82 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1902 
The next paper was by Mr. E. Grimtezy, of the Queensland Acclimatisai®! 
Society, Brisbane, on— 
SOME SUBSTITUTES FOR SUGAR-CANE. 
[By E. Grimtry, Secretary, Queensland Acclimatisation Society.] 
Masor Boyn read the paper at Mr. Grimley’s request. 
The old adage that it is unwise to “put all your eggs in one basket” is as ttl! 
now as in the old days of the misty past when these words became a proverb. Apphi 
to agriculture, they mean that it is unwise to depend ona single crop. Take 
West Indies, for example: For many years the sugar-cane was the sole source # 
wealth of those islands, and now that low prices are ruling for sugar there is wide 
spread depression; or take Ceylon, with its dependence on coffee. When the cofket) 
became diseased, nothing but ruin stared the planters in the face. To come neat’ 
home, take our Northern sugar-planters. Now that sugar is on the balance, it is! 
problem as to what can be substituted, and the object of this paper is to show t 
there are many crops worthy of a trial. As these papers are to be somewhat curtailed 
I shali not be able to deal very fully with each crop, and must limit myself to a fev, 
Before proceeding with my paper, I may state that I consider coffee, cotton, 1 
rice good substitutes for sugar-cane ; but, as they have all been dealt with by others, 
am not writing about them, but am confining myself to subjects not yet general’) 
grown or written about. 
In connection with cotton, I may state that in the paper I read at the Iss 
Conference I hinted tliat a difficulty might arise from the fact that the crop general] 
ripened about the time of our wet season—save the mark! I have since receiv! 
information that cotton in the North ripens its crop pretty nearly the whole ye# 
round, so that the chance of the fibre being spoiled by the rain is at least minimis¢! 
T also find that in the North it seems to grow as well and. to yield as well for mal! 
ears as it does in the first year. Itis the custom in the States, and was the custo? 
en when cotton was grown, to treat it as an annual and to grow from seed each yet! 
CASSAVA. 
The cassava or tapioca plant is a native of tropical America; its botanical nat 
is Manihot. There are two varieties—called Manihot utillissima, or bitter cassava ; a! 
Manihot Aipi, or sweeticassava. The former or bitter cassava is the one most! 
cultivation, but both are valued for their roots. Up till quite lately, the main use! 
has been put to has been the production of tapioca. ‘The roots of the bitter variety a” 
highly poisonous, but the poison is easily expelled by heat. 
The cultivation is exceedingly simple. The plant is propagated by cuttings & 
the stems planted like sugar-cane. It thrives under most diverse conditions of clima 
on high or low land, on humid plains or dry hills, but the soil must be friable and @ 
good quality. Land that had borne several crops of sugar-cane would do well, as 
requires different constituents from sugar. Yielding so largely, it is an exhaustité 
crop, and for successive crops would require manuring—the crop yielding from 104 
20 tons of roots per acre. The cassava is particularly a drought-resisting plant, a 
gives these large returns with a rainfall of only 14 inches in the year. 
Tapioca is obtained in the following manner :—The roots are pulped in the sai" 
manner as arrowroot bulbs ; the poisonous juices are expelled by pressure and washing* 
and the mass is pounded into coarse meal resembling bread crumbs, and when heated 
the starch cells burst, forming the tapioca of commerce. The roots of the sweet cass 
can be used in a similar manner to the sweet potato as a vegetable. The value of 
tapioca used in this Commonwealth amounts to £34,000 a year; this is the wholes i 
importing price, to which has to be added the duty, and to which extent Queensla® 
could supply its protected market. The yield is, say, 10 tons per acre, yielding 17" 
20 per cent, of tapioca, or say 3,400 Ib. at 15s. 6d. per cwt., giving £26 14s. per acre. 
However, it is not to tapioca that we can look for anything like a large industty’ 
and happily there is a product of the crop which can be utilised to a very large extel! 
and that is the starch. The demand for tapioca is limited, whilst the demand 1 
starch for the Commonwealth is large, amounting to some £100,000 without duty, a” 
there is the whole of that market open to Queensland to supply. | 
In Florida, where the coloured labourer is paid a dollar (4s. 2d.) a day, the crf 
is delivered on the railway trucks at 21s. a ton, being purchased by a central mill 
Probably our sugar-mills could be utilised for the purpose of preparing the starch, ® 
the business should be profitable, for cassava will yield starch at a cheaper rate tha? 
any known crop. It is calculated in Florida that an acre of maize will yield 
a 
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