June I, 1891.] 
Supplement to the “ Tnopical Agvicnltmist. 
887 
give out the characteristic smell of cyanogen and 
the cyanides. The process of drying or boiling 
always removes the traces of this acid and witli 
it the poisonous properties. There is a popu- 
lar belief among the villagers that this poisonous 
property is contained in the rind and core of the 
yams. With this idea many take the precau- 
tion of remove the core before preparing 
the yam for food. There is, however, no reason 
to believe that the poisonous property is contained 
in this particular portion of the yam only. 
There is another popular idea, that the cases which 
prove fatal by the use of this root are due to eat- 
ing such yams as have been bitten by poisonous 
serpents. Any danger from manioc-poison is 
easily averted by talcing some simple remedy, 
such as salt and water. 
The bitterest and the most piosonous varieties 
of manioc, the like of which we do not find in this 
Island, are largely consumed by the West Indians 
witliout the least danger. Waterton in his “ AVnn- 
derings in South America” says. This most useful 
l^lant is to the Guiana natives what corn is to us. 
It is a tall unbranched plant growing irregularly 
and knotted at intervals, and having leaves with 
a purple gloss. The root is the portion that is 
eaten and it is scraped down on a board stuck full 
of sharp flint or other stones and called by the 
name of Tumarrie. In order to extract the 
poisonous juice, the scraped cassava is forced into 
a long narrow basket called a Matajjpi, made 
exactly on the princixde of the “ Siame.se links.’ 
When the matappi is full it is scarcely half 
its length when empty, but is more than double 
its thickness ; it is then tied to a branch of a tree’ 
or to abeam of a house, and arearthen pot is placed 
under it and a heavy weight is tied to the lower- 
end. The weight of tire stone causes the matappi 
to increase in length but to diminish in thickness, 
thus exerting a powerful pressure on the cassava, 
and squeezing out the juice, -which runs through 
the interstices and so down tlie mataj)pi into the 
irot. The dry cassava is then removed, rubbed 
through a basket work sieve, formed into Hat 
circular cakes about two feet in diameter and a 
quarter of an inch in thickness, and baked upon a 
flat heated stone or plate of iron. Mean-while 
the poisonous juice has been kept out of reach of 
children, poultry &c., and on being boiled and 
flavoured with red-pepper or Cassiana, becomes 
the well known cassereep or pepper pot of the 
West Indies. When the cassava bread is eaten it 
is generally dipped in the cassareep.” 
The prepared manioc is known in commerce as 
manioc arrowroot or cassava flour and in another 
form as tapioca. The manioc arrowroot is pre- 
pared much in the same way as the real arrow- 
root. Thor oot is well rinsed in water, and the outer 
bark having been first removed, the inner white 
mass is scraped into water, well squeezed, washed 
several times and tlie particles taken out and 
carefully dried. The other form of cassava is 
largely consumed and is ]>rpparod as follows. 
After the cleaned roots have been well smashed 
tlie starch which is obtained is jdaced on heated 
iron plates when it forms into granular masses. 
Thus prepared ami packed the substance keojis 
well for a long time and forms a desirable article 
of fooil. Both these prejiared varieties of manioc 
when manufactured on a large scale are made in 
factories where the dilferent jirocesses are carried 
ou with the aid of variou.s appliances, 
The extension of the cultivation of this product 
in Ceylon is very desirable as it is found to grow 
well in most parts of the Island. It yields a 
large quantity of food materials which could be 
advantageously used locally for both man and 
beast, and a large aiid profitable trade could be 
opened with great advantage, if the product is 
cultivated to any extent. Sir Samuel Baker in 
his -work on Ceylon mentions, that this plant was 
at one time grown in Colombo at Mr. Thurstaa’s 
Industrial School and that the flour was prepared 
and sold largely. 
^ 
A REPOET ON COTTON. 
The Agricultural Department of Madras has 
issued a bulletin, consisting of a report 011 the 
results of an inquiry as to the growth of cotton 
in Tinnevelly by Mr. S. T. Iyer one of its Agri- 
cultural Inspectors. The enquiry -was mainly 
directed to the method of cultivating, and the 
yield of, Tinnevelly cotton, with the object of 
enabling the Department to devise such experi- 
ments as might best improve the staple and in- 
crease the out-turn. In the inquiries into the 
subject of -weather and seasons, it was found 
that dews and sea-breeze were beneficial to cotton, 
but fogs, especially after rainfall, proved highly 
injurious by withering up the fine bolls and 
flowers, while the strong N. E. wind dissipated 
moisture from the soil and x)lants, causing the 
leaves of the latter to wither and droop. Obser- 
vations tended to in-ove that cotton requires some- 
wdiat dry weather for its growth, and that heavy 
rainfall is disadvantageous. 
As a rule cotton is cultivated ou various sorts 
of black soil in Tinnevelly, and rarely on red soils. 
The various kinds of black .soils are distinguished 
by particular native names, and they are generally 
divided into (1) superior friable black soil, (2) 
inferior ditto, (3) stiff black soil, and (4) saltish 
black soil. The first, which is considered to be 
by far the best, has a substratum of limestone, 
and the second a substratum of gneiss : both soils 
being mixed with particles of the underlying 
rocks. The red soils are divided into I'ed loam 
and red satid; the grey sandy loams and gravelly 
soils are A"ery rarely used for cotton cultivation. 
The different kinds of manures applied to 
cotton soils are (1) cattle manure by itself or 
mixed with earthy matter, (2) some form of 
earthy, mattei-, (3) sheep manure, and (4) green 
leaves and twigs. The earthy matter referred to 
is generally silt taken from the beds of tanks, 
2 >ools, and from the sides and beds of streams. 
It appears to be the practice to fold together all 
the flocks of sheep of one or moi’e villages in 
each man’s field .successively, though each man 
tends bis own flock. The manure is not generally 
ai)pliedto the cotton crop itself, (1) becau.se it is 
lound that in the year of application the crop 
has une(pial growth, while in the second yoiir the 
croj) is more uniform, anil (2) because the ryots 
find by experience that crops to which manure is 
apjdied suffer more than unmanured crops from 
protracted drought. 
Ou the different knuls of black soil cotton is 
raised geui'rally once in two years, and ryots 
generally arrange to cultivate some one particular 
crop, cotton or another, e.xtcnsively in the village 
