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202 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL gourNAL. [1 Sepr., 189 
A Home-made Arrowroot Mill. 
We were lately asked by a farmer in the Blackall Range how to make au 
arrowroot-grinding machine. He had arrowroot growing on his farm, an 
wished to make enough starch for domestic use. The only method he knew of 
was to grind down the bulbs on a large tin grater, but the results did nob 
compensate for the labour. As we were once in exactly the same predicament, 
we cannot do better than describe the primitive machine which we inyen 
and which proved eminently successful. Being far distant from any place 
where a machine could have been constructed, not to mention the detail of @ 
scarcity of cash, we constructed the machine as follows :—First, a log about 
2 feet in diameter and § feet long was hollowed out by axe and adze into ® 
trough. At the head of this trough was fixed a framework much like the 
wooden stand of a grindstone. A large wheel was then cut from a sound log. 
This wheel was about 3 feet in diameter and 1 foot wide. Tin plates, turn 
into graters (which required frequent renewal) by punching holes in them 
with a nail, were next nailed on to the edge of the wheel, to which a wooden 
axle was fitted. he wheel, when placed in position, turned in the water with 
which the trough was filled. Above it was a wooden hopper, through which 
the bulbs dropped on to-the wheel. This was turned by a man with ease, and 
the grated bulbs went into the water in the shape of pulp and starch. The 
latter gradually settled at the bottom, and the pulp was removed with a narrow- 
tined fork and also by hand. After a short interval to allow the starch to settle 
down firmly, pegs were withdrawn from the lower end of the trough, and the 
water drawn off. The arrowroot was then dug out of the bottom of the trough 
and passed through calico stretched over a tub. By stirring it round with the 
hand on the calico, and at the same time pouring water on it, the whole of the 
starch passed through into the tub, leaving the gross impurities behind. ‘This 
operation was performed three or even four times, until the arrowroot was 
perfectly white and quite free from any foreign substance. After the last 
washing, it was placed on shallow trays and dried. With the machine described, 
we not only made sufficient arrowroot for our own use, but we sent a quantity 
home to our friends, and sold the balance in Brisbane at 1s. per Ib. ‘This was 
in the year 1863. Such a machine, however, would scarcely enable a grower 
to-day to make a profit out of arrowroot. 
