156 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1903. 
tissne paper wrapper, stamped with the special brand 
of the grove, quickly twirl it around the fruit 
and place it as it should be in the box, in order to 
till it completely and with a definite number oi fruits. 
Such, in brief is a view of the process and pleasure 
of Orange growing. In addition to this, imagine the 
satisfaction of life in a country of rolling Pine woods, 
clear skies and pleasant and healthy climate, and 
yon;wiIl realise in a slight degree why my fancy always 
turns in leisure moments to Orange growing.— Herbert 
J. Webbek," — Gardeners' Chronicle,, 
SAGO AND TAPIOCA. 
By J. 6. Jackson. 
Under the commercial name of tapioca wa have a 
valuable food-product almost identical with cassava 
flour or cassava-meal, all of which are the produce of 
the large fleshy tuberous roots of two enphorbaceous 
plants — Manihot utilissima and M, Aipi, ihe first 
known as the bitter and the second as the sweet 
cassava. Both plants are half-shrubby or herbaceous 
perennials, supposed to be natives of Brazil or some 
part of South America. The fleshy roots not only 
contain much starch but also a quantity of milky 
juice, which has always been stated to be poisonous 
, in the bitter cassava but harmless in the sweet — a 
statement which even now is often repeated, though 
BO long ago as 1877 the Government chemist at 
Trinidad showed from his own experiments that the 
sweet like the bitter, yields considerable quantities 
of pruasic acid, which statement has quite recently 
been confirmed by Professor Carmody, the present 
Government chemist at Trinidad. The quantity of 
the poison yielded by the two species is stated to be 
so nearly equal that "by mere chemical analysis 
it would be impossible to distinguish between the 
two." Professor Carmody has, however, shown that 
whilst iu bitter cassava the prussic acid is distri- 
buted more or less uniformly thronghont the tissues 
of the root in the sweet cassava it ia located chiefly 
in the skin and outer portion of the rind. It follows 
that in order to prepare sweet cassava so 
that it may be a safe food for human beings the follow 
iug precautions should be taken : Carefully scrape off 
the skin and outer portion of the rind whereby the 
greater portion of the poison will be removed. Next 
thoroughly heat the remainder by boiling or otherwise 
BO as to destroy and drive off any remaining prussic 
acid ; further, cassava should be eaten only after it 
has been freshly cooked. Thus prepared, sweet 
cassava is a thoroughly wholesome and valuable 
article of food. It ia chiefly from the bitter variety 
that cassava-meal and tapioca are made, which ia 
done by screping and grating the root and carefully 
removing the milky juice by expression, after which 
the meal is thoroughly washed, when the starch sepa- 
rates and is dried and granulated on hot plates, the 
heat dissipating any remaining poison and causing 
the tapioca to form into the agglutinated masses in 
which we see it in commerce. The now expressed 
juicBj boiled and concentrated, also becomes whole- 
some, and under the name of caasareep is used for 
culinary purposes in the Wast ladies, and is imported 
in quantities to this country as a basis for table-sauces. 
Cassava is very extensively cultivated throughout the 
tropics, especially in South America, West tropical 
Africa, and the Straits Settlements, whence we im- 
port this wholesome and nutritious food. 
Sago, as known, in English Commerce, is limited in 
its origin to two or three palms, but the word sago 
has generally a wider application than either of the 
foods already mentioned, for it is given to many pro- 
ducts of a similar character to true sago produced ia 
different parts of the world. Ihe sago known in 
British commerce is obtained from a large palm — 
Metroxtjhn Safju — which is found abundantly 
ia Sumatra and the neighboming ielaadp, as wejl aa 
in Java, Malacca, Siam, and Borneo. Like most 
palms it has a straight, cylindrical trunk, 40 to 50 
feet high and 1 to 2 feet in diameter, marked for a 
good distance down v/ith the bRses of the fallen 
petioles, and clothed with thick brown or blackish 
fibres. Under these fibres the outer woody portion of 
the trunk ia very hard, but it is of no great thickness 
and by far the largest portion of the trunk is filled 
with a soft, cellular, spongy substance of a buff yellow 
colour. It is from this that sago ia procured, and 
to obtain it the trees are cut down and the trunk 
cut up into equal-size pieces, which are split down the 
centre so that the whole of the mednlUry substance 
may be scraped out and thoroughly washed in clean 
water. The starch is thus separated by a system of 
filtration and finally granulated or pearled by passing 
the starch mass through sieves with different sized 
meshea, the whole being finally roasted, or, more 
properly, dried. Pearl sago occurs in commerce in 
different sized pearls, usually varying from that of a 
pin's head to a amall pea, but sometimes very much 
larger in size. So large is the yield of sago on some 
plantations that it has been estimated that three 
trees will furnish more food than an acre of wheat, 
and six trees more than an acre ot potatoes. It ia 
definitely stated that from £00 lb, to 600 lb. of good 
aago may be taken as the average yield of a good tree, 
and as much as 800 lb. has been known to be so ob- 
tained. With regard to the nutritive properties of 
sago, the meal which is largely consumed in tho ilo- 
luceas is made into a coarse kind of bread or cake, 2^ 
lb. of which is said to afford a good and sufficient 
amount of sustenance for a man on very exacting 
manual labour. These facts, taken in connection with 
the abundance and cheapness of aago, lead one to 
think that it ought to be much more exteuaively nsed 
than it is, — Chemist and Drugist. 
' ♦ 
THE MANGO: ITS CULTURE AND 
VARIETIES. 
VAHIETIKS. 
Any one who has resided a few years iu India can- 
not fail to have been struck by the great ntimber o 
varieties of this fruit to be found in every part of the 
country. To quote Firminger, " the worst have not 
inaptly been likened for flavour and consistency to 
tow soaked in turpentine ; while the finest, having the 
soft, bland consistency of blanc-mange, so as to admit 
of being eaten with a spoon, certainly rival, if not 
excel, any fruit in the world for deliciousness of 
flavour." With such a range of diversity, It would 
obviously be impossible to enumerate every variety of 
Mango found in India within the limited scope of a 
newspaper article. Indeed, I have no intention of 
attempting the task. All I purpose doing here is 
to describe a few of the very best varieties which 
have come under my own observation, and of which 
I have had personal experience under onltivation. 
These I can recommend to the readers of Indian 
Plaiiting and Gardening as being well worth cultivating. 
I do not recommend amateurs, or even those who grow 
this fruit on a large scale for trade or profit, to culti- 
vate more thaii at most a dozen varieties, believing as 
I do that it ia better, more satisfactory, and certainly 
more paying to grow a few well known and highly 
prized varieties than a large number of varieties whose 
only claim to a place in the garden is the fact of their 
existence. For market purposes the cultivator should 
follow the English and Continental market gardeners 
who grow on a large scale certain well known varieties 
of fruits, flowers and vegetables. The collector of 
curiosities may, of course, stock hia garden witk 
every known variety, but that ia because he has 
more money to throw away than the average leas 
fortunate grower, who either grows for market or for 
bia owa personal use. Wheo, however, a grower 
