. We know of four differnt firms who put 
up their packages as ground tapioca, mandioc, cassava, 
glutena and manioca. — American Grocer. 
IRRIGATION IN AUSTRALIA AND THE 
MESSRS. CHAFFEY. 
(An Interview.) 
Said Bishop Barry to me a few days ago, " I can 
conceive of no nobler act of philanthropy on the pa; t 
