8 
TflE TROPICAL A.ailICULTlTRIST. 
[July i, l§Oi 
whole island, and his aunnal sab is a great ovent 
among the sugar planters in the western districts. 
Another industry which has only very recently 
sprung into existence, and in the future of which I 
have great faith, is the cultivation of rice. Kice is 
very largely in use as an article offjod among the 
negroes, and there are thousands of acres of swampy 
land, utterly useless for any other purpose, which 
might bo pre litably turned into riceflelds. 1 myself 
witnessed the tirst experiment which was made in 
the vicinity of the tow-u of Falmouth, on the north 
side of the island, and can testify both to its success 
as a comniircial venture, and the iniprovemaut to 
th3 town efte;tod by it frjm a sanitary and an 
aesthetic point of view. 
«• • 
CASSAVA POISONING. 
Amongst the iinpovtvnt food plants c.il.ivated in 
the West Indies i-i iho ' C issava ' or ' Mauioc ' JIaiiihot 
u(ilissima,i\, uiembar of t'le -<pur^o Order, or Euphorbia- 
ccac), grown for the sake o£ the store of starch contained 
in Its long, thick root?. Two kinda of cassava are 
coainiouly reconnised, the 'bitter' ami the 'sweet,' 
and sonieiimes cou8ia«-red to bo txo distinct species 
of plants. Bator and sweet cassava are pnt to separate 
uses. From the b;tter variety, after grating and careful 
expression of the. milky juice, a flour is obtained 
from which ihin cassava cakes are made. It is also 
the source of ' f.uine ' and the tapioca of commerce. 
The raw juice cooked and concentrated is known as 
casareep. The sweet cassava is more commonly eaten, 
as a vegetable, after boiling or roasting. Bitter 
cassava in the fresh condition is well known to be 
harmful and experiments have been made which prove 
the extremely poisonous character of its milky 
juice. The poisonous constituent of the raw juice is 
prussio acid, or hydrocyanic acid, easily recognizable 
by what is known us the ' smell of bitter almonds. 
Pruesic acid is fortunately a poison which it is com 
paratively easy to get rid of completely. It is only 
necessary to ensure that the substance containing 
it shall be thoroughly heated, and all the pruasic 
acid present is destroyed and the subst uce rendered 
perfectly hatrnlees. 
As already e»id, bitter cassava is universally regard- 
ded as a poisonous substance. With regared to sweet 
cassava, on the other hand, opinions vary and even 
in a standard book of reference on Chemistry it 
is stated that 'the milky juice in the sweet variety 
ia innocuous, wliilst that in the bitter is highly 
poisonous.' 
Deaths from eating improperly prepared sweet 
cassava occur from nine to time in the West Indies, 
friocipally araon ;at badly-fed or neglec'.ed children. 
a order to prevent, if possible, the recurrence of 
Bucb accidents, it is desirable that the actual facts 
should be published and made widely kno«n in the 
hope that teachers and others /nay be able to put 
children on their guard against the danger of eating 
sweet cassava nnlesa carj has been taken in its 
preparation. 
As long ago BB 1877, Professor Francis, then Govern- 
ment Chemist at Trinidad, stated, us the results 
of expeiimenls that sweet cassava root contained 
coDsideiablo quantities of prussic acid. Uisworkhts 
recently been repeated and extended by his successor 
Professor 1'. G innody (Aiinunl It/port of the Oovern- 
ment Anab/sl, Trinilnd, I'.Ol, p. 15). From their 
iDVegllgtiliouu it appo.ira that xweet cassava not only 
contaius the poisonous prussio acid, but contains 
Dearly as niucii as bitter cassava, and thit by mere 
chemical analyrtis it would bo impossible to distinguish 
btttween the two. rrofessor Uarniody was able to 
show thai whilst in bitter cassava the prussic acid 
is distributed more or leas uniformly throughout the 
litBues of the root, in the sweet cassava it is located 
cbitfly in the skin and outer portion of the rind, 
l\ {oUoffs tbat in order (o prepare 8woe( OfttsaTA 
so that it mxy be a safe faol for human beings 
the following precautions should be taken; — 
(1) Cirefully scrape off the skin and outer portion 
of the rind, whereby the greater portion of the 
poison will be removed. 
(2) Thoroughly he it the remainder by boiling or 
otherwise, so as to destroy and drive off any remain- 
in'; prussic acid. 
I'lms prepared sweet cassava is a thoroughly 
wholesome article of food, as the experience of many 
who eat it regularly is sufficient to prove. 
One other word of warning is necessary. Professor 
C irmody has indicated that although all the prussic 
acid originally present in the root may be got rid 
of, it is possible that a small further quantity may 
hi formed later by changes dependent on the addition 
of water. Cassava which has been cooked and then 
kept for some time may still be a dangerous substance, 
aid should not be eaten. The rues to be followed 
in preparing and eating sweet cassava are thus: — 
(1) Scrape the root. (2) Cook it well, so as to heat 
it throughout. (3j Eat cassava only after it has 
been freshly cooked. — West Indies Agricultural News 
COMPOSITION OP THE BREAD FRUIT. 
The following analysis of the bread fruit ia recorded 
in the Experiment Station Record, Vol. xii, p. 1076: — 
Wate- 46-21 per cent. 
Protein 2'34 „ „ 
, 0-40 „ „ 
Staich 41-42 „ ., 
Crude Fibre 4-20 „ „ 
Ash 1-73 „ „ 
Undetermined 3-65 ,, „ 
In comparison with the swaet potato and yam 
(which agree very closely with one another in their 
chemical composit'on) the bread fruit cont-jins 25 to 30 
per cen^. less water, about 25 par cent, more starch 
a.id a distinctly higher proportion of protein or 
nitrogenous matter. Expressed in other words, 
whilst one pound weight of sweet potato or yam 
couta'Qs about twelve ounces of water and two ounces 
of starch, one pound of bread fruit contains about 
six and a half ounces of starch and only seven of 
water. Although superior a? a fool stuff so far 
as actual chemical composition is concerned, the 
presence of over four per cent, ot fibrous matter in 
the bread fruit is a point in which it compares un- 
favourably with the sweet potato and yam. — Agricul- 
tural News, 
» 
RuBB'^K Output op the Amazon Valley,— The 
United States Consul at Para reports that at the 
close of 1901, the receipts of rubber at Para were 
nearly 30 per cent, greater than ever before at that 
season. Business was good in 1900, exchange low, 
and credits easy. The labourers and middlemea 
indulged in many luxuries. The end of the season 
found the crisis at hand, exchange rising rapidly, 
the gatherers deeply in debt, and the price of rubber 
reduced 20 per cent. Now they are making a des- 
perate effort to pay off this iudebtedness and make 
a fresh start. They are getting a large proportion 
off their food from the streams and forests by hunting 
and fi^hintc ; they are purchasing only absolute ne- 
cessities; and are working overtime to increase the 
crop and liquidate their bills, it was reported ia 
December that there were on the way down the river, 
from the upper tributaries ot the Amazon, about 7<I0 
tons more rubber than had ever before been shipped 
from that section in one season, and that there were 
at least '200 tons more to follow. About 30 small 
Rteamers and launches left Para and Manaos for the 
Acre, Jurua, Puru'', and Ueni rivers, and were due 
to return to Para in February. Altogether, adds the 
Consul, there is reason to balieve that this seaion'a 
rubber crop will exceed that of laU year by a very 
ooaBiaerjibie margin,— I/«^e)*ifli InntUuU Jouiml\ 
