Sept, 1, 1900.] tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
199 
be heaped np around the stem of the plant, as the 
trunk is entirely unable to absorb the manure from 
without. One way by means of which we can make 
the most of the good work wrought upon the soil 
by manure is by not putting in the same kind of 
plant every year. All men do not like the same kind 
of food — all plants do not take up the same kind 
of plant-food from the soil. If some do, it is done 
in a varied extent. Again, some are deep feeders 
and gather up the food from the lower layers of the 
soil called the sub soil. Others draw from the upper 
layers called the surface soil, and are called surface 
feeders. These facts must lead us to see that certain 
elements in the soil may be left untoachcd by certain 
plants. We therefore see the necessity for what is 
called rotation crops. For example, if you plant 
yams on a certain plot of ground this year, do not 
plant your yams on that plot next year, but vary 
by planting corn, say, next year; then in the third 
year plant sweet potatoes, and in the fourth year 
plant peas, Setnrn to yams the following year and 
retrace your steps, under favourable circumstances 
you are certain to have very satisfactory results. 
When you have done these things, leave your tields 
to nature, and she will do the rest — Journal of 
of the Jamaica Agnctiltural Society. 
ARROW-ROOT CULTIVATION. 
The cultivation of Arrow-root is, by no means 
such a diflicult thing as may be imagined. It is 
grown much like the common potato and, after it 
has once been put into the ground, is in need of 
no special care: like potatoes it should be sown on 
soil composed of a due admixture of sand and loam. 
It will grow well on land where the surface soil is 
open, sandy and light and not moist at all, although 
it will thrive better on moist land, the tubers yielding, 
however, a less quantity of flour, than when they 
have been raised on dry ground. Whether roots or 
tubers, or whether shoots be used, the great thing 
is to select light open soil, and to break it up 
thoroughly before planting the shoots or laying down 
the roots or tubers, so that the new root or tuber 
may be n Ho wed free and unchecked scope for the 
fullest development. The earth should then be made 
up into beds and the shoots or roots or tubers, two 
in each hole, should be pit down at intervals of 12 
to 18 inches apart, when they are covered over with 
leaves to prevent the earth from drying up — these 
leaves, when decayed, serving as manure and hinder- 
ing the growth of weeds. Unless in a great failure 
or raiu, the la,ud sown does not need watering. The 
sowing should be made in the rainy season, or not 
later than October or even November. In proportion 
to the depth to which the ground is dug up and the 
Boii is stirred the tubers become large. No further 
care is then needed beyond frequent weeding and 
keeping the roots clean and sweet. Though the 
crop does not specially call for manuring, it will 
derive some benefit from a dressing of rotten old 
dung and leaf mould. The soil is not to be disturbed 
after the planting till the tubers are fit to be dug 
Hp, that is some eight to ten months after. It should 
be borne in mind that tha cultivation slightly varies, 
when tubers or roots are used. In this case, the 
roots 'or tubers are sown on a separate piece of 
ground, and when the shoots come out they are to 
be transplanted to the beds specially prepared, and 
set down at the distances indicated above. Care 
should be taken to water the roots or tubers till the 
Bhools come out, and to protect them from too much 
exposure to the heat of the sun. As the plant grows, 
the roots of each should be earthed up so as to 
allow of their fuller and freer development. In order 
to secure tubers of largo size and in greater quantities, 
the flowers should be cut off just as they appear on 
the plant. When about six months old, the stems 
and the leaves of the plants not allowed to flower, 
will be strong and green ; while plants that have 
flowered bacoxne yellow aud show signs oi decay. 
It has been found that plants which had been stripped 
of flowers produced, on an equal space of ground 
about thrice the weight of large turbers as compared 
with the plants that had flowered, which yielded a 
small number of middling sized tubers with a great 
number ef smaller size. 
As to the simplest process for converting the arrow- 
root into the finest flour, the roots should first be 
stripped ot the scaly leaves by washing them in 
water. When sufliciently clean they should be reduced 
to powder by the use of graters or, more easily still, 
by Dounding them in a mortar. Sufficient water 
should be poured over the powder to convert it into 
a liquid; and after this liquid has been thoroughly 
stirred up, it should be filtered through a rough 
cloth, in which the threads are set apart, into another 
vessel which should be kept unshaken till the powder 
settles down a'- the bottom. The stale water should 
then be poured out and the powder should be stirred 
up again with fresh water and passed through the 
process of filtration through a finer cloth. The wash- 
ing and filtering should be repeated till the water 
comes out perfectly free from the slightest tinge of 
any color. When the powder is finally settled, the 
water should be thrown away, and the sediment dried 
in the sun on clean white paper. 
While drying, the powder should- be constantly 
broken up to prevent it from forming into lumpa 
and to reduce it to a state of perfect Qaenesa— Planter, 
GROWING SWEET POTATOES. f 
A Virginian farmer, in the American Af)ricultur{st, 
gives the following advice on growing sweet potatoes : 
— io begin with, soil free from stone seems essential 
and a clay loam the best. The field is well ploac'hed 
and the soil turned up in high ridges, far enough 
apart to be worked by a one-horse cultivator. I 
leave the field for a couple of days or so, for the 
soil to become warm and well dried out 
Perhaps you buy the plants. I make a square 
of boards, a foot and a halt to two feet deep, in 
a sunny place, and fill with mast (dried pine needles 
tea-tree leaves or forest oak needles would serve 
the same purpose), slightly mixed with dry clay loam 
for a depth sufficient for the seed potatoes to be 
placed on end. I placed them close together and 
over all put a covering of mast. If mast is unobtain- 
able, a lot of finely cut straw will do, being care- 
ful that it IS not put on too thickly. The sun is 
allowed to shine in a while, then towards night 
a muslin cover is put on. This is wholly or partly 
removed at times, but mast remain on over night 
The potatoes are given an:,occasional light sprink- 
ling, unless native uses her watering pot on them 
It will not be long before crips, tender, green 
leaves will peep through the mast, which must lie 
thin and light. When sprouts are from 5 to 8 inchea 
long, one can readily pull them, one at time by 
hand through the mast, pulling only such as' are 
of proper length for planting from day to day. 
When ready to plant, a quantity of the sproata 
are supposed to be large enough two or three daya 
after the ridging. One person begins at the end of 
the row, and with a gardener's trowel quickly makea 
little openings 18 inches apart on top of the ridge 
He does this in an even manner, and another follows 
with bucket or apron fall of the slips and drops one 
stem end down, in each little whole. Next the one 
who used the trowel comes along with a bucket ot 
tempered water, and a small dipper, and puis a 
small quantity of water in each hole with the plant, 
while the man who dropped the slips follows closely 
behind, and with one quick movement of both handa 
farms down the soil around each slip. It has been 
quick work, and the rows look even and handsome 
J-he dipper of water keeps the slip fresh until it 
starts Its rootlets. One may look over a large patch 
and scarcely see a lost plant. During the season, 
the cultivator goes through twice. Weeds are not 
very prolific then, and the plants got ahead rapidly, 
— Agricultural Qaxette. • 
