The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom

Section II The Grain Crops, Edible Roots, and Farinaceous Plants Forming the Bread Stuffs of Commerce

The vegetable substances, from which man derives his principal sustenance, such as the nutritious cereal grains, the tuberous rooted plants and the trees yielding farina, are very widely diffused, and necessarily occupy the main attention of the cultivator; their products forming the most important staples of domestic and foreign commerce. The cereal grasses and roots, cultivated in temperate regions, such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, and the potato, are so well known, and have been so fully described by agricultural writers that I shall not go much into details as to their varieties, culture, &c., but confine myself chiefly to their distribution, produce, statistics, and commercial importance. The food plants may be most conveniently arranged under three heads. Firstly—the Grain crops and legumes, which comprises the European cultivated grasses, wheat, barley, oats, &c.; and the tropical ones of rice, maize, millet, Guinea corn, &c. Secondly—Palms and other trees yielding farina, including the sago palms, plantain and banana, and the bread fruit tree. And Thirdly—the edible Root crops and Starch producing plants, which are a somewhat extensive class, the chief of which, however, are the common potato, yams, cocos or eddoes, sweet potatoes, the bitter and sweet cassava or manioc, the arrowroot and other plants yielding starch in more or less purity.

There is a great diversity of food, from the humble oak bark bread of the Norwegian peasant, or the Brahmin, whose appetite is satisfied with vegetables, to the luxurious diet of a Hungarian Magnate at Vienna.

The bread stuffs, as they are popularly termed, particularly wheat and wheat flour, maize, and rice, form very important articles of commerce, and enter largely into cultivation in various countries for home consumption and export. Russia, India, and the United States, carry on a very considerable trade in grain with other countries. Our local production being insufficient for food and manufactures, we import yearly immense quantities of grain and flour. In the four years ending 1852, the annual quantity of corn, of various, kinds, imported into the United Kingdom, exclusive of flour and meal, rice, sago, &c., averaged 8,085,903 quarters.

The flour and meal imported, omitting sago, arrowroot and other starches, averaged in the same period 4,143,603 cwts. annually.

The annual imports of breadstuffs for food, taking the average of the four years ending with 1852, may be thus summed up—

	Tons.
Corn and grain, 8,085,903 quarters, at 60 lb. the bushel	173,270
Flour and meal	207,180
Rice	40,817
Potatoes	42,440
Sago, arrowroot, &c.	5,000
Total	468,707

Some portion of this quantity is doubtless consumed in the arts—as starch for stiffening linens, &c., and for other purposes not coming under the term of food, but I have purposely left out in the calculation about 30,000 to 40,000 quarters of rice in the husk annually imported.

Ireland took, in 1849, of foreign grain 2,115,129 quarters; 1,683,687 quarters in 1850; and 2,504,229 in 1851; as well as 256,837 cwts. of various kinds of meal and flour in 1849; 220,107 cwts. in 1850; and 341,680 cwts. in 1851. England also supplied her with about 500,000 quarters of grain and 350,000 cwts. of meal in each of those years.

The comparative returns of the importations of grain into the United Kingdom for the last four years, are as follows, in quarters:—

	1852.	1851.	1850.	1849.
Wheat	3,068,892	3,812,009	3,738,995	3,845,378
Barley	656,737	829,564	1,035,903	1,381,008
Oats	995,480	1,198,529	1,154,473	1,267,106
Rye	10,023	24,609	98,836	240,566
Beans	371,250	318,502	443,306	457,933
Peas	107,017	99,399	181,419	234,366
Maize	1,479,891	1,807,636	1,277,071	2,224,459
Other sorts	8,085	3,432	868	1,150
Quarters	6,667,375	8,124,280	7,930,871	9,651,966

The meal and flour imported in the same years, in cwts., were as follows:—

	1852.	1851.	1850.	1849.
Wheat	3,889,583	5,314,414	3,819,440	3,349,839
Barley	212	34	108	224
Oats	521	2,525	5,999	40,230
Rye	92	6,493	964	18,468
Indian corn	742	9,561	11,334	101,683
Other sorts	54	343	163	1,396
Cwts.	3,891,195	5,323,370	3,838,008	3,511,840

Before the famine in Ireland the imports seldom reached 20 millions of bushels of grain and meal of all kinds. In 1848 our imports were about 60 millions; in 1849, 85 millions; in 1850, 68 millions; in 1851, 75½ millions; in 1852, 69 millions, with good wheat harvests; showing the great shock received and the slowness of recovery.

With a rapidly increasing population in all parts of the civilized world, the production of bread is obviously the first object to be sought after, alike by the statesman and the peasant. I scarcely dare give the calculation of the immense amount which would be realised in any great country, by the single saving of a bushel to an acre, in the quantity of seed ordinarily sown. The same result would follow if an additional bushel could be produced in the annual average yield of the wheat crop.

According to Mr. H. Colman, the annual amount of seed for wheat sown in France is estimated at 32,491,978 bushels. If we could suppose a third of this saved, the saving would amount to 10,863,959 bushels per year. Suppose an annual increase of the crops of five bushels per acre, this would give an increase of production of 54,319,795 bushels. Add this, under improved cultivation, to the amount of seed saved, and the result would be 65,183,754 bushels—I believe under an improved agriculture this is quite practicable.

An eminent agricultural writer placed the average yield in England at eighteen bushels per acre; some years since a man of sanguine temperament rated it at over thirty bushels. In France it is stated, in the best districts, to average twenty-two bushels. These evidently are wholly conjectural estimates. In England Mr. Colman states that fifty bushels per acre were reported to him on the best authority, as the yield upon a large farm in a very favorable season. More than eighty bushels have been returned, upon what is deemed ample testimony, to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as the product of a single acre. In France Mr. Colman had, upon credible authority, reports of forty, forty-four and seventy-two bushels. It would be of immense importance to any government to know the exact produce grown in any county, or district, or in the whole country; and this might be obtained by compelling, on the part of the owner or cultivator, an actual return of his crop; but it is of little use to found such returns on estimates purely conjectural.

From the best statistical accounts that can be obtained, the wheat annually produced in the United Kingdom.

England, Scotland, Ireland is	111,681,320 bushels.
In France it is	198,660,000 bushels.
United States	100,503,899 bushels.

The amount of seed ordinarily sown to the acre in France is from two to three bushels. The return of crop for the seed sown is represented as in the best districts averaging 6.25 for one; in the least productive 5.40 for one. My readers may be curious to know the calculations which have been made in some other countries in regard to this matter.

CENTRAL EUROPE
Countries.	Year.	Increase for seed sown.
Spain	1828	6 for one
Portugal	1786	10 for one
Tuscany		10 for one
Plains of Lucca		15 for one
Piedmont—Plains of Marengo		4 to five for one
Bologna		15 for one
Roman States—Pontine marshes		20 for one
Ordinary lands		8 for one
Kingdom of Naples—best districts		20 for one
Ordinary lands		8 for one
Malta—the best lands		38 to 64 for one
Ordinary lands		22, 25, 30 for one
NORTHERN EUROPE.
Sweden and Norway	1838	4.50 for one
Denmark	1827	6 for one
Russia, a good harvest	1819	5 for one
---- province of Tambof	1821	4.50 for one
---- provinces north of 50 deg. latitude	1821	3 for one
Poland	1826	8 for one
England	1830	9 for one
Scotland	1830	8 for one
Ireland	1825	10 for one
Holland	1828	7.50 for one
Belgium	1828	11 for one
Bavaria	1827	7 to 8 for one
Prussia	1817	6 for one
Austria	1812	7.05 for one
Hungary	1812	4 for one
Switzerland, lands of an inferior quality	1825	3 for one
Of a good quality, 8; of the best quality		12 for one
France, inferior lands, 3; best lands		6 for one
(Statistique des Cereales de la France par Moreau de Jonnes.)

STATISTICS OF WHEAT CULTURE.

As wheat forms the principal nutritious food of the world, claiming the industrious application of labor over the greater part of Europe, throughout the temperate regions of Asia, along the northern kingdoms of Africa, and extending far into the northern and southern regions of the American continents; as it has been cultivated from time immemorial, and has produced in various climates and soils many varieties; it is surprising that so little is generally known of the distinct varieties best adapted to particular climates—and that in Great Britain and the United States we have yet to learn the variety which will yield the largest and best amount of human food!

At the Industrial Exhibition in 1851, twenty-six premiums only were distributed for specimens of wheat; of these, five were awarded to British farmers, three to France, three to Russia, three to Australia, three to the United States, and one each or severally to other nations. Some beautiful specimens of wheat were exhibited from South Australia, weighing seventy pounds a bushel; which were eagerly sought after for seed wheat by our farmers and the colonists of Canada and the United States. But as is well observed by Professor Lindley, it has no peculiar constitutional characteristics by which it may be distinguished from other wheats. Its superior quality is entirely owing to local conditions; to the peculiar temperature, the brilliant light, the soil, and those other circumstances which characterise the climate of South Australia.

All kinds of wheat contain water in greater or lesser quantities. Its amount is greater in cold countries than in warm. In Alsace from 16 to 20 per cent.; England from 14 to 17 per cent.; United States from 12 to 14 per cent.; Africa and Sicily from 9 to 11 per cent. This accounts for the fact, that the same weight of southern flour yields more bread than northern, English wheat yields 13 lbs. more to the quarter than Scotch. Alabama flour, it is said, yields 20 per cent. more than that of Cincinnati. And in general American flour, according to one of the most extensive London bakers, absorbs 8 or 10 per cent. more of its own weight of water in being made into bread than the English. The English grain is fuller and rounder than the American, being puffed up with moisture.

Every year the total loss in the United States from moisture in wheat and flour is estimated at four to five million dollars. To remedy this great evil, the grain should be well ripened before harvesting, and well dried before being stored in a good dry granary. Afterwards, in grinding and in transporting, it should be carefully protected from wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the atmosphere. The best precaution is kiln-drying. By this process the wheat and flour are passed over iron plates heated by steam to the boiling point. From each barrel of flour 16 or 17 pounds of water are thus expelled, leaving still four or five per cent. in the flour, an amount too small to do injury. If all the water be expelled, the quality of the flour is deteriorated.

The mode of ascertaining the amount of water in flour is this; take a small sample, say five ounces, and weigh it carefully; put it into a dry vessel, which should be heated by boiling water; after six or seven hours, weigh it; its loss of weight shows the original amount of water.

The next object is to ascertain the amount of gluten. Gluten is an adhesive, pasty mass, and consists of several different principles, though its constitution has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It is chiefly the nutritious portion of the flour. The remaining principles are mostly starch, sugar and gum. On an average their relative amount in 100 parts are about as follows:—

	Average.	Kobanga wheat, the best.
Water	13	12
Gluten	12	16
Starch	67	60
Sugar and Gum	8	8
	100	97

Professor Beck examined thirty-three different samples from various parts of the United States and Europe, and he gives the preference to the Kobanga variety from the south of Russia. There would probably be a prejudice against it in this country, from the natural yellowish hue of its flour and bread.

The value of the vegetable food, grain, potatoes, rice and apples exported from the United States within the past few years is thus set down:—

	Dollars.
1847	57,970,356
1848	25,185,647
1849	25,642,362
1850	15,822,273

To this has to be added nine or ten million dollars more for tobacco, 72 million dollars for cotton, and 180,000 dollars for hops and other minor agricultural staples—making the value of the raw vegetable exports about 98 million dollars. There is further the value of the products of the forest, timber, ashes and bark, tar, &c., which are equal to nearly seven millions more, as shown by the following figures:—

	Dollars.
1847	5,248,928
1848	6,415,297
1849	5,261,766
1850	6,590,037

It appears from an official document of the American Treasury Department, that the average value of the breadstuffs and provisions annually exported from the United States from 1821 to 1836 inclusive, was 12,792,000 dolls.; in 1837 and 1838, about 9,600,000 dolls.; from 1839 to 1846, 16,176,000 dolls.; and for the last seven years as follows:—

	Dollars.
1846	27,701,121
1847	68,701,921
1848	37,472,751
1849	38,155,507
1850	26,051,373
1851	21,948,651
1852	25,857,027

Out of the wheat crop in the United States in 1846 of 110 million bushels raised, 10 millions were used for seed, starch, &c.; 72 consumed for food, and 28 million exported. The 460 million bushels of Indian corn raised, were thus disposed of; exported to foreign countries 22 million bushels; sold to and consumed by non-producers, 100 million; consumed on the farms and plantations of the producers for human and animal food, seed, &c., 338 million bushels.

The United States now produce about 120 million bushels of wheat, and nearly 600 million bushels of corn. Their surplus of wheat, for export, may be taken at 20 million bushels, and of Indian corn an almost unlimited quantity. They export about one and a quarter million barrels of flour, and about one million of bushels of wheat to other markets besides those of Great Britain or her North American colonies, viz., to Europe, Asia, Africa, the West Indies and South America, California and Australia, manufactured flour being the article required for these latter markets. Nearly four million bushels of Indian corn, and 300,000 barrels of corn meal, are exported from the United States to the West Indies and other foreign markets.

From the abstracts of statistical returns prepared at the American Census office, it appears that Pennsylvania, in 1850, was the largest wheat producing State of the Union. I have had the curiosity to compare the most prominent States in respect to this crop, and give them below, with the crop of each, as shown by the returns:—

	Bushels.
Pennsylvania	15,482,191
Ohio	14,967,056
Virginia	14,516,900
New York	13,073,000
Michigan	4,918,000
Maryland	4,494,680

That the United States could export 6,000,000 bushels of wheat, and its equivalent in flour in 1845; 13,000,000 in 1846, 26,000,000 in 1847, and then fell back to 13,000,000 in 1848, and 6,000,000 in 1849, with their production of wheat constantly increasing throughout this period, shows a wonderful elasticity, and extensive home market. If the price of wheat is higher in proportion than for corn, the Americans export the former and consume the latter; if the demand for corn be also great, they kill their hogs and export corn, for the pork will keep. If there be no great demand for either, they eat their surplus wheat, feed their hogs with the corn, and export pork as having the greatest value in the least bulk.

DESTINATION OF FLOUR SHIPPED FROM THE UNITED STATES.
WHERE TO.	1847	1849	1850	1851
Swedish West Indies	7,366	7,573	8,757	5,315
Danish ditto	52,150	49,568	44,802	60,102
Dutch East Indies	1,150	4,625	1,600	1,873
Dutch West Indies	11,387	17,221	18,354	19,217
Holland and Belgium	73,871	727	1,177	594
England	2,475,076	953,815	369,777	1,004,783
Gibraltar	23,974	6,265	2,543	195
British East Indies	3,034	791	1,646	1,600
British West Indies	320,363	303,551	250,776	294,731
British American Colonies	272,299	294,891	244,072	252,380
France	612,641	—	—	—
French West Indies	28,966	5,554	5,480	7,902
Hayti	40,257	10,903	31,504	43,867
Cuba	50,046	7,154	5,584	5,611
Spanish West Indies	17,780	6,429	7,074	2,285
Madeira	4,856	4,358	6,321	7,006
Cape de Verds	1,634	501	455	838
Mexico	5,928	11,633	9,736	14,964
Honduras	10,686	4,125	4,725	5,912
Central America	550	4,180	746	2,573
Columbia	39,403	32,251	41,072	47,477
Brazil	270,473	328,129	295,415	374,711
Argentine Republic	10,684	6,599	4,901	22,612
Chili	5,977	5,129	2,848	4,327
South America	2,128	—	40	200
West Indies	4,902	3,984	1,702	4,079
Africa	25,728	4,617	5,524	5,430
North-west Coast	764	1,180	858	2,593
Other ports	29,866	35,017	18,949	19,158
Total—Barrels	4,382,496	2,108,013	1,385,448	2,202,335
Average price	5.95	5.35	5.00	4.77

Wheat, where the soil and the climate are adapted to its growth, and the requisite progress has been made in its culture, is decidedly preferred to all other grains, and, next to maize, is the most important crop in the United States, not only on account of its general use for bread, but for its safety and convenience for exportation. It is not known to what country it is indigenous, any more than any other cultivated cereals, all of which, no doubt, have been essentially improved by man. By some, wheat is considered to have been coeval with the creation, as it is known that upwards of a thousand years before our era it was cultivated, and a superior variety had been attained. It has steadily followed the progress of civilisation from the earliest times, in all countries where it would grow. In 1776 there was entailed upon America an enduring calamity, in consequence of the introduction of the Hessian or wheat fly, which was supposed to have been brought from Germany in some straw, employed in the debarkation of Howe’s troops on the west end of Long Island. From that point the insect gradually spread in various directions, at the rate of twenty or thirty miles a year, and the wheat of the entire regions east of the Alleghanies is now more or less infested with the larva, as well as in large portions of the States bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi, and on the great Lakes; and so great have been the ravages of these insects that the cultivation of this grain has in many places been abandoned.

The geographical range of the wheat region in the Eastern Continent and Australia, lies principally between the 30th and 60th parallels of north latitude, and the 30th and 40th degrees south, being chiefly confined to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Prussia, Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern and Southern Africa, Tartary, India, China, Australia, Van Diemen’s Land, and Japan. Along the Atlantic portions of the Western Continent, it embraces the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels, and in the country westward of the Rocky Mountains, one or two more degrees further north. Along the west coast of South America, as well as in situations within the torrid zone, sufficiently elevated above the level of the sea, and properly irrigated by natural or artificial means, abundant crops are often produced.

The principal districts of the United States in which this important grain is produced in the greatest abundance, and where it forms a leading article of commerce, embrace the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The chief varieties cultivated in the Northern and Eastern States are the white flint, tea, Siberian, bald, Black Sea, and the Italian spring wheat. In the middle and Western States, the Mediterranean, the Virginia white May, the blue stem, the Indiana, the Kentucky white bearded, the old red chafet, and the Talavera. The yield varies from ten to forty bushels and upwards per acre, weighing, per bushel, from fifty-eight to sixty-seven pounds.

It appears that on the whole crop of the United States there was a gain during the ten years ending 1850, of 15,645,373 bushels. The crop of New England decreased from 2,014,000 to 1,078,000 bushels, exhibiting a decline of 936,000 bushels, and indicating the attention of farmers has been much withdrawn from the culture of wheat. Grouping the States from the Hudson to the Potomac, including the district of Columbia, it appears that they produced, in 1849, 35,085,000 bushels, against 29,936,000 in 1839. In Virginia there was an increase of 1,123,000 bushels. These States embrace the oldest wheat-growing region of the country, and that in which the soil and climate seem to be adapted to promote the permanent culture of the grain. The increase of production in the ten years has been 6,272,000 bushels, equal to 15.6 per cent. The area tilled in these States is 36,000,000 acres, only thirty per cent. of the whole amount returned, while the proportion of wheat produced is forty-six per cent. In North Carolina there has been an increase of 170,000 bushels, but in the Southern States generally there was a considerable decrease. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin contributed to the general aggregate under the sixth census only 9,800,000 bushels; under the last they are shown to have produced upwards of 25,000,000 bushels, an amount equal to the whole increase in the United States for the period.

When we see the growth of wheat keeping pace with the progress of population in the oldest States of the Union, we need have no apprehension of a decline in the cultivation of this important crop.

The amount of flour exported from New Jersey in 1751, was 6,424 barrels. From Philadelphia in 1752,125,960 barrels, besides 85,500 bushels of wheat; in 1767, 198,816 barrels, besides 367,500 bushels of wheat; in 1771, 252,744 barrels. From Savannah, in 1771, 7,200 lbs. From Virginia, for some years annually preceding the revolution, 800,000 bushels of wheat. The total exports of flour from the United States in 1791 were 619,681 barrels, besides 1,018,339 bushels of wheat; in 1800, 653,052 barrels, besides 26,853 bushels of wheat; in 1810, 798,431 barrels, besides 325,924 bushels of wheat; in 1820-21, 1,056,119 barrels, besides 25,821 bushels of wheat; in 1830-31, 1,806,529 barrels, besides 408,910 bushels of wheat; in 1840-41, 1,515,817 barrels, besides 868,585 bushels of wheat; in 1845-46, 2,289,476 barrels, besides 1,613,795 bushels of wheat; in 1846-47, 4,382,496 barrels, besides 4,399,951 bushels of wheat; in 1850-51, 2,202,335 barrels, besides 1,026,725 bushels of wheat.

In the London Exhibition very little wheat was exhibited equal to that from the United States, especially that from Genessee county, in the State of New York—a soft white variety, to the exhibitor of which a prize medal was awarded by the Royal Commissioners. The red Mediterranean wheat exhibited from the United States attracted much attention. The wheat from South Australia was probably superior to any exhibited, while much from the United States fell but little behind, and was unquestionably next in quality.

From the Second Report on the Breadstuffs of the United States, made to the Commissioner of Patents, by Lewis C. Beck, M.D., I am induced to make some extracts. He states:—

The analyses of several samples, the growth of various foreign countries, have afforded me an opportunity of comparing the American and foreign wheats and flours. With a few exceptions of peculiar varieties, it will be seen from the results that with ordinary care the wheat of this country will compare advantageously with that of any other. Indeed, on reviewing my analyses, I question whether there is any part of the world where this grain is generally of a finer quality than it is in the United States. But all the advantages which we possess in this respect will be of little avail so long as inferior and damaged breadstuffs are shipped from our ports.

In addition to the analyses which I have executed of the various samples of wheat and wheat flour according to the mode heretofore pursued, I have performed a series of experiments for the purpose of settling the important question in regard to the relative value of the fine flour of wheat, and the “whole meal.” I have also consulted every work within my reach which could throw any light upon the different points that have presented themselves during the progress of the investigation.

The large number of samples of wheat and wheat flour which have been placed in my hands for examination, have left me no time for the analysis of our other breadstuffs.

It cannot be denied that the amount shipped to foreign ports during 1849 is considerably less than for the two preceding years. In the meantime, however, a new and important market has been opened in our territories on the Pacific. It may also be safely affirmed that the causes for foreign demand, and which must hereafter operate, still remain. These are the cheapness of land in this country, and the peculiar adaptation of our soil and climate to the growth of the two important cereals, wheat and maize.

Another fact, it seems to me, is of sufficient interest in connection with this subject, to be here noticed. The failure of the potato crop in various parts of the world for several years past has engaged the attention of scientific and practical men. Unfortunately, the nature of the blight which has seized upon this tuber has eluded the most careful inquiries; but it has been shown by well-conducted analyses that potatoes at their late prices are the most expensive kind of farinaceous food. This will be evident from the following statement:—

“Potatoes contain from about seventy to seventy-nine per cent. of water, while the proportion in wheat flour is from twelve to fourteen per cent; and while the gluten and albumen in potatoes scarcely rise to one per cent., in wheat flour the range may be set down at from nine to thirteen per cent. Again, the non-nitrogenous principles are as about seventy-five per cent. in wheat flour against fifteen or sixteen in potatoes. In short, whilst potatoes supply only twenty per cent. of heat-forming and nutritious principles, taken together, wheat supplies more than seventy per cent. of the former, and more than tea of the latter. The value of wheat to potatoes, therefore, is at least four to one; or, if wheat sells at fifteen shillings sterling per cwt., potatoes to be equally cheap, ought to sell at between three and four shillings.”

The preceding results, for which I am principally indebted to Dr. Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford,25 show that unless a great change occurs in the culture of the potato, there must be an increased demand for other kinds of farinaceous food. And it is worthy of notice that while this blight is one of the causes which bring to our shores the starving population of Europe, the raising of the cereals not only furnishes profitable employment to the emigrant, but enables him to make the best return to those who are still obliged to remain.

Adaptation of the soil and climate of the United States to the culture of the cereals.—That the soil and climate of many portions of the United States are well adapted to the cultivation of the more important cereals, is fully shown by the results of all the researches which have thus far been prosecuted. I have indeed seen it asserted that the climate of England is the best for the cultivation of wheat, and preferable to any in our country; its humidity being the peculiarity to which this superiority is ascribed.26 But this is undoubtedly the testimony of a too partial witness. A recent statement by an English author is the result of a more correct knowledge of the facts. He acknowledges that there is no ground for the expectation which has been entertained concerning the advantageous growth of maize in England. “Nor is ours,” says he, “the most favorable country for wheat, but skill in husbandry has overcome great difficulties.”27 The mistake on this subject may have originated from the occurrence of a larger and plumper grain in the more humid climate; but analysis shows that the small grain raised in the hotter and drier air oftentimes greatly surpasses the former in its nutritious value.

Russia is said to be the great rival of this country in the growth of wheat, but I think it doubtful whether she possesses superior natural advantages; and I am sure she will find it difficult to compete with the industry and skill which here characterize the operations of husbandry, and the manufacture and shipment of breadstuffs.

Export of sophisticated and damaged flour.—It is a matter of deep regret that circumstances have occurred which must have a most injurious influence upon the trade in breadstuffs between this country and Great Britain. I refer to the mixtures of damaged, inferior, and good kinds of flour, which it appears on authentic testimony have been largely exported during the past year. Whether this fraudulent operation, which is said to have been principally confined to New York, is the result of the change in the inspection laws, as some assert, I am unable to say. But it requires no great foresight to predict that, if continued, it will create a distrust of our breadstuffs in foreign ports which it will be very difficult to remove. It cannot but excite the indignation of the many honorable dealers, that the unworthy cupidity of a few individuals should lead to such disastrous consequences.

I have as yet been unable to obtain samples of these sophisticated flours, and the only information which I have in regard to them is the general fact above stated, and concerning the truth of which there can be little doubt. No means should be left untried to devise some mode by which these frauds can be easily and certainly detected.

Injury sustained by breadstuffs during their transport and shipment.—During the past year, I have had abundant means of determining the nature of the injuries which are often sustained by our breadstuffs in their transport from the particular districts in which they are grown and manufactured to our commercial depots, and in their shipment to foreign ports. As this is one of the most important points connected with these researches, I have devoted much time to its investigation. From the results of numerous analyses, I think it may be safely asserted, that of the wheat flour which arrives in England from various ports of the United States, a large proportion is more or less injured during the voyage. The same remark may be made in regard to many of the samples sent from the Western States to the city of New York. Their nutritive value is considerably impaired, and without more care than is usually exercised, they are entirely unfit for export.

In my former report, I adverted to one of the great causes of the deterioration which our breadstuffs often suffer during their transport and shipment. This was the undue proportion of the great disorganizing substance, water, under the influence of what usually occurs, viz., an elevation of temperature above the ordinary standard. My recent investigations have served only to strengthen these views. There is no doubt that these are the conditions which cause the change of the non-nitrogenous principles into acids (the lactic or acetic), while a portion of the gluten is thus also consumed.

I have tried a series of experiments in reference to the action of moisture upon various samples of wheat and wheat flour. The samples were placed for twelve hours in the oven of a bath with a double casing, containing a boiling saturated solution of common salt, the temperature of which was about 220 deg. Fahr. Subjected to this test,

100 grains of Milwaukie wheat lost	12.10 grains.
100 grains of Guilderland (Holland) wheat lost	9.35 grains.
100 grains of Polish Odessa red wheat lost	10.55 grains.
100 grains of Soft Russian wheat lost	8.55 grains.
100 grains of Kobanga wheat lost	8.15 grains.

After an exposure of the dried samples to the air for two or three days, they increased in weight from one to three grains in the hundred originally employed.

Nineteen different samples of wheat flour, which lost by exposure to the above heat from ten to fourteen grains in the one hundred, when similarly exposed to the air for eighteen hours, again increased in weight from 8.40 to 11.60 in the hundred grains originally employed.

These experiments show, what might indeed have been predicted as to the general result, that wheat in grain, if not less liable to injury than flour, yet if once properly dried, suffers much less from a subsequent exposure to air and moisture.

It is now ascertained that in presence of a considerable proportion of water, wheat flour under the influence of heat undergoes a low degree at least of lactic fermentation, which will account for the souring of the ordinary samples when exposed to warm or humid climates. The same result will inevitably follow from their careless exposure in the holds of vessels. That this is particularly the case with many of the cargoes of wheat flour shipped to Great Britain, there is little reason to doubt. This may be partly owing to the great humidity of the English climate, as the deterioration is observed as well in the flour which is the produce of that country as in that which is received from abroad.

It is stated by Mr. Edlin, quoted in an article on Baking, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, that, “as a general rule, the London flour” is decidedly bad. The gluten generally wants the adhesiveness which characterizes the gluten of good wheat.”

I have observed that, in the analyses of some of the samples of damaged flour, the proportions of what is set down under the head of glucose and dextrine are unusually large. This is perhaps due to the change produced in the starch by the action of diastase, and which may under certain circumstances be formed in wheat flour. It would seem, according to M. Guérin, that starch may thus be acted on even at slightly elevated temperatures. In one of his experiments, at a temperature no higher than 68 deg. Fahr., a quantity of starch, at the end of twenty-four hours, was converted into syrup, which yielded seventy-seven per cent. of saccharine matter.28 It may be thought that I have overrated the importance of this subject, but it is believed that a careful examination of the facts will relieve me from this charge. I am now satisfied that, if the proportion of water in our exported breadstuffs could be reduced to about five or six per cent., one of the great causes of complaint in regard to them would be completely removed.

Kiln-drying of breadstuffs, and exclusion of air.—The injury which our breadstuffs sustain by the large proportion of water can of course be prevented only by careful drying before shipment, and by the employment of barrels rendered as impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture.

In my first report, I have spoken favorably of the process of drying by steam, according to the plan patented by Mr. J.R. Stafford. I still think this mode possesses great advantages over those previously followed, and which almost always injured the quality of the grain or flour: but from some trials which I have made during the past year, it is inferred that the exposure to the heat is perhaps usually not sufficiently prolonged to answer the purpose intended by the operation. I have often observed that samples of wheat flour, after being exposed to the heat of the salt water-bath oven (220 deg. Fahr.) for two or three hours, lost weight by a further continuance of the heat. An apparatus has been patented by Mr. J.H. Tower, of Clinton, N.Y., consisting of a cylinder of square apartments or tubes, into which the grain or flour is introduced, and subjected to heat while in rapid revolution. I examined samples which had been subjected to this operation, and ascertained that wheat flour, originally containing 14.80 per cent. of water, had the proportion reduced to 10.25 per cent., while in wheat the proportion of water was reduced from 14.75 to 8.55 per cent.

Now it is probable that by either of the above modes, and perhaps by many others, the various kinds of breadstuffs may be brought to that degree of dryness which, with ordinary care, shall protect them from subsequent injury; but in order to secure this advantage, the operation must be carefully performed, and experiments must be made to ascertain how long an exposure to heat is necessary to bring the sample to the proper degree of dryness, and to determine whether in any respect its quality is impaired. It has already been stated that absolute desiccation is not necessary, even were it attainable; but any process in order to be effective should reduce the proportion of water to about six, or at most seven per cent.

I have heretofore adverted to the great care employed in the drying of grain in various foreign countries, and to which the preservation of it for a great number of years is to be ascribed.

The operation is not conducted in the hurried manner which is here thought to be so essential, but is continued long enough to effect the intended object. Thorough ventilation, as well as the proper degree of drying, and which is equally important, is thus secured.

It is said that in Russia the sheaves of wheat, carried into the huts, are suspended upon poles and dried by the heat of the oven. The grain shrinks very much during this process, but it is supposed to be less liable to the attacks of insects, and preserves its nutritive qualities for many years. During the winter, it is sent to market.—(“The Czar, his Court and People.” By John S. Maxwell, p. 272.)

With all the necessary attention which may be paid to the proper drying of our breadstuffs intended for export, another point is of equal importance, viz., the shipment in vessels rendered as impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture. For however carefully and thoroughly the drying, especially of wheat flour or maize meal, may have been performed, it will be nearly useless if the shipment is afterwards made in the barrels commonly employed.29 And it is very certain that the transport and shipment of grain in bulk, as usually conducted, are attended with great loss. This difficulty might be removed at a trifling expense by adopting the plan suggested in the preceding report, and to which I would again respectfully call the attention of those who are engaged in this branch of trade.

I might here adduce a mass of testimony showing the importance of the matters just referred to, but will only advert to the following statements, which although made in allusion principally to maize, are equally applicable to our other breadstuffs. Maize meal, if kept too long, “is liable to become rancid, and it is then more or less unfit for use. In the shipments made to the West Indies, the meal is commonly kiln-dried, to obviate as much as possible this tendency to rancidity.” “When ground very fine, maize meal suffers a change by exposure to the air. It is oxygenated. It is upon the same principle that the juice of an apple, after a little exposure to the air, is oxygenated, and changes its character and taste. If the flour could be bolted in vacuo, it would not be changed.” “Intelligent writers speak of the necessity of preparing corn for exportation by kiln-drying as indispensable. Without that process, corn is very liable to become heated and musty, so as to be unfit for food for either man or beast. The kiln-dried maize meal from the Brandywine Mills, &c., made from the yellow corn, has almost monopolized the West India trade. This process is indispensable, if we export maize to Europe. James Candy says that from fifty years experience he has learned the necessity of this process with corn intended for exportation.” “I have often found the corn from our country when it reached its destination, ruined by heating on the voyage. It had become musty and of little or no value. Kiln-drying is absolutely necessary to preserve it for exportation. We must learn and practice the best mode of kiln-drying it.30”

The nutritious value of the “whole meal” of Wheat, as compared with that of the fine flour.—The question whether what is called the whole meal of wheat, or that which is obtained by the mixture of the bran, contains more nutritious matter than the fine flour, is one of great importance. In my former report, I adverted to the statement made in regard to it by Professor J.F.W. Johnston, and which seemed to be almost conclusive in favor of the value of the whole meal. During the past year, however (1849), M. Eug. Peligot, an eminent French chemist, in an elaborate article “On the Composition of Wheat,” to which more particular reference will be made hereafter, combats the opinion that the bran is an alimentary substance. He observes that “the difficulty of keeping the bran in flour intended for the manufacture of bread of good quality appears to result much less from the presence of the cellulose (one of the constituents of woody matter) contained in wheat than that of the fatty matter. This is found in the bran in a quantity at least triple of that which remains in the flour, and the bolting separates it from the ground wheat not less usefully than the cellulose itself.”31 M. Millon objects entirely to the views of M. Peligot on this point, and states some facts which are especially worthy of consideration. He asserts that, according to the views of the last named chemist, the separation at most of one part of fatty matter sacrifices fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five per cent. of substances which are of the highest nutritive value. This abstracts from wheat, for the whole amount raised in France, the enormous sum of about two hundred millions of pounds annually.

It seems that in France the question whether the bolting of flour is advantageous has always been decided in the most arbitrary manner. An ordinance of Louis XIV., issued in 1658, prohibited, under a very heavy penalty, the regrinding of the bran and its mixture with the flour; this, with the mode of grinding then in use, caused a loss of more than forty per cent.—(Comptes Rendus, February 19th, 1849.)

In large cities and elsewhere, there seems for some time to have been a growing prejudice against the use of brown bread; and it is said that now nearly all the peasantry of France bolt their flour. The increase of this practice, according to M. Millon, threatens the nation with an annual loss of from two to three hundred millions of francs. If the bran was entirely valueless, there would be a loss of more than one million a day.

It is quite difficult to determine the precise amount of bran which may have been removed from wheat, for various samples contain such a different proportion of bran that in the one case a removal of ten per cent, leaves more bran in the flour than a bolting of five per cent. in another.

The following is an analysis of bran by M. Millon; the sample being a soft French wheat grown in 1848:—

Starch, dextrine and sugar	53.00
Sugar of liquorice	1.00
Gluten	14.90
Fatty matter	3.60
Woody matter	9.70
Salts	.50
Water	13.90
Incrusting matter and aromatic principles (by difference)	3.40
	100.

The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is, that bran is an alimentary substance. If it contains six per cent. more of woody matter than the rough, flour, it has also more gluten, double that of fatty matter, besides two aromatic principles which have the perfume of honey, and both of which are wanting in the fine flour. Thus by bolting, wheat is impoverished in its most valuable principles, merely to remove a few hundredths of woody matter.

The economical suggestion which springs from these views is, that the bran and coarse flour should be reground and then mixed with the fine flour. Millon states that he has ascertained, by repeated experiments, that bread thus made is of superior quality, easily worked, and not subject to the inconvenience of bread manufactured from the rough flour, such as is made in some places, and especially in Belgium.

Opinions similar to those above noticed are entertained by Professor Daubeny. “The great importance attached to having bread perfectly white is a prejudice,” he says, “which leads to the rejection of a very wholesome part of the food, and one which, although not digestible alone, is sufficiently so in that state of admixture with the flour in which nature has prepared it for our use.” After quoting the remarks of Professor Johnston on the same side of the question, he adds, “that according to the experiments of Magendie, animals fed upon fine flour died in a few weeks, whilst they thrived upon the whole meal bread.” Brown bread, therefore, should be adopted, not merely on a principle of economy, but also as providing more of those ingredients which are perhaps deficient in the finer parts of the flour.—(“Gardeners’ Chronicle,” January 27th, 1849, p. 53.)

The remarks of Dr. Robertson may also be here introduced. “The advantage,” he observes, “of using more or less of the coverings of the grain in the preparation of bread has often been urged on economical principles. There can be no doubt that a very large proportion of nutritive matter is contained in the bran and the pollard; and these are estimated to contain about one-fifth part of the entire weight of the wheat grain. It is, unquestionably, so far wasteful to remove these altogether from the flour; and in the case of the majority of people, this waste may be unnecessary, even on the score of digestibility.”32 This subject can also be rendered apparent to the eye. If we make a cross section of a grain of wheat, or rye, and place it under the microscope, we perceive very distinct layers in it as we examine from without inwards. The outer of them belong to the husk of the fruit and seed, and are separated as bran, in grinding. But the millstone does not separate so exactly as the eye may by means of the microscope, not even as accurately as the knife of the vegetable anatomist, and thus with the bran is removed also the whole outer layer of the cells of the nucleus, and even some of the subjacent layers. Thus the anatomical investigations of one of these corn grains at once explains why bread is so much the less nutritious the more carefully the bran has been separated from the meal.33 There can therefore be little doubt that the removal of the bran is a serious injury to the flour; and I have presented the above array of evidence on this point in the hope of directing public attention to it here, as has been done in various foreign countries.

After this, it will easily be inferred that I am not disposed to look with much favor upon the plan proposed by Mr. Bentz for taking the outer coating or bran from wheat and other grains previously to grinding.34 Independently of the considerations which have already been presented, it is far from being proved, as this gentlemen asserts, that the mixture of the bran with the meal which results from the common mode of grinding is the chief cause of the souring of the flour in hot climates. On the contrary, the bran is perhaps as little liable to undergo change as the fine flour, and then the moistening to which, as I am informed, the grain is subjected previously to the removal of the husk, is still further objectionable, and must be followed by a most carefully-conducted process of kiln-drying.

Nutritious properties of various articles of food.—There seems to be some difference of opinion in regard to the nutritious properties of various kinds of food. It is generally, however, agreed that those which contain the largest proportion of nitrogenous matters are the most nutritious. It is on this account that haricots, peas, and beans, form, in some sort, substitutes for animal food. Tubers, roots, and even the seeds of the cereal grasses, are but moderately nutritious. If we see herbivorous animals fattening upon such articles, it is because, from their peculiar organisation, they can consume them in large quantities. It is quite doubtful whether a man doing hard work could exist on bread exclusively. The instances which are given of countries where rice and potatoes form the sole articles of food of the inhabitants, are believed to be incomplete. Boussingault states that in Alsace, for example, the peasantry always associate their potato dish with a large quantity of sour or curdled milk; in Ireland with buttermilk. “The Indians of the Upper Andes do not by any means live on potatoes alone, as some travellers have said they do: at Quito, the daily food of the inhabitants is lorco, a compound of potatoes and a large quantity of cheese. Rice is often cited as one of the most nourishing articles of diet. I am satisfied, however, after having lived in countries where rice is largely consumed, that it is anything but a substantial, or, for its bulk, nutritious article of sustenance.”—(“Rural Economy,” Amer. edition, p. 409.) These statements are further confirmed by the observations of M. Lequerri, who, during a long residence in India, paid particular attention to the manners and customs of the inhabitants of Pondicherry. “Their food,” he states, “is almost entirely vegetable, and rice is the staple; the inferior castes only ever eat meat. But all eat kari (curry), an article prepared with meat, fish, or vegetable, which is mixed with the rice, boiled in very little water. It is requisite to have seen the Indians at their meals to have any idea of the enormous quantity of rice which they will put into their stomachs. No European could cram so much at a time; and they very commonly allow that rice alone will not nourish them. They very generally still eat a quantity of bread.”35 In regard to the proportion of nutritious matter contained in grains of various kinds, it may be remarked that the tables which have been constructed as the results of various experiments are liable to an objection, which will be more particularly adverted to under another head. For example, two substances, by the process of ultimate analysis, may exhibit the same proportion of nitrogenous matter, and still differ very materially in their value as articles of food. Much depends on the digestibility of the form in which this matter is presented to the digestive organs. A strong illustration is afforded in the case of hay, the proportion of nutritive matter of which, about 9.71, would certainly not represent its power of affording nourishment to the human system. It is in truth quite impossible to arrive at any other than approximate results from the operations of chemistry, as to the amount of nutriment contained in a given quantity or weight of any article of food.36 It is perhaps not irrelevant to notice in this place some of the researches which have recently been made upon fermentation, and particularly its effects in the manufacture of bread. It appears that when this process is brought about by the addition of yeast or leaven to the paste or dough, the character of the mass is materially altered. A larger or smaller proportion of the flour is virtually lost. According to Dr. William Gregory the loss amounts to the very large proportion of one-sixteenth part of the whole of the flour. He says, “To avoid this loss, bread is now raised by means of carbonate of soda, or ammonia and a diluted acid, which are added to the dough, and the effect is perfectly satisfactory. Equally good or better bread is obtained, and the quantity of flour which will yield fifteen hundred loaves by fermentation, furnishes sixteen hundred by the new method, the sugar and fibrin (gluten) being saved.”—(“Outlines of Chemistry,” p. 352.)

Another author, Dr. R.D. Thomson, states, as the results of his experiments upon bread produced by the action of hydrochloric acid upon carbonate of soda, “that in a sack of flour there was a difference in favor of the unfermented bread to the amount of thirty pounds thirteen ounces, or in round numbers, a sack of flour would produce one hundred and seven loaves of unfermented bread, and only one hundred loaves of fermented bread of the game weight. Hence it appears that in the sack of flour by the common process of baking, seven loaves, or six-and-a-half per cent, of the flour are driven into the air and lost.”—(“Experimental Researches on the Food of Animals,” &c., p. 183.)

The only objection to the general introduction of this process seems to be the degree of care and accuracy required in properly adjusting the respective qualities and quantities of acid and alkali, and which could seldom be attained even by those who are largely engaged in the manufacture of bread.

I cannot leave this subject without adverting to a practice which has prevailed in England and France, and perhaps also in this country, of steeping wheat before sowing it in solutions of arsenic, sulphate of copper, and other poisonous preparations.

The result has been that injurious effects have often followed, both to those who are employed in sowing such grain, and to those who have used the bread manufactured from it. The great importance of the subject led to the appointment of a commission at Rouen, in France, in December, 1842, having for its object to determine the best process of preventing the smut in wheat, and to ascertain whether other means less dangerous than those above noticed were productive of equally good results. The labors of this commission extended over the years 1843-’44-’45, and the experiments were repeated two years following on the farm of Mr. Fauchet, one of the commission, at Boisquilaume, in the department of the Seine Inferieure.

The results arrived at by this commission are—1st. That it is not best to sow seed without steeping. 2nd. That it is best to make use of the sulphate of soda and lime process, inasmuch as it is more simple and economical, in no way injurious to the health, and yields the soundest and most productive wheat. 3rd. That the use of arsenic, sulphate of copper, verdigris, and other poisonous preparations, should be interdicted by the government.—(“Gardeners’ Chronicle,” January 6th, 1849, pp. 10 and 11.)

Composition of wheat and wheat flour, and the various modes of determining their nutritive value.—In my former report it was stated that the analyses of the various samples of wheat, the results of which were there given, had been chiefly directed to the determining the amount of rough gluten which they contained. My reasons for adopting this plan, and the arguments in favor of its general accuracy, as compared with other modes of analysis, and especially that by which the ultimate composition is ascertained, were also detailed. A more full examination of this subject has served only to strengthen the opinion already expressed, that for the great purpose to be answered by these researches, the process which I have adopted is, to say the least, as free from objection as any other, and if carefully and uniformly carried out, will truly represent the relative values of the several samples of wheat flour. As this is a matter of much consequence in a practical point of view, I trust I shall be excused for introducing some additional facts in regard to it.

The term gluten was originally applied to the gray, viscid, tenacious, and elastic matter, which is obtained by subjecting wheat flour to the continuous action of a current of water. But it appears that this is a mixture of fibrine and caseine, with what is now called glutine, and a peculiar oily or fatty matter. Now these substances may be separated from each other, but the processes employed for this purpose are tedious, and to insure accuracy the various solvents must be entirely pure—a point which, especially in the case of alcohol and ether, is not ordinarily easy to be attained. This will be rendered still more evident by a reference to a French process, which will hereafter be noticed.

But were it much less difficult in every case accurately to separate the constituents of gluten, it would not, in my opinion, be of the least practical utility. It is to the peculiar mechanical property of this gluten that wheat flour owes its superior power of detaining the carbonic acid engendered by fermentation, and thus communicating to it the vesicular spongy structure so characteristic of good bread.37 It may also be added, that the results of more than one hundred trials have satisfied me that a diminution or loss of elasticity in the gluten is the surest index of the amount of injury which the sample of flour has sustained. Whether, therefore, the sample contains a certain proportion of nitrogen, or whether it contains albumen, fibrine, and caseine in sufficient quantity, it may still want the very condition which is essential to the manufacture of good bread. My objection, therefore, to the mere determination, however accurate, of the proportion of nitrogen contained in wheat flour, or of the various principles which form the gluten, is, that it does not represent the value of the various samples for the only use to which they are applied, viz., the making of bread. The remarks of Mulder, the celebrated Dutch chemist, upon the subject of manures, are so applicable to this point that I cannot refrain from quoting them. “It has,” he says, “become almost a regular custom to determine the value of manures by the quantity of nitrogen they yield by ultimate analysis. This method is entirely erroneous; for it is based upon the false principle, that by putrefaction all nitrogeneous substances are immediately converted into ammonia, carbonic acid, and water! But these changes sometimes require a number of years. Morphine, for example, is prepared by allowing opium to putrefy; and the process for preparing leucin, a substance which contains 10.72 of nitrogen, is to bring cheese into putrefaction. Cheese, therefore, does not perhaps in a number of years resolve itself into carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, but produces a crystalline substance, which contains no ammonia. Hence the proportion of nitrogen yielded by manures is not a proper measure of their value, and therefore this mode of estimating that value ought to be discontinued.”38 We infer, therefore, that the proportion of nitrogen furnished by food of various kinds is not the true measure of their nutritious value, and cannot for practical purposes take the place of that process by which the amount of rough gluten is determined.

No better illustration can be given of the uncertainty which attends the inferences drawn from the ultimate composition, than the fact heretofore stated in regard to hay, the nutritive value of which is placed in the tables containing the results of these analyses, at a figure nearly the same as that of ordinary wheat flour.39 In the paper on the “Composition of Wheat,” by M. Peligot—(“Comptes Rendus,” February 5th, 1849)—to which I have already referred, the author gives the results of the various analyses which he has made, and details the process he adopted.

Aware of the complex and difficult nature of the examination as conducted by him, he seems to doubt in regard to some of the results given in his tables In the fourteen samples which he analysed, the proportion of water ranges from 13.2 to 15.2, which is a rather higher average than is yielded by our American samples, especially those which have not been shipped across the Atlantic. Of the nitrogenous matter, soluble and insoluble, the proportions range from 9.90 per cent, to 21.50 per cent.; the former being from a sample of very soft and white French wheat; the latter from a very hard wheat with long grains, from Northern Africa, cultivated at Verriéres. Another sample from Egypt yielded 20.60 per cent, of these nitrogenous matters, both of which are very remarkable proportions.

In describing the process for ascertaining the amount of insoluble nitrogenous matters, this author adverts to their estimation either by the quantity of nitrogen gas furnished, or of ammonia formed, the last being preferred for substances, which, like wheat, contain only a few hundredths of nitrogen. The results which he obtained by this method were compared with those yielded by the direct extraction of the gluten by softening the farina under a small stream of water. “These results,” says he, “differ but little from each other when we operate upon wheat in good condition, although the gluten which we thus obtain holds some starch and fatty matter, while the starch which is carried away by the water contains also some gluten.” The loss and gain, as I have already explained, and as has been proved by these and other comparisons, are nearly balanced, and the amount of rough gluten will therefore afford a fair exhibit of that of the insoluble nitrogenous matters in this grain.

The salts in the samples of wheat analysed by M. Peligot, were either wanting or were in small proportion; while the amount of fatty matter ranged from 1.00 to 1.80 and 1.90 per cent.

These results agree very well with those which I have obtained. But it is probable that the proportion is liable to great variation, inasmuch as it is inferred that the fatty matter originates from starch through its exposure to the general deoxidising influence which prevails in plants.40 There are also many difficulties attending the accurate determination of this matter, and which are probably the cause of the higher proportion often given. It is properly remarked by M. Peligot that the ether employed in this process should be free from water, and that the flour ought also to be very dry. By neglecting these precautions, we separate not only the fatty matter, but also a certain amount of matters soluble in the water, which is furnished as well by the wheat as by the ether.

It would not, I think, be difficult to point out some incorrect views entertained by this chemist, and more especially those which relate to the fatty matter. Some of his processes for the separation of various substances, if not faulty, require so many conditions for success as to render the results, at least in other hands, exceedingly uncertain.

But the capital error which he has committed is that concerning the bran, already adverted to, which he considers injurious to the flour, chiefly in consequence of the large proportion of fatty matter which it contains.

In regard to the soluble nitrogenous matter usually called albumen, from its resemblance to the animal substance of the same name, I have to remark that in my trials the proportion has been found to be considerably less than that often given in tables of the composition of wheat. In one sample it was found to be as low as 0.15 per cant., in another it did not rise above 0.20 per cent. The amount was usually so inconsiderable, that I did not think it worth while to retard the progress of the work by following out processes which could add little to the utility of these investigations.

Although much time and labor have been expended upon the analyses of the ash of plants, I have but slight confidence in the results heretofore given. The difficulties which attend the obtaining the ash in a proper condition, and the fact that the products of all the organs and parts of the plants have been analysed together, must necessarily impair the accuracy of the experiments, and render the inferences drawn from them of uncertain value. Much, indeed I may say almost everything, still remains to be done in this department of agricultural chemistry.

Weight of wheat as an index to its value.—Much has been said in regard to the relative weights of the bushel of wheat of different varieties or under different modes of culture.

As ordinarily determined, this weight ranges from fifty-six to sixty-five or sixty-six pounds, being in a few cases set down somewhat higher. It is said also that the bushel of wheat weighs less in some years than it does in others, and that the difference often amounts to two, or three, or even four pounds. Though this may seem of comparatively little consequence for a few bushels, yet, for the aggegate of the wheat crop of the United States, or for a State, or even a county, it makes a great difference. Thus, were we to estimate the product of one year in the United States at one hundred and ten million bushels, weighing fifty-six pounds to the bushel, and another year at one hundred and eight million bushels, weighing sixty-two pounds, the difference in favor of the latter, though the least in quantity, would amount to five hundred and thirty-six million pounds in weight, or more than one million and a quarter of barrels of flour.—(Report of the American Commissioner of Patents for 1847, p. 117.)

It may be remarked, however, that it is not after all so easy to determine with accuracy the weight of a bushel of wheat, nor to decide upon the circumstances which have an influence in increasing the density of a grain of wheat. If the microscopical representations of wheat are to be relied on, it is probable that the increase in the density of wheat depends upon the increase in the proportion of gluten. I have found in several cases that, the proportion of water being the same, those samples of wheat which contain the largest proportion of gluten exhibit the highest specific gravity, or, in other words, will yield the greatest number of pounds to the bushel. But the weight of wheat will be influenced by the proportion of water which it contains; the drier the grain, the greater is its density; a fact which may account for the difference which has been observed in the weight of wheat in different seasons. If this is the cause, the calculation above given in reference to the United States is fallacious—but if the amount of gluten is actually, instead of relatively, increased by peculiarities in seasons, it is no doubt correct.

I have devised a series of experiments to test the accuracy of the statements made upon this point, but have not yet had leisure to complete them.

General conditions from the analyses of wheat flour.—The large number of analyses which I have made, and the uniformity of the processes pursued, enable me to draw some general conclusions which it may be useful to present in a connected form.

1. In the samples from the more northern wheat-growing States, there seems to be little difference in the proportion of nutritive matter that can be set down to the influence of climate. Thus, the yield of the wheat from Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, is scarcely inferior to that from New York, Indiana, and Illinois, although the two latter are somewhat farther south. Local causes, and more especially the peculiarities of culture and manufacture, have more influence, within these parallels of latitude, than the difference of mean temperature.

2. The samples from New Jersey, Lower Pennsylvania, the southern part of Ohio, Maryland (probably Delaware), Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia,41 contain less water and more nutritive matter than those from the States previously enumerated. That the samples from Missouri, which is included within nearly the same parallels of latitude as Virginia, do not exhibit so high an average of nutritive matter as those from the latter State, must be ascribed principally to a want of care in the management of the crop, and perhaps also in the manufacture of the flour. Virginia flour, for obvious reasons, maintains a high reputation for shipment.

3. The difference in the nutritive value of the various samples of wheat depends greatly upon the variety, and mode of culture, independently of climate. The correctness of the former statement is shown by the much larger proportions of gluten yielded by many of the samples of hard wheat from abroad, the Oregon wheat in Virginia, and a variety of Illinois wheat, &c. And in regard to the effect of particular modes of culture, the various analyses of Boussingault may be referred to, and that in my table of a sample from Ulster county, New York.

4. The deterioration of many of the samples of wheat and wheat flour arises in most cases from the presence of a too large per centage of water. This is often the result of a want of proper care in the transport, and is the principal cause of the losses which are sustained by those who are engaged in this branch of business.

5. There seems to be little doubt that a considerable portion of the wheat and wheat flour, as well as of other breadstuffs, shipped from this country to England, is more or less injured before it reaches that market. It is also shown that this is mostly to be ascribed to the want of care above noticed, and to the fraudulent mixture of good and bad kinds. The remedy in the former case is the drying of the grain or flour before shipment, by some of the modes proposed, and the protection of it afterwards as completely as possible from the effect of moisture. The frauds which are occasionally practised should be promptly exposed, and those who are engaged in them held up to merited reproach.

6. It has been fully shown, by the results of many trials, that the flour obtained by the second grinding of wheat, or the whole meal, contains more gluten than the fine flour. Hence the general use of the latter, and the entire rejection of the bran, is wasteful, and ought in every way to be discouraged.

7. It cannot but be gratifying to us that the average nutritive value of the wheat and wheat flour of the United States is shown by these analyses to be fully equal to, if not greater than, that afforded by the samples produced in any other part of the world. And it will, in my opinion, be chiefly owing to a want of proper care and of commercial honesty, if the great advantages which should accrue to this country from the export of these articles are either endangered or entirely lost.

TABLE EXHIBITING THE PER CENTAGE COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS SAMPLES OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN WHEAT FLOUR, BY LEWIS C. BECK, M.D. (1849).
Kind of Wheat Flour, and from whence obtained	Water	Gluten and albumen	Starch	Glucos dextrine, &c.	Bran
Country Mills, New Jersey	12.75	11.55	65.95	8.10	.65
West Jersey Wheat	12.80	12.32	69.48	5.90	.50
White Wheat, New Jersey	11.55	12.60	66.85	8.50	.50
Pennsylvania Wheat	11.90	13.16	66.20	7.25	.75
ditto ditto	13.35	12.73	66.90	6.50	.52
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.35	14.72	71.28		.65
Pelham Wheat, Ulster Co., N.Y.	10.79	13.17	67.74	7.60	.70
“Pure Genesee” Wheat	13.20	11.05	75.20		.55
Ohio Wheat, “fine”	12.85	12.25	73.90		1.00
Ohio Wheat, “superfine”	13.00	9.10	77.80		.10
Winter Wheat, Ohio	13.10	11.56	66.84	7.90	.60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.05	12.69	73.61		.65
Michigan Wheat, “superfine”	13.25	11.10	74.80		.85
Michigan Wheat	12.25	10.00	67.70	8.75	.75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.75	11.20	66.00	8.50	1.05
Illinois Wheat	12.73	14.61	65.20	6.45	.80
Magnolia Mill, St. Louis, Mo.	13.13	10.27	69.75	6.15	.35
Mound Mill, St. Louis	13.48	10.53	67.35	8.15	.20
Walsh’s Mill, St. Louis	12.70	10.63	69.40	6.65	.40
Washington Mill, St. Louis	12.88	11.00	68.65	7.27	.20
Missouri Mill, St. Louis	13.00	10.46	67.79	8.35	.40
O’Fallan’s Mill, St. Louis	12.85	11.25	68.24	7.00	.66
Phœnix Mill, St. Louis	13.22	10.10	68.70	7.30	.15
Nonantum Mill, St. Louis	12.10	11.02	68.60	7.93	.35
Franklin Mill, St. Louis	12.25	10.29	69.85	7.26	.35
Eagle Mill, St. Louis	11.00	10.15	69.50	8.65	.20
Winter Wheat, Missouri	14.00	9.30	70.05	6.30	.35
Wisconsin Wheat	12.80	13.20	68.90	6.50	.70
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.80	13.46	72.54		1.20
Maryland Wheat	13.00	12.30	66.65	7.10	.65
Richmond City Mill	11.70	13.00	67.50	6.90	.50
Haxall and Co., Richmond, Va.	11.40	12.80	68.50	6.60	.35
Virginia Wheat, “superfine”	12.05	12.95	74.50		.50
Haxall and Co., “best brand, ’49”	11.40	13.25	68.20	6.25	.60
Haxall and Co., “2nd brand, ’49”	11.00	13.20	75.60		.20
Richmond City Mill, ’49	11.90	10.50	70.00	7.10	.50
Oregon White Wheat, Va.	12.80	14.80	71.30		1.10
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.85	14.50	65.15	5.90	.60
Gallego Mill, Richmond, Va.	11.50	13.50	68.35	6.00	.65
Ship Brandywine, Liverpool	13.38	10.62	67.60	7.75	.65
Ship Fanchon, Liverpool	13.83	11.38	67.45	6.34	1.00
Ship New World, Liverpool	13.65	11.60	65.80	7.70	.65
Ship Juniata, Liverpool	12.50	14.14	64.20	8.36	.80
Ship Stephen Lurman, Liverpool	11.65	13.18	64.50	9.55	.68
Ship Leila, Liverpool	13.22	13.18	64.65	8.00	.95
Ship Oxenbridge, Liverpool	13.90	10.13	68.42	7.30	.25
Ship Italy, Liverpool	12.94	& bran 10.60	68.56	7.90
Ship West Point, Liverpool	14.30	12.30	63.00	9.45	.95
Ship W.H. Harbeck, Liverpool	13.53	10.18	66.95	8.80	.30
Ship Princeton, Liverpool	13.40	11.52	65.60	7.90	.85
Ship Columbus, Liverpool	13.50	10.45	66.45	8.50	1.03
Ship Russell Glover, Liverpool	13.45	10.47	66.20	8.83	1.05
Ship South Carolina, Liverpool	13.80	9.00	70.80	5.95	.38
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	13.30	9.45	76.90		.35
Ship Cambridge, Liverpool	14.50	8.52	70.60	5.40	.40
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	14.10	9.10	70.55	5.45	.20
Ship Columbus, Liverpool	14.85	8.47	76.48		.20
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	14.15	9.00	76.60		.25
Ship Ashburton, Liverpool	13.55	11.68	69.22	5.30	.25
Wheat grown in Canada West	12.80	7.23	74.12	5.10	.75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.60	8.45	78.55		.40
Chilian Wheat	12.44	9.45	67.80	8.37	1.30
Chilian Wheat	12.85	8.65	71.60	6.10	.60
Valparaiso Wheat	12.50	& bran 14.55
French Wheat	13.20	9.85	69.00	7.65	.30
Spanish Wheat	13.50	10.30	68.90	7.00	.30
Canivano Wheat	11.33	16.35	63.10	6.50	2.30
Canivano Wheat	11.15	15.40	67.25	5.70	.60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	12.60	18.70	67.00		1.70
Hard wheat, grown near Malaga	10.87	12.15	64.38	12.60 & lactic acid
ditto ditto (2nd grinding)	10.00	14.50	60.20	15.30

There is no crop, the skilful and successful cultivation of which on the same soil, from generation to generation, requires more art than is demanded to produce good wheat. To grow this grain on fresh land, adapted to the peculiar habits and wants of the plant is an easy task. But such fields, except in rare instances, fail sooner or later to produce sound and healthy plants, which are little liable to attacks from the malady called “rust,” or which give lengthened ears or “heads,” well filled with plump seeds.

Having long resided in the best wheat-growing district in the Union, the writer has devoted years of study and observation to all the influences of soil, climate, and constitutional peculiarities, which affect this bread-bearing plant. It is far more liable to smut, rust, and shrink in some soils than in others. This is true in western New York, and every other section where wheat has long been cultivated. As the alkalies and other fertilizing elements become exhausted in the virgin soils of America, its crops of wheat not only become smaller on an average, but the plants fail in constitutional vigor, and are more liable to diseases and attacks from parasites and destructive insects. Defects in soil and improper nutrition lead to these disastrous results. Soils are defective in the following particulars:

1. They lack soluble silica, or flint in an available form, with which to produce a hard glassy stem that will be little subject to “rust.” Soluble flint is never very abundant in cultivated soils; and after they have been tilled some years, the supply is deficient in quantity. It is not very difficult to learn with considerable accuracy the amount of silica which rain-water as it falls on the earth will dissolve out of 1,000 grains of soil in the course of eight or ten days. Hot water will dissolve more than cold; and water charged with carbonic acid more than pure water which has been boiled. The experiments of Prof. Rogers of the University of Virginia, as published in Silliman’s Journal, have a direct bearing on this subject. The researches of Prof. Emmons of Albany, in his elaborate and valuable work on “Agriculture,” as a part of the Natural History of New York, show that 10,000 parts of soil yield only from one to three parts of soluble silica. The analyses of Dr Jackson, as published in his Geological Survey of New Hampshire, give similar results. Earth taken from an old and badly exhausted field in Georgia, gave the writer only one part of soluble flint in 100,000.

What elements of crops rain water, at summer heat, will dissolve out of ten or twenty pounds of soil, in the course of three months, is a point in agricultural science which should be made the subject of numerous and rigid experiments. In this way, the capabilities of different soils and their adaptation to different crops may be tested, in connection with practical experiments in field culture, on the same kind of earth.

Few wheat-growers are aware how much dissolved flint an acre of good wheat demands to prevent its having coarse, soft, and spongy stems, which are anything but a healthy organization of the plant. In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. 7, there is an extended “Report on the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants, by Thomas Way, Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester,” which gives the result of sixty-two analyses of the ash of wheat, from as many samples of that grain, mostly grown on different soils and under different circumstances.

In this report are given the quantity of wheat per acre, the weight of straw cut close to the ground to the acre, and also that of the chaff. These researches show, that from ninety-three to one hundred and fifty pounds of soluble flint are required to form an acre of wheat; and I will add from my own investigations, that three-fourths of this silica is demanded by nature during the last sixty days preceding the maturing of the crop. This is the period in which the stem acquires its solidity and strength, and most of its incombustible earthy matter. The quantity of this varies from three to fifteen per cent. of the weight of the straw. Prof. Johnston and Sir Humphry Davy give instances in which more than fifteen per cent. of ash was found; and Prof. Way gives cases where less than three per cent. were obtained. The mean of forty samples was four and a half per cent. Dr. Sprengel gives three and a half as the mean of his analyses. M. Boussingault found an average of seven per cent. As flint is truly the bone of all the grass family, imparting to them strength, as in cane, timothy, corn, oats, rye, rice, millet, and the proportion of this mineral varies as much in wheat-straw, as bone does in very lean and very fat hogs or cattle.

A young growing animal, whether a child or a colt, that is kept on food which lacks bone-earth, (phosphate of lime,) will have soft cartilaginous bones. Nature cannot substitute iron or any other mineral in the animal system, out of which to form hard strong bones; nor can any other mineral in the soil perform the peculiar function assigned to silica in the vital economy of cereal plants. To protect the living germs in the seeds of wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, &c. the cuticle or bran of these seeds contains considerable flint. The same is true of chaff.

The question naturally arises,—How is the farmer to increase the quantity of soluble silica or flint in his soil? This is a question of the highest practical importance. There are three principal ways in which the object named may be attained. First, by keeping fewer acres under the plough. Land in pasture, if well managed, will gain its fertility, and in the process accumulate soluble silica in the surface soil. In this way more wheat and surer crops may be made by cultivating a field in wheat two years than four or six. If the field in the mean time be devoted to wool-growing, butter or cheese-making, or to stock-raising, particular care must be taken to make great crops of grass or clover to grow on the land, and have all the manure, both solid and liquid, applied to its surface.

There are many counties in England that yield an average of thirty-two bushels of wheat per acre for ten crops in succession. There are but few of the old counties in the United States which average the half of that quantity: and yet America has greater agricultural capabilities than that of Great Britain.

Another way to increase soluble silica in the soil, is to grow such crops, in rotation with wheat culture, as will best prevent the loss of dissolved flint, at any time by leaching and washing, through the agency of rain water. This remark is intended to apply more particularly to those large districts devoted to cotton and tobacco culture, plants that take up no considerable amount of silica, and which by the constant stirring of the earth, and the clean tillage which they demand, favor the leaching of the soil. To keep too much of a plantation of these crops, is to lessen its capabilities for producing good crops of corn, wheat, and barley, at a small expense. Corn plants, well managed, will extract more pounds of silica in three or six months from the soil, than any other. As not an ounce of this mineral is needed in the animal economy of man or beast, it can all be composted in cornstalks, blades, and cobs, or in the dung and urine derived from corn, and be finally reorganized in the stems of wheat plants. Corn culture and wheat culture, if skilfully and scientifically conducted, go admirably together. Of the two, more bread, more meat, and more money can be made from the corn than from the wheat plant in this country. But so soon as what is called “high farming” in England, shall be popular in the United States, the crops both of wheat and corn grown here will demonstrate how little we appreciate the vast superiority of our climate for the economical feeding and clothing of the human family, over that of our “mother country.” In several counties in England, it takes from twelve to fourteen months to make a crop of wheat, after the seed is put into the ground. At or near the first of December, 1847, Mr. M.B. Moore, of Augusta, Ga., sowed a bushel of seed wheat on an acre and a half of ground, which gave him over thirty bushels by the middle of May following. This ground was then ploughed, and a fine crop of hay made and cut in July. After this, a good crop of peas was raised, and harvested in October, before it was time to seed with wheat again, as was done. While the mean temperature of England is so low, that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can grow a crop of wheat in the winter, and nearly two crops of corn in succession in the summer and autumn, before it is time to sow wheat again. No writer, to my knowledge, has done full justice to the vast agricultural resources of the southern portion of the American confederacy. But there is much of its soil which is not rich in the elements of bread. Nothing but the careful study of these elements, and of the natural laws by which they are governed, can remedy defects in wheat culture anywhere, but especially on very poor land.

All alkaline minerals, such as potash, soda, lime, ammonia, and magnesia, hasten the solution of the several insoluble compounds of silica in the soil. This fact should be remembered by every farmer. To undertake an explanation of the various ways in which alkalies, oxides, and acids act and re-act upon each other in the surface of the earth, when subject to tillage, would be out of place in this outline view of wheat-growing in the United States. I may state the fact, however, as ascertained by many analyses, that a cubic foot of good wheat soil in the valley of the Genesee, contains twenty times more lime than do the poorest soils in South Carolina and Georgia. The quantity of gypsum, bone-earth, and magnesia, available as food for plants, varies in an equal degree. Not only lime, but phosphoric acid, potash, and magnesia are lacking in most soils, if one desires to raise a large crop of wheat, and have the seeds of the grain weigh as much as the straw. In a number of the specimens of wheat analyzed by Prof. Way, when cut close to the roots, the dry wheat outweighed the dry straw.

Having secured the growth of a bright, hard, glassy stem, the next thing is to develop a long, well-filled ear. To this end, available ammonia or nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and magnesia are indispensable. Ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) is necessary to aid in forming the combustible part of the seed. The other ingredients named are required to assist in making the incombustible part of the grain. In 100 parts of the ash of wheat, there are the following substances, viz.:—

Silica	2.28
Phosphoric acid	45.73
Sulphuric acid	0.32
Lime	2.06
Magnesia	10.94
Peroxide of iron	2.04
Potash	32.24
Soda	4.06
Chloride of sodium	0.27
Total	99.94

The quantity of ash in wheat varies from 1¼ to 2½ per cent.; the average is about 1.69. The amount of phosphoric acid in any given quantity of the ash of wheat varies from forty to fifty per cent. of the same.

Seeds that have a thick cuticle or bran, and little gluten, contain a smaller per centage of phosphoric acid, and more silica. About one-third of the ash is potash; in nearly all cases magnesia varies from nine to fourteen per cent.; lime from one and a half to six per cent. Peroxide of iron is seldom as abundant as in the ash above given, and the same is true of soda. Chloride of sodium is common salt, and exists in a small quantity. Salt is beginning to be much used as a fertilizer on wheat lands in western New York. It operates indirectly to increase the crop.

The following may be taken as about the average composition of the ash of wheat-straw. It is “Specimen No. 40,” in the tables of Prof. Way, and I copy verbatim all that is said upon the subject: [Soil, sandy; subsoil, stone and clay; geological formation, silurian; drained; eight years in tillage; crop, after carrots, twenty tons per acre; tilled December, 1845; heavy crop; mown, August 12th; carried, August 20th; estimated yield, forty-two bushels per acre; straw long, grain good, weight sixty-two pounds to the bushel.] Length of straw, forty-two inches.

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Relation of Grain, Straw and Chaff.
	Actual quantities.	Per centage.
Grain	1633 lbs.	45.15
Straw	1732 lbs.	47.89
Chaff	250 lbs.	6.96
Total	3615 lbs.

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Specific gravity of grain	1.396
Weight of grain per acre	2604 lbs.
Weight of straw per acre	2,775 3/10ths.
Weight of chaff per acre	401 ⅙th.

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Mineral Matter in an Acre.
Wheat	44	½ lbs.
Straw	113
Chaff	47	⅙th.
Total	204	7/10ths.

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Analysis of the Ash of the Grain.
	Per centage.	Removed from an acre.
		lbs.	ozs.
Silica	5.63	2	8
Phosphoric acid	43.98	19	8
Sulphuric acid	.21	0	1	1/5th.
Lime	1.80	0	12	8/10ths.
Magnesia	11.69	5	3	2/10ths.
Peroxide of iron	.29	0	2
Potash	34.51	15	5	6/10ths.
Soda	1.87	0	13	3/10ths.
Total	99.98	44	6	l/10ths.

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Analysis of Straw with its proportion of Chaff.
	Per centage.	Removed from an acre.
		lbs.	ozs.
Silica	69.36	111	1	7/10ths.
Phosphoric acid	5.24	8	6	7/10ths.
Sulphuric acid	4.45	7	2	2/10ths.
Lime	6.96	11	2	2/20ths.
Magnesia	1.45	2	5
Peroxide of iron	.29	1	2
Potash	11.79	18	14
Soda	none.	none.
Chloride of sodium	none	none.
Total	99.54	160	1	l/10ths.

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If we subtract the 111 pounds of silica from 160 pounds of minerals in the straw and chaff, the difference between what are left and those in wheat, is not great. As the stems and leaves of wheat plants grow before their seeds, if all the phosphoric acid, potash, and lime available in the soil is consumed before the organization of the seeds begin, from what source is nature to draw her supply of these ingredients to form a good crop of wheat? If the farmer could reverse the order of nature, and grow a good supply of seeds first, and make straw afterwards, then many a one would harvest more wheat and less straw. But the cultivator must grow the stems, roots, and leaves of wheat, corn, and cotton, before nature will begin to form the seeds of these several plants: and every one should know that the atoms in the soil, which are consumed in organizing the bodies of cultivated plants, are, in the main, identical in kind with those required to make their seeds. The proportions, however, differ very considerably. Thus, while 100 parts of the ash of wheat contain an average of 45 parts of phosphoric acid, 100 of the ash of the wheat straw contain an average of only 5 parts. The difference is as 9 to 1. In magnesia the disparity is only a little less striking.

In what are called the organic elements of wheat (the combustible part) there are seven times more nitrogen in 100 pounds than in a like weight of straw. Hence, if the farmer converts straw into manure or compost, with the view ultimately of transforming it into wheat, it will take 7 pounds of straw to yield nitrogen enough to form one pound of wheat. Few are aware how much labor and money is annually lost by the feeding of plants on food not strictly adapted to the peculiar wants of nature in organizing the same. It is true, that most farmers depend on the natural fertility of the soil to nourish their crops, with perhaps the aid of a little stable and barn-yard manure, given to a part of them. As the natural resources of the land begin to fail, the supply must be drawn from other quarters than an exhausted field, or its cultivator will receive a poor return for the labor bestowed.

In Great Britain, where the necessity for liberal harvests and artificial fertilizing is far greater than in this country, the yield of wheat is said to be governed in a good degree by the amount of ammonia available as food for growing plants. This opinion is founded not at all on theory, but altogether on the teachings of experience. But in England, limeing and manuring are so much matters of constant practice, that few soils are so improverished as many are in the United States, With land as naked and sterile as is much that can be found in the whole thirteen colonies between Maine and Alabama, English farmers could hardly pay their tithes and poor rates, to say nothing of other taxes, rent, and the coat of producing their annual crops.

The first step towards making farming permanently profitable in all the older States, is to accumulate in a cheap and skilful manner the raw material for good harvests in the soil.

Over a territory so extensive as the United States, it is extremely difficult to lay down any rule that will be applicable even to a moiety of the republic. There are, however, many beds of marl, greensand, gypsum, limestone, saline and vegetable deposits available for the improvement of farming lands, in the Union. In addition to these, there are extraneous resources, the ocean with its fish, its shells, its sea-weeds, and its fertilizing salts, which will yield an incalculable amount of bread and meat. In the subsoil and the atmosphere, every agriculturist has resources which are not duly appreciated by one in a thousand.

As a general rule, the soil must be deepened before it can be permanently improved. One acre of soil 12 inches deep is worth more to make money from, by cultivating it, than four acres 6 inches in depth. Thus, admit that a soil 6 inches deep will produce 14 bushels of wheat, and that 12 bushels will pay all expenses and give 2 for profit. Four acres of this land will yield a net income of only 8 bushels. Now double the depth of the soil and the crop: making the latter 28 bushels, instead of 14 per acre, and the former 12 inches deep, in the place of 6. Fifteen bushels instead of twelve, will now pay all annual expenses, and leave a net profit not of two but of thirteen bushels per acre. If small crops will pay expenses, large ones will make a fortune; provided the farmer knows how to enrich his land in the most economical way. It is quite as easy to pay too dear for improving lands, as to lose money at any other business whatever.

The first thing for the operator to do is to acquire all the knowledge within his reach, from the experience of others who have done for their soils what he proposes to accomplish for his. Twenty or fifty dollars, invested in the best agricultural works in the English language, may save him thousands in the end, and double his profits in two years. The Agricultural Journals of the United States abound in information most useful to the practical farmer: and the back volumes, if collected and bound, will form a library of great value.

Rotation of Crops in connexion with Wheat Culture.—A system of tillage and rotation which will pay best in one locality, or on one quality of soil, and in a particular climate, will be found not at all adapted to other localities, different soils and latitudes. Hence, no rule can be laid down that will meet the peculiar exigencies of a farming country so extensive as the thirty States east of the Rocky Mountains. There are soils in Western New York, known to the writer, which have borne good crops of wheat every other year for more than twenty years, and produce better now than at the beginning of their cultivation. The resources of the earth in supplying the elements of wheat and corn are extremely variable. There are friable shaley rocks in Livingstone county, N.Y., which crumble and slake when exposed to the air, that abound in all the earthy minerals necessary to form good wheat. These rocks are hundreds of feet in thickness, and have furnished much of the soil in the valley of the Genesee. The Onondaga Salt Group, and other contiguous strata, which extend into Canada West, form soils of extraordinary capacity for growing wheat. Indeed, the rocks and “drift” of a district give character to its arable surface.

Nothing is more needed at this time than a good geological map of the United States, accompanied by an accurate and popularly arranged work on agricultural geology. The writer had hoped to give such a map in this report; but it is thought best to devote another year to the collection of geological surveys and facts, and to the making of more critical and extended researches before publishing.

In the matter of rotation of crops in connection with wheat culture, clover and corn are generally preferred in all the Northern, and most of the Middle States. In New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and Illinois, so far as the writer is acquainted, a crop of wheat is made in rotation, either every third, fourth, or fifth year. Wherever wool growing is united with wheat culture, clover and wheat are the staple crops of the farm. Wool and superfine flour are exported; farmers taking nearly all the bran and shorts of the millers who purchase their wheat.

The offal of wheat makes not a little feed with chaff and cut straw. Many agriculturists grow peas, beans, turnips, beets, and carrots in large quantities, as well as clover, corn, oats, and barley. Peas and beans, both stems and pulse, when well cured, are excellent feed for sheep; and on good land they are easily grown. They prepare the soil well for wheat.

All the manure derived from sheep is husbanded with extreme care by the farmers who are gradually enriching their lands. On a deep, rich, arable soil, quite a number of sheep may be kept per acre, if highly cultivated; and their manure prepares the land for producing generous crops of wheat at a small expense. Of all business men, farmers should be the closest calculators of profit and loss.

Great care should be taken to sow good and clean seed on clean land. Previous to putting the seed in the ground (drilling is preferable to sowing broadcast), wheat should be soaked five or six hours—not longer—in strong brine. After this, add a peck or more of recently slaked lime to each bushel, and shovel it over well, that the lime may cover each seed. It is now ready to commit to the earth. Most good farmers roll the earth after seeding: some before.

In the Southern States, planters are in the habit of permitting their wheat to remain too long in the field after it is cradled, and in small shocks. Good barns are too scarce in all the planting States, and in some others.

Summer fallowing is generally abandoned, except in cases where old pastures and meadows, new prairie, or bushy bad fields are to be subdued. As a general rule, friable soils need not be ploughed long before the intended crop is expected to begin to grow. Among fertilizers, wood ashes, salt, bones, lime, guano, and poudrette have been used in wheat culture with decided advantage. In Great Britain, manure derived from the consumption of turnips and other root crops by sheep and neat cattle, is much used in preparing land for wheat. Sheep, clover and peas, corn and hogs, rotate well to insure the economical production of this staple. Manure is usually applied to the crop preceding wheat.

It may be interesting to some readers to see in this place the mean result of several organic analyses of wheat made by M. Boussingault. Wheat, dried at 230 deg. in vacuo, was found to contain:

Carbon	46.1
Oxygen	43.4
Hydrogen	5.8
Nitrogen	2.3
Ash	2.4
Total	100.0

Charcoal may be regarded as a fair representative of carbon, and water as the representative of both oxygen and hydrogen. It will be seen by the above figures, that over 95 per cent. of wheat is made up of elements which greatly abound in nature in an available condition; and the same is true of all other plants. It is doubtless owing to this circumstance, that a comparatively small quantity of guano and other highly concentrated fertilizers are able to produce crops five, ten, and fifty times greater than their own weight. Azote, or nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua fortis), and the incombustible part of plants are the elements which least abound in soils, and should be husbanded with the greatest care.

The Hon. C.P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interesting remarks on the wheat crop of the United States:—

A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the exchanges of the civilized world. In the vast increase of population in the absence of long wars and famines, the importance of this staple is constantly increasing. Its cultivation is the most attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry; and its rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are favorable, and the markets are not too distant.

It is important to know what our relation is to this staple of the world, and what is, and what is likely to be, our contribution to the great aggregate of production. Beyond feeding our own great and rapidly increasing population, it probably will not soon, if ever, be very great. It is a mistake, I apprehend, to suppose our country is naturally a great wheat-producing country. The wheat district at present, in comparison to the whole extent of our territory, is limited. It is confined, so far as any appreciable amount is grown, to about ten degrees of latitude and twenty degrees of longitude, and embracing about one half the number of the States. The crop of 1848 is estimated by the Commissioner of Patents at one hundred and twenty-six millions, and our population at twenty-two millions. This gives a less number of bushels, per head, to our population than the consumption of Great Britain, which is generally set down at one hundred and sixty millions, or six bushels to each inhabitant. But with us Indian corn is a great substitute; so are potatoes and oats in Ireland and Scotland. Still our consumption of wheat, including the black population, is undoubtedly less, per head, than theirs. But in the absence of any certain data, to ascertain either the actual production, or our consumption, our only safe course is to take the actual excess, or the amount exported, after supplying our own wants. This, for the fiscal year 1848, being the crop of 1847, amounted, in flour and wheat, to twelve millions two hundred and ninety-four thousand one hundred and seventy-five bushels, although Mr. Burke’s figures would show a surplus of some forty millions! That there was not, and never has been any such surplus in the country is very evident, for the foreign demand was all the time good, and drew away all we had to part with.

The crop of 1848 was, undoubtedly, one of the best and largest we have ever grown; yet I have ascertained, by application at the registrar’s office, that the exports for the fiscal year 1842, amounted in wheat to but 1,527,534 bushels, and in flour to 2,108,013 barrels, or less by 226,676 bushels than the exports of 1848. Twelve millions is comparatively a small surplus in a favorable season, for a country with a population of twenty-two millions of inhabitants. The loss of a small per cent. in an unfavorable season would at once sink this excess.

Let us now notice more in detail the different sections of our country as adapted to the growth of wheat.

The New England States, some of them aided in their recent enterprises by bounties offered by the state governments, have failed to insure such success as is likely to encourage them to continue the culture of wheat; or, at all events, to induce them to aim at increasing their product to any considerable extent, since, as one of their own farmers candidly states, “the attempt to grow a crop of wheat is an experiment.”

The States south of North Carolina, and inclusive of a part of Delaware, have never heretofore succeeded in growing wheat to any considerable extent, though there were periods in their history—before the general introduction of the culture of cotton—when, if it had been practicable to make the cereal one of their staples, they would certainly have done so. Besides the common dangers from rust and blight, the fly, and sometimes the frost—as the past season—they have a most formidable enemy in the weevil. In Upper Georgia, in the Cherokee country in particular, wheat will probably be cultivated to some extent, and a limited cultivation of it by the planters for their own use will probably continue in several of the southern states. But the cotton, rice, and sugar states, like the manufacturing states of New England, will not soon, if ever, add much to the supply of wheat; the rich staples of the former, and the varied husbandry and grazing of the latter, suited to supply the immediate wants of a manufacturing population, will be likely to receive their attention in preference.

Kentucky and Tennessee, though their agricultural history dates back beyond the settlement of the north-western states, have already been out-stripped by at least two of them. In neither of these states has the culture of wheat ever been put forward, and regarded as one of their best staples, or as very favorably adapted to their soil and climate. Still, notwithstanding the formidable danger from rust, the production of Tennessee is estimated to be equal to nine bushels to each person, and Kentucky about seven and a half bushels. Missouri may be classed with Kentucky and Tennessee, which she much resembles in soil, climate, and productions, except that she raises much less wheat than either, her crop being placed by the Commissioner of Patents at only two millions, or less than four bushels to each resident of the state. But, besides that the experience of the past discourages the idea that these fine states are likely to become great wheat-producing states, the fact that the staple of cotton may be cultivated over a considerable portion of one of them, and that hemp and tobacco are among the valuable products of the other two; that Tennessee is the very largest corn-producing state in the Union, showing her soil and climate are particularly adapted to this description of grain, and that Kentucky and Missouri are unsurpassed as grazing countries, and there is little ground to suppose that any change in their husbandry will very greatly or suddenly augment the production of wheat. Let us come now to the States of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and that fabulous wheat district or territory to the west of these again, from which, according to the vaticinations of some, may be drawn supplies of wheat to feed the population of both Europe and America, or fill warehouses that would sustain our people through a longer famine than that which afflicted the people of Egypt! I cannot help thinking that, to some extent, this generally fertile district of country has, so far as the production of wheat is concerned, been “shouted forth in acclamations hyperbolical.” My own impression in regard to it is, including the states last named, derived in part from observation, from intercourse and correspondence with intelligent agriculturists of these states, and from a careful examination of a geological survey of two of them, that the soil and climate of this whole district of country are not particularly favorable to the production of wheat. The popular idea I know to be otherwise. I am not going to dwell upon it, or to examine the subject at any length. There is a single remark that may help to explain the reputation that has gone abroad in reference to the wheat-producing qualities of these lands. The prairie sod, when first broken up, generally produces wheat well, often most abundantly, provided it escapes the rust, insect, &c. But, when this ground has been much furrowed, becomes completely pulverized by exposure to the atmosphere, the light and friable mould, of which most of it is composed, drenched, as a good deal of it is, at times, with surface water, fails to hold or sustain the roots of the plant, it is thrown out, or winter-killed; and “winter-killed,” “winter-killed,” “winter-killed,” we all know, is among the catalogue of disasters that almost annually reach us. Sometimes, when escaping the winter, the high winds of spring blow this light soil from the roots, exposing them to such an extent, that, in a dry time in particular, the wheat often perishes. When breaking up fresh prairies, there was much encouragement and promise of hope, but which, I believe, has not been, nor is likely to be, realized by their husbandmen, in the degree that early experiments induced them to look for.

As appears by the last report of the Commissioner of Patents, the crop of Illinois, in reference to population and production, is below that of Kentucky, and both Indiana and Illinois are below that of Tennessee. The crop of Indiana is set down at 8,300,000, her population at 1,000,000, or equal to 8½ bushels a-head. The production of Illinois is stated at 5,400,000, her population at 800,000, or less than seven bushels to each inhabitant—and both these “fair and fertile plains” are still farther behind the old “battered moors” of Maryland and Virginia.

Much of their wheat, too, is spring wheat, sown often on land where the fall crop had winter-killed, increasing the number of bushels much more than the value of the crop. I have heard it estimated that full one-third of all the wheat shipped from Chicago was of this description. Chicago is their great wheat depot. Several millions of bushels are shipped from this point, the contributions from parts of three States, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois; and which concentration of their joint product at this new western city, or something else, seems to have imparted to each and all these states the reputation of great wheat-growing states, though they are, in fact, with the advantage of a virgin soil, behind several of the western states, and two at least of the eastern or Atlantic States. The geological explorations of the Hon. Robert Dale Owen, undertaken under the authority of Congress, throws much light on the character of the soil of Wisconsin and Iowa, and the description given undoubtedly characterizes much of that region of country. The specific gravity of the soil, Mr. Owen states to be remarkably light; but what he represents to be a “striking feature in the character of the Iowa and Wisconsin soils, is the entire absence, in the most of the specimens of clay, and in a large proportion of silex.” Again, he speaks of their being particularly adapted to the growth of the sugar-beet, which he truly says, “flourishes best in a loose fertile mould.” Again, he detected no phosphates; but they might be there, as the virgin soil produced good wheat. So does the virgin soil of most of the prairie land.—“The soil was rich in geine,” &c. But I submit that this does not describe a wheat soil, hardly in any one particular. Liebig tells us, that “however great the proportion of humus in a soil, it does not necessarily follow it will produce wheat”—and cites the country of Brazil.

Again, he adds, “how does it happen that wheat does not flourish on a sandy soil (which much of the soil of these states is described to be), and that a calcareous soil is also unsuitable to its growth, unless it be mixed with a considerable quantity of clay?”

The late Mr. Colman, in his European Agriculture, states, that “the soil preferred for wheat (in England) is a strong soil with a large proportion of clay. But the question after all is, not whether these States cannot grow wheat, and in comparatively large quantities, for we know that while their lands are fresh, they can and do—but whether, considering the hazard of the crop from winter-killing, the rust, the fly—the risk from the two former being equal to a large per cent. premium of insurance, they are not likely to find their interest in grazing, in raising and feeding stock, instead of attempting to extend their wheat husbandry. Lord Brougham has said, that grazing countries are always the most prosperous, and their population the most contented and happy. The meat markets of Great Britain are likely to prove better and more stable for us, than their grain markets.

The Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, a distinguished citizen, and large farmer of Indiana—distinguished throughout the Union for his zeal in the cause of agriculture—thus expresses himself on this subject: “After a full consideration of the subject, I am satisfied that stock-raising at the West is much more profitable than raising grain. Indeed, an examination of the north-western States shows a vast difference in the wealth of the grazier over those who crop with grain. The profits of wheat appear well in expectation on paper, but the prospect is blasted by a severe winter, appearance of insects, bad weather in harvesting, in threshing, for there are but few barns at the West, or transporting to market, or last, a fluctuation in the market itself.”

Such is the opinion of Mr. Ellsworth, the result of observation and experience, himself largely interested in ascertaining the safest and surest course to be pursued. The destiny he has indicated for this beautiful fertile region of country, will undoubtedly be fulfilled; it will become a great pastoral, stock-raising, and stock-feeding country.

Ohio stands now, as she did at the census of 1840, at the head of all the wheat States, in the aggregate of production; her crop of 1848 being estimated at 20,000,000, which is about equal to 10½ bushels per head of her population. The geological survey of this State, and the character of the soil, as described in the Reports of the Board of Agriculture, in a large range of her counties, as a “clayey soil,” “clayey loam,” “clay subsoil,” &c., shows Ohio to possess a fine natural wheat soil, if indeed, alter thirty years of a generally successful wheat husbandry, such additional testimony or confirmation was necessary.

Michigan has also been successful in the cultivation of wheat. Her burr-oak openings are unsurpassed in producing wheat. They are intervening ridges between low grounds, or marshes and bodies of water, and their location not generally considered very healthy. A doubt has also been suggested as to whether this soil, being a clayey loam, resting on a sandy and gravelly subsoil, is likely to wear as well as some other portions of the fertile soil of the State. The Commissioner of Patents puts her crop for 1848 at 10,000,000 of bushels, which is equal to 23½ bushels to each inhabitant! By the census of 1840, the population of Michigan was 212,267; number of bushels of wheat, 2,157,108. Her population in 1848 is estimated at 412,000. While she has barely doubled her population, she has, according to the above estimate, more than quadrupled her production of wheat—increased it at the rate of about one million bushels a year for eight consecutive years, making the quantity she grows to each head of her population more than double that of any State in the Union.

We can at least say, and appeal to the past history of the country to show it, that for a period of more than one hundred years, the supply of the Atlantic wheat States has generally been constant, and for the most part abundant. They have furnished the “staff of life” to several generations of men, and cotemporary with it, an annual amount for export, that materially assisted in regulating the exchanges of the country.

England requires for her own consumption, upon the average of years, somewhere about 32,000,000 bushels of wheat more than she produces. The average annual entries of foreign wheat for consumption in the United Kingdom, for the sixteen years ending with 1845, were about nine and a half million bushels. Inasmuch as the average number of acres in wheat crop were in 1846 about 4,600,000, the average produce 142,200,000 bushels, or over 30 bushels to the acre—an improvement in the harvest to the extent of two bushels per acre, will destroy the demand, and a deficiency to that extent will double it. Now as there is an available surplus at the neighbouring ports in Europe, in the Baltic and the Black Sea, of about 18,000,000 of bushels only, whenever there is a demand for home consumption, for, say 20,000,000 bushels, as was the case in each of the five years from 1838 to 1843, larger shipments from America will take place; but whenever there are good harvests, as in the six years from 1831 to 1837, in which the deficiency only ranged from 230,000 to 1,000,000 bushels, the trade is not worth notice. It must be remarked, however, that in a country like Britain, where capital is abundant, consumption great, speculation rife, the harvest so uncertain, and the stake so great that a cloudy day transfers thousands from one broker to another, the importation cannot be closely assimilated to the actual wants of the country. The ordinary yield of grain in the United Kingdom after deductions for seed, is about 400,000,000 bushels, and as nearly 100,000,000 bushels of grain and meal were imported in 1847, there must have been a general deficiency of nearly twenty-five per cent.

In the “Statistics of the British Empire,” the average extent of land under grain culture, &c., in 1840, was estimated as follows:—

ENGLAND AND WALES.
		Produce per Acre.	Total Produce.
Wheat	3,800,000	3¼ quarters.	12,350,000
Barley and rye.	900,000	4 quarters.	3,600,000
Oats and beans.	3,000,000	4½ quarters.	13,500,000
	SCOTLAND.
Wheat	220,000	3	660,000
Barley	280,000	3½	980,000
Oats	1,275,000	4½	5,737,500

In Scotland, ten years ago, 150,000 acres were reckoned to be under cultivation with wheat, 300,000 with barley, and 1,300,000 with oats, which is the great crop and chief food of the people.

Mr. Braithwaite Poole, in his “Statistics of British Commerce,” 1852, states—“The annual average production of all sorts of corn in the United Kingdom has been estimated by competent parties at rather more than 60,000,000 quarters, and £80,000,000 in value; but in the absence of general official returns, we cannot vouch for its accuracy, although, from various comparisons, there are reasonable grounds for assuming this calculation to be as nearly correct as possible. Some persons in the corn trade imagine the aggregate production to approach almost 80,000,000 quarters; but I cannot find any data extant to warrant such an extended assumption.”

The estimated produce of wheat, in quarters, and acreage, he states as follows:—

	Quarters.	Acreage.
England	15,200,000	3,800,000
Ireland	1,800,000	600,000
Scotland	1,225,000	350,000
Total	15,225,000	4,750,000

The average price of wheat per quarter in the last thirteen years, in England and Wales, has been as follows:—

	s.	d.
1840	66	4
1841	64	4
1842	57	3
1843	50	1
1844	51	3
1845	50	10
1846	54	8
1847	69	9
1848	50	6
1849	44	3
1850	40	4
1851	38	7
1852	41	0

The best wheat, as well as the greatest quantity, is raised in the midland counties. From two and a half to three Winchester bushels per acre are required for seed, and the average produce varies from twenty-two to thirty-two bushels per acre.

THE CONTINENT.

The quantity of wheat raised in France in 1835 was 71,697,484 hectolitres, of which eleven millions was required for seed. The average produce per hectare was stated at thirteen and a half hectolitres.

The total grain and pulse raised in that year was set down at 204,165,194 hectolitres.

	Hectolitres.
Maslin	12,281,020
Barley	18,184,316
Rye	32,999,950
Buckwheat	5,175,933
Maize and Millet	6,951,179
Oats	49,460,057
Peas and Beans	3,318,691

Oats, next to wheat is the largest crop grown in France, for the support of two million horses and three and a half million mules and asses.

According to the “Annuaire de l’Economie Politique de la Statistique,” there were 13,900,000 hectares (each about 2½ acres) under cultivation with the cereals in France.

The primary article of consumption is wheat. At the rate of three hectolitres (1 qr. ¼ bush.) to each individual, every family would require thirteen to fourteen hectolitres, costing 210 to 280 francs (£8 15s. to £11 10s.) according as the price varies, between its present value fifteen francs, and its occasional cost twenty francs. In the reign of Louis XVI, Arthur Young referred with horror to the black bread eaten by the French. Since that time half a century has passed, and whilst the agricultural produce in France has tripled in value, the labourers who produce it continue, from custom and necessity, to eat a detestable bread made from rye, barley, or peas and potatoes; and, to make the matter still worse, it is badly baked, without yeast, and being sometimes kept for weeks, it becomes covered with mould, and altogether presents an appearance enough to turn the stomach of a savage.

According to Mr. McGregor’s estimate some ten or twelve years ago, the land under wheat culture was 13,808,171 acres, producing 191,000,000 bushels; and 11,715 acres with spelt, or red wheat, the yield of which was 374,000 bushels.

The other crops were—

	Acres	Crops, bushels
Maslin	2,251,438	32,000,000
Rye	6,369,879	76,000,000
Barley	2,936,453	45,000,000
Oats	7,416,297	134,000,000
Maize	1,561,372	20,000,000

Wheat and oats are grown all over Russia, which is the greatest corn land in the world.

In Austrian Italy the yield of grain has been reckoned at three million quarters, but this seems rather low. About one-half of this is maize and rye, and a quarter wheat.

It is reckoned that eight million quarters of grain are raised yearly in Denmark, but this seems doubtful. In 1839, a million quarters of grain, however, were shipped from that kingdom.

BRITISH AMERICAN PROVINCES.

According to the census return of 1852, the number of acres under grain crops, and the produce in Canada, were as follows:—

	Lower Canada—Produce.		Upper Canada—Produce.
	Acres	Bushels	Acres	Bushels
Wheat	427,111	3,075,868	782,115	12,692,852
Barley	42,927	668,626	29,916	625,875
Rye	46,007	341,443	38,968	479,651
Oats	540,422	8,967,594	421,684	11,193,844
Buckwheat	51,781	530,417	44,265	639,381
Maize	22,669	400,287	70,571	1,666,513

Flour may be valued at 21s. the barrel.

The grain crops in Lower Canada are taken in the minot, and not in the bushel, except in the townships. In like manner, the acres are taken in arpents. An arpent is about one-seventh less than an acre; and a minot about one-eighth (some say one-twelfth) more than a bushel.

During the years 1850-1, Western Canada exported upwards of two million barrels of flour, and three million bushels of wheat, being equivalent to 13,600,000 bushels of wheat. The value of the wheat and flour exported in 1851 was £404,033. Canadian flour, like that of Genessee, is of very superior quality.

	WHEAT.—UPPER	CANADA.
	Bushels.		To each inhabitant.
Wheat crop of 1841 was	3,221,991	or	6.60
Wheat crop of 1847 was	7,558,773	or	10.45
Wheat crop of 1849 was	9,706,082	or	12.08
Wheat crop of 1851 was	12,692,852	or	13.33

The quantity of land under wheat in “Upper Canada was 782,115 acres, showing a yield of about sixteen and three quarter bushels to the acre. The wheat produced in 1852 was valued at nearly two million pounds sterling.

LOWER CANADA.
	Minots.
Wheat crop in 1843 was	942,835	or	1.36
Wheat crop in 1851 was	3,075,868	or	3.46

UNITED STATES.
	Bushels.
Wheat crop in 1839 was	84,832,272	or	4.96
Estimated by patent office 1847	114,245,500	or	5.50
Crop of wheat 1849	100,684,627	or	4.33

In order, however, to institute a fairer comparison, I will divide the States into three classes, viz.:—1st. States growing over six million bushels.

	Bushels.	Population.	Bush, per head.
Pennsylvania	15,367,691	2,311,736	6.65
Ohio	14,487,351	1,980,408	7.32
New York	13,131,498	4,148,182	3.16
Virginia	11,232,616	1,421,661	7.90
Illinois	9,414,575	851,471	11.06
Indiana	6,214,458	988,416	6.28
Total	69,847,189	11,701,924	5.97

2nd. States growing over one million and less than six million bushels.

	Bushels.	Population.	Bush, per head.
Michigan	4,925,889	397,654	12.39
Wisconsin	4,286,131	305,191	14.04
Maryland	4,494,681	583,031	7.71
Missouri	2,981,652	682,043	4.38
Kentucky	2,140,822	982,405	2.15
North Carolina	2,130,102	868,903	2.45
Tennessee	1,619,381	1,002,525	1.61
New Jersey	1,601,190	481,555	3.27
Iowa	1,530,581	192,214	7.96
Georgia	1,088,534	905,999	1.21
South Carolina	1,066,277	668,507	1.60
Total	27,865,240	7,078,131	3.93

3rd. The remaining States and territories.

2,791,470 4,466,246 0.63

Total wheat crop in the United States, 100,503,899 bushels. Population, 23,246,301. Bushels per head, 4.33.

Increase:—U. States,	1839	84,823,272	bushels
Increase:—U. States,	1849	100,503,896	bushels
		15,680,627

Or 18.49 per cent. in ten years.

Upper Canada,	1841	3,221,991	bushels
Upper Canada,	1851	12,692,825	bushels
		9,470,861

Or nearly quadrupling itself in ten years.

		Bushels.	Population.	Bush. per head.
Pr. Ed. Island	1847	219,787	62,678	3.50
Newfoundland	1850	297,157	276,117	1.08
New Brunswick	1850	206,635	193,800	1.06

The Eastern States in 1849 raised 1,090,896 bushels. Population 2,668,106, or 0.41 each.

The population of Upper Canada is 952,904, and allowing five bushels for each, 4,760,020 bushels; and for seed at one and a half bushels per acre 1,173,173 bushels = 5,933,193; leaves for export 6,761,668 bushels. More than sufficient to supply the consumption of the whole of the Eastern States.

“Were the population of Lower Canada to consume flour at the given rate, it would require—

	Bushels.
890,261 at five bushels each	4,451,305
Seed	640,000
	5,091,305
Grown	3,075,868
	2,015,437

Leaving a surplus of wheat in Canada 4,746,231 bushels, or at four and a half bushels for each, equal to 1,054,718 barrels of flour.

Professor Johnston in his report on New Brunswick, furnishes some valuable information as to the produce there.

The following table of average weights indicates a capacity in the soil and climate to produce grain of a very superior quality:—

COUNTIES	Wheat	Barley	Oats	Rye	BuckWheat	Maize
Saint John	61	—	41	—	50	—
Westmoreland	60	48	35½	—	48	59
Albert	58	50	34¾	50	45	—
Charlotte	59	45	39	—	57	59
King’s	59½	48	37	—	48	60
Queen’s	58½	50	36½	53	43	61
Sunbury	57	55	38	53	47	57
York	63	50	38	—	51	60
Carleton	64	—	38	—	52	65
Kent	63	—	37	—	50	—
Northumberland	62	53	37	—	45	57
Gloucester	63	51	39	—	—	—
Restigouche	63	48	42	—	—	—

The general average weights for the whole Province are, for

Wheat	60 11-13	lbs.
Barley	50	″
Oats	38	″
Rye	52½	″
Buckwheat	48 8-11	″
Indian Corn	59½	″
Potatoes	63	″
Turnips	66	″
Carrots	63	″

The annexed statement shows not only the average yield per acre of each description of crop, but affords an opportunity of contrasting it with the like products in the State of New York:—

AVERAGE PRODUCE PER IMPERIAL ACRE.
	New Brunswick	State of New York
	Bushels	Bushels
Wheat	20	14
Barley	29	16
Oats	34	26
Rye	20½	9½
Buckwheat	33¾	14
Indian Corn	41¾	25
Potatoes	226	90
Turnips	460	88
Hay	1¾	—

A possibility of error in striking the averages is suggested in the report; and to guard against it the following statement of the averages derived from the minimum returns is given, viz.:—Wheat 17¾ bushels; Barley, 27; Oats, 33; Buckwheat, 28; Rye, 18; Indian Corn, 36½; Potatoes, 204; Turnips, 389. The diminished averages scarcely affect the question of productiveness, as in every particular they exceed the averages for the favored Genesee Valley and the southern shores of Lake Ontario.

While the productiveness of the soil is thus proven by the statements of most experienced farmers, the average prices appear to be equally favorable to the Provincial growers. The following tables of averages set this in a clear point of view:—

AVERAGE PRICES OF GRAIN PER BUSHEL AND PER QUARTER.
	Per Bushel		Per Quarter
Wheat	7s.	6d.	60s.	0d.
Barley	4	2½	33	8
Oats	2	0	16	0
Rye	4	10	38	8
Buckwheat	3	9	30	0
Indian Corn	4	8	37	4

ROOT CROPS AND HAY.
Potatoes	1s.	11d.	per bushel.
Turnips	1	2	″
Eng. Hay	49	0	per ton.
Carrots	2	5	per bushel.
Man. Wurtzel	2	1	″
Marsh Hay	20	0	per ton.

AVERAGE MONEY VALUE OF AN ACRE OF EACH CROP.
	New Brunswick			Canada West			State of Ohio
Wheat	£6	13	0	£2	4	7	£2	19	0
Barley	5	13	7½	1	19	4½	2	4	0
Oats	6	3	6	1	11	0	1	13	9
Rye	4	7	0	1	5	10½	1	12	4
Buckwheat	5	5	0	3	5	0	1	16	3
Indian Corn	8	10	4	2	14	4½	2	15	0
Potatoes	19	11	0	6	6	0	6	9	4½

On a review of the foregoing and other tables, Professor Johnston has drawn the following conclusions:—

“That grain and roots generally can be raised more cheaply in the Province of New Brunswick than in New York, Ohio, or Upper Canada; and that the Province ought to be able to compete with those countries and drive them from its home markets.”

Such are the deductions of a skilful and scientific, practical and theoretical agriculturist, from the statements furnished by the most enterprising and successful of our colonists. Nevertheless, I cannot conceal a doubt whether all the elements of comparison have been duly weighed. The result, especially as regards wheat, is so contrary to pre-conceived opinions, that further investigations should be made. Is it not possible that, while an equality of expense in preparing the land for a wheat crop appears to have been assumed, the great care and expense necessary in New Brunswick to prepare the land, and an occasional succession of minimum returns would, to a very considerable extent, account for the supposed discrepancy?

Wheat has, from time immemorial, been a staple crop in the plains of Northern India, and especially in the Punjaub. The climate and soil are well fitted for this cereal, but owing to defects and carelessness in the agriculture and harvesting, the crops, though excellent, fall short of what most corn-growing countries produce. Further—owing to foul boats and granaries, and to the moist heat of the months immediately succeeding harvest, the wheat reaches England in a state too dirty and weevelled for market. The hard wheat is preferred by the natives in India to the soft, probably for no better cause than that the hardness of the grain more closely resembles their favorite food, rice.

BARLEY.

Oats, rye and barley, are the staple crops of northern and mountainous Europe and Asia. In England barley is grown principally in the eastern and some of the midland counties, and chiefly for malting. It is most extensively cultivated in the Himalaya and Thibet, replacing in many districts the wheat, and producing an admirable flour.

Since the establishment of the studs at Buxar, Ghazepore, &c., oats have been extensively cultivated. It is a winter crop.

Although believed to have been indigenous to the countries bordering on the torrid zone, this grain possesses the remarkable flexibility of maturing in favorable seasons and situations on the eastern continent as far north as 70 deg., and flourishes well in lat. 42 deg. south. Along the Atlantic side of the continent of America, its growth is restricted to the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels of north latitude, and between 30 and 40 deg. south. Near the westerly coast, its range lies principally between latitude 20 and 62 deg. north. The barley chiefly cultivated in the United States is the two-rowed variety which is generally preferred from the fulness of its grain and its freedom from smut. Barley has never been much imported from that country, as the Americans have been rather consumers than producers. The consumption of barley there in 1850 in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors amounted to 3,780,000 bushels, and according to the census returns, the quantity of barley raised was 4,161,504 bushels in 1840, and 5,167,213 bushels in 1850. In this country barley is extensively used for malting, distilling, and making beer; large quantities are consumed in Scotland, or carried into England.

In Prussia, about ten and a half million hectolitres of barley are annually raised. In the Canary Isles, about 354,000 bushels are annually exported. In Van Diemen’s Land in 1844, 174,405 bushels of barley were grown on 12,466 acres.

The quantity of barley made into malt in the United Kingdom in the year ending 10th October, 1850, was 5,183,617 quarters, of which about four million quarters were used by 8,500 maltsters. The quantity of malt charged with duty in the year ending 5th January, 1851, was 636,641 tons; the average price per quarter, 26s. 2d.

Barley is at present extensively cultivated in the temperate districts and islands of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. In Spain, Sicily, the Canaries, Azores and Madeira, two crops are produced in a year. In North America its growth is principally confined to Mexico, the middle, western, and northern States of the Union, and to the British North American provinces. The introduction of barley into the American colonies may be traced back to the period of their settlement. By the year 1648 it was raised in abundance in Virginia, but soon after its culture was suffered to decline, in consequence of the more profitable and increased production of tobacco. It has also been sparingly cultivated in the regions of the middle and northern States for malting and distillation, and has been employed, after being malted, as a substitute for rice.

Barley, like wheat, has been cultivated in Syria and Egypt for more than 3,000 years, and it was not until after the Romans adopted the use of wheaten bread, that they fed their stock with this grain. It is evidently a native of a warm climate, as it is known to be the most productive in a mild season, and will grow within the tropics at an elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is one of the staple crops of northern and mountainous Europe and Asia. It is the corn that, next to rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per acre, and it may be eaten with no other preparation than that of boiling. It requires little or no dressing when it is sent to the mill, having no husk, and consequently produces no bran. In this country barley is chiefly used for malting and distilling purposes. In the year 1850, 40,745,050 bushels of malt paid duty, the number of maltsters in the United Kingdom being from 8,000 to 9,000. About one and a half million quarters of barley were imported in 1849, and a little over a million quarters in 1850, principally from Denmark and Prussia. The counties in England where this grain is chiefly cultivated are Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, Herts, Leicester, and Nottingham. The produce of barley on land well prepared, is from thirty to fifty bushels or more per statute acre, weighing from 45 to 55 lbs. per bushel, according to quality. It is said to contain 65 per cent. of nutritive matter, while wheat contains 78 per cent.

The estimated average produce of barley in this country may be stated as follows:—

	Acres.	Crop.
England	1,500,000	6,375,000
Ireland	320,000	1,120,000
Scotland	450,000	1,800,000
	2,270,000	9,295,000

The average produce per acre, in the United Kingdom, is 4¼ quarters in England, 3½ in Ireland, and 4 in Scotland. The prices of barley per quarter have ranged, in England, from 36s. 5d. in 1840, to 27s. 6d. in 1842. In 1847 barley reached 44s. 2d., and gradually declined to 23s. 5d, in 1850.

OATS.

Oats are principally in demand for horses, and the extraordinary increase of the latter has occasioned a proportional increase in the culture of oats. They are grown more especially in the north and north-eastern counties; in the midland counties their culture is less extensive, but it is prevalent throughout most parts of Wales.

Nearly twice as much oats as wheat is raised in the United Kingdom, but the proportion grown in Scotland is not so large as is supposed. The following is a fair estimate of the comparative production:—

	Acres.	Produce.
England	2,500,000	12,500,000
Ireland	2,300,000	11,600,000
Scotland	1,300,000	6,500,000
Total	6,100,000	30,500,000

We import annually about l¼ million quarters from foreign countries and nearly three-fourths of a million quarters from Ireland. The average produce per acre throughout the kingdom is five quarters. The price within the last 10 years has ranged from 28s. 7d. per quarter (the famine year) to 17s. 6d.

The oat, when considered in connection with the artificial grasses, and the nourishment and improvement it affords to live stock, may be regarded as one of the most important crops produced. Its history is highly interesting, from the circumstance that in many portions of Europe it is formed into meal, and forms an important aliment for man; one sort, at least, has been cultivated from the days of Pliny, on account of its fitness as an article of diet for the sick. The country of its origin is somewhat uncertain, though the most common variety is said to be indigenous to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Another oat, resembling the cultivated variety, is also found growing wild in California.

This plant was introduced into the North American Colonies soon after their settlement by the English. It was sown by Gosnold on the Elizabeth Islands in 1602; cultivated in Newfoundland in 1622, and in Virginia, by Berkley, prior to 1648.

The oat is a hardy grain, and is suited to climates too hot and too cold either for wheat or rye. Indeed, its flexibility is so great, that it is cultivated with success in Bengal as low as latitude twenty-five degrees North, but refuses to yield profitable crops as we approach the equator. It flourishes remarkably well, when due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, throughout the inhabited parts of Europe, the northern and central portions of Asia, Australia, Southern and Northern Africa, the cultivated regions of nearly all North America, and a large portion of South America.

In the United States the growth of the oat is confined principally to the Middle, Western and Northern States. The varieties cultivated are the common white, the black, the grey, the imperial, the Hopetown, the Polish, the Egyptian, and the potato oat. The yield of the common varieties varies from forty to ninety bushels and upwards per acre, and weighing from twenty-five to fifty pounds to the bushel. The Egyptian oat is cultivated south of Tennessee, which after being sown in autumn, and fed off by stock in winter and spring, yields from ten to twenty bushels per acre. In the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors oats enter but lightly, and their consumption for this purpose does not exceed 60,000 bushels annually in the United States.

In 1840, Ireland exported 2,037,835 quarters of oats and oatmeal, but in 1846, on account of the dearth, the grain exports fell off completely. Most of the grain grown in Ireland requires to be kiln-dried, and is, therefore, of lower value.

The oat, like rye, never has entered much into our foreign commerce, as the domestic consumption has always been nearly equal to the quantity produced. The annual average exports from the United States for several years preceding 1817, were 70,000 bushels.

By the census returns of 1840, the total produce of the United States was 123,071,341 bushels; of 1850, 146,678,879 bushels.

In Prussia 43 million hectolitres of oats are annually raised.

The quantity of oats imported into the United Kingdom, has been declining within the last few years. In 1849, we imported 1,267,106 quarters; in 1850, 1,154,473; in 1851, 1,209,844; in 1852, 995,479. In 1844, 221,105 bushels of oats were raised in Van Diemen’s Land on 13,864 acres.

RYE.

Rye (Secale cereale) is scarcely at all raised in this country for bread, except in Durham and Northumberland, where, however, it is usually mixed with wheat, and forms what is called “maslin,”—a bread corn in considerable use in the north of Europe.

Geographically rye and barley associate with one another, and grow upon soils the most analogous, and in situations alike exposed. It is cultivated for bread in Northern Asia, and all over the Continent of Europe, particularly in Russia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Holland; in the latter of which it is much employed in the manufacture of gin. It is also grown to some extent in England, Scotland and Wales. With us it is little used as an article of food compared with wheat and oats, though in the north of Europe and in Flanders it forms the principal article of human subsistence, but generally mixed with wheat, and sometimes, also with barley; 100 parts of the grain consist of 65.6 of meal, 24.2 of husk, and 10.2 of water. The quantity of rye we import seldom reaches 100,000 quarters per annum.

The straw is solid, and the internal part, being, filled with pith, is highly esteemed for Dunstable work, for thatching and litter, and it is also used to stuff horse collars.

In Ireland there are 21,000 acres under culture with rye, producing 105,000 quarters.

In North America rye is principally restricted to the Middle and Eastern States, but its culture is giving place to more profitable crops.

In Bohemia, as in most parts of Germany, rye forms the principal crop, the product being about 3,250,000 quarters annually.

The three leading varieties cultivated in the United States are the spring, winter, and southern; the latter differing from the others only from dissimilarity of climate. The yield varies from 10 to 30 or more bushels per acre, weighing from 48 to 56 pounds to the bushel. The production of rye has decreased 4,457,000 bushels in the aggregate, but in New York it is greater by the last decennial census than in 1840, by about 40 per cent. Pennsylvania, which is the largest producer, has fallen off from 6,613,373 to 4,805,160 bushels. Perhaps the general diminution in the quantity of this grain now produced may be accounted for, by supposing a corresponding decline in the demand for distilling purposes, to which a larger part of the crop is applied in New York. This grain has never entered largely into its foreign commerce, as the home consumption for a long period nearly kept pace with the supply. The amount exported from the United States in 1801, was 392,276 bushels; in 1812, 82,705 bushels; in 1813, 140,136 bushels. In 1820-1 there were exported 23,523 barrels of rye flour; in 1830-1, 19,100 barrels; in 1840-1 44,031; in 1845-6, 38,530 barrels; in 1846-7, 48,892 barrels; in 1850-1, 44,152 barrels. During the year ending June 1, 1850, there were consumed of rye about 2,144,000 bushels in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors.

According to the American census returns of 1840, the product of the country was 18,645,567 bushels; in 1850, 14,188,637 bushels. We imported 246,843 quarters of rye and rye meal, in 1849, equivalent to 49,368 tons; but in 1850 the imports were only 94,078 quarters and in 1851 they were but 26,323 quarters. About 20,000 acres are under cultivation with rye in Ireland, the produce of which is 100,000 quarters.

BUCKWHEAT.

Buckwheat belongs to the temperate and arctic climates, and is cultivated in Northern Europe, Asia, and America for the farinaceous albumen of its seeds, which, when properly cooked, affords a delicious article of food to a large portion of the human race. It also serves as excellent fodder to milch cows, and the straw, when cut green and converted into hay, and the ripened seeds, are food for cattle, poultry, and swine.

It is raised most abundantly in Central Asia and the Himalaya. In the latter country the different varieties are grown at various elevations, between 4,000 and 12,000 feet. The finest samples exhibited in 1851 were from Canada, but some of excellent quality was also shown by the United States, Russia, and Belgium. The common variety grown in Europe is the Polygonum fagopyrum, and P. emarginatum is grown in China and the East. In this country the produce varies from 2 to 4 quarters per acre. The quantity of seed sown is 5 to 8 pecks the acre. Vauquelin found 100 parts of its straw to contain 29.5 of carbonate of potash, 3.8 of sulphate of potash, 17.5 of carbonate of lime, 13.5 of carbonate of magnesia, 16.2 of silica, 10.5 of alum, and 9 of water.

It is believed to be a native of Central Asia, as it is supposed to have been first brought to Europe in the early part of the twelfth century, at the time of the crusades for the recovery of Syria from the dominion of the Saracens; while others contend that it was introduced into Spain by the Moors, four hundred years before.

The cultivation of buckwheat, in one or other of its species, is principally confined to Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia, China, Tartary, Japan, Algeria, Canada, and the middle and northern portions of the United States.

In America from 30 to 45 bushels per acre may be considered as an average yield in favorable seasons and situations, but 60 or more bushels are not unfrequently produced.

According to the census returns of 1840, the annual quantity raised in the United States was 7,291,743 bushels; of 1850, 8,950,916 bushels.

The average annual imports of buckwheat into this country have not exceeded 1,000 quarters, until last year (1852), when they reached 8,085 quarters. A small quantity of the meal is also annually imported.

MAIZE.

Maize (Zea Mays), is the common well-known Indian corn forming one of the most important of the grain crops, and has a greater range of temperature than the other cereal grasses. It was found cultivated for food by the Indians of both North and South America, on the first discovery of that continent, and thence derived its popular name. Maize succeeds best in the hottest and dampest parts of tropical climates. It may be reared as far as 40 degrees north and south latitude on the American continent; while in Europe it can grow even to 50 degrees or 52 degrees of latitude, some of the numerous varieties being hardy enough to ripen in the open air, in England and Ireland. It is now cultivated in all regions in the tropical and temperate zones, which are colonized by Europeans. It is most largely grown, however, about the Republics bordering on the northern shores of South America, California, the United States and Canada, the West India islands and Guiana, on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and partially in India, Africa, and Australia. We see the singular fact in Mexico of land which, after perhaps thousands of years’ culture, is so little exhausted, that with a very little labor bestowed on it, a bad maize harvest will yield two hundredfold profit, while a good crop returns 600 fold.

This grain adopts itself to almost every variety of climate, and is found growing luxuriantly in the low countries of tropical Mexico, and nearly equally well on the most elevated and coldest regions of the table-land; in the rich valleys of the Cordilleras or the Andes, and on the sandy heights of those mountains wherever a rill of water can be brought to nourish its roots. In short, it ripens under the sun of America, in every part of both continents.

Though wheat is characterised as the most nutritious food for man in all quarters of the world, yet the Indian corn crop of the United States is not second in value to any product of the earth; cultivated in the middle and Eastern States, nay, even in the rich cotton-growing districts, Indian corn is fast rising in importance, and will soon equal in value that important commercial staple. This indigenous grain yields to the nation an annual average of five hundred millions of bushels, and has, within the last five years, attracted much attention as a life-sustaining food, more particularly at the period of Ireland’s severe suffering, in 1847, and the following years. Nations, as well as statesmen and farmers, have found it an object worthy of their consideration and esteem.

When due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, and cultivated in a proper soil, maize may be accounted a sure crop in almost every portion of the habitable globe, between the 44th degree of north latitude and a corresponding parallel south. Among the objects of culture in the United States, it takes precedence in the scale of cereal crops, as it is best adapted to the soil and climate, and furnishes the largest amount of nutritive food. Besides its production in the North American Republic, its extensive culture is limited to Mexico, the West Indies, most of the States of South America, France, Spain, Portugal, Lombardy, and Southern and Central Europe generally. It is, however, also cultivated with success in Northern, Southern, and Western Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, and the Sandwich Islands, the groups of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous other oceanic isles.

Maize is not a favorite grain as bread-corn with the European nations, for although it abounds in mucilage, it is asserted to contain less gluten, and is not likely to be much used by those who can procure wheaten flour, or even rye bread.

The large importations which were made by our Government during the prevalence of the potato disease, brought it into more general use among some classes, and the imports for home consumption are still extensive, having been as follows in the last few years:—

		1848.	1849.
Indian corn,	quarters	1,582,755	2,249,571
″	meal, cwts.	233,880	102,181
		1850.	1851.
Indian corn,	quarters	1,286,264	1,810,425
″	meal, cwts.	11,401

The trade in maize, or Indian corn, is totally new since 1846. The famine in Ireland in that year, and the potato rot in almost every successive year since, have now fully established it. Like the gold discoveries, the potato rot may be regarded as a providential means of effecting a great change in the condition of society. Those discoveries are not without their influence in the East, and, combined with the potato rot, they have rapidly increased the commerce between the East and West of Europe, while they are spreading broad paths between all Europe and the lands in the Southern Ocean. The imports of maize from all parts, in 1852, amounted to 1,550,000 quarters, of which about 1,100,000 quarters arrived in vessels from the Mediterranean, &c., calling at Queenstown or Falmouth for orders. The balance consisted of imports from America, France, Portugal, &c., and also of cargoes addressed direct to a port of discharge, without first calling off the coast for orders. The quantities received in 1851 and 1852 from the Mediterranean were as follows:—

	1852.	1851.
Received from	qrs.	qrs.
Galatz	223,000	286,067
Ibraila	362,600	211,779
Salonica	35,640	95,377
Odessa	219,170	74,065
Egypt	50,960	86,260
Italy	8,250	162,544
Constantinople, Malta, Trieste, and other ports in the Mediterranean	190,720	286,358
	1,090,340	1,202,450

The various quarters from whence we derive supplies of this grain, are shown in the following table of the imports for the last three years, which I have compiled from the most recent Parliamentary returns.

INDIAN CORN AND MEAL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.
PLACES.	1849.		1850.		1851.
	Corn. qrs.	Meal. cwts.	Corn. qrs.	Meal. cwts.	Corn. qrs.	Meal. cwts.
Russian Ports in Black Sea	25,519		19,721		98,176
Denmark	1,300		250		5
Hanover	1,344
Belgium	67
France	135,115	510	102,978	26	164,128	29
Portugal Proper	61,446		67,518	53	21,922
Azores and Madeira	17,214	7	7,794	6	4,356	1
Spain and Bahama Islands	26,856	48	19,982	48	34,771
Sardinian Territories	13,357		25	2	1,302	1
Tuscany	11,481	95	15,612	94	34,760
Papal Territories	8,927		1,876		75,588
Naples and Sicily	18		10,066		101,489
Austrian Territories	90,540		45,748		73,966
Malta and Gozo	18,198		4,969		11,002
Ionian Islands	5,390		7,324		5,967
Greece	57,520		8,712		3,252
Egypt	12,767		71,808		127,692
Turkish dominions, including Wallachia, Moldavia and Syria	563,799		348,456		748,180
Morocco	760
West Coast of Africa	889		2,322
B.N.A. Colonies	1,645	164	1,530		4,377	7
U.S. of America	1,170,154	100,859	538,155	11,253	295,978	9,522
Brazil	1,253		468		725
Other places			1,756
						1
	2,225,459	101,683	1,277,070	11,482	1,807,636	9,561
(Parliamentary Paper, No. 14, Sess. 1852.)

The many excellent properties of Indian corn, as a wholesome nutritious food, and the rich fodder obtained from the stalk and leaf for the nourishment of cattle, invite more earnest attention from the farmer and planter in the Colonies to its better and extended cultivation.

Though the average quantity of grain from each acre in the United States is not more than thirty or forty bushels, yet it is known that with due care and labor 100 to 130 bushels may be obtained.

In feeding cattle little difference is discoverable between the effects of Indian corn meal and oil-cake meal; the preference rather preponderates in favor of the latter.

Corn cobs, ground with the grain, have advocates, but this food is not relished, and swine decline it.

Indian corn contains about the same proportion of starch as oats (sixty per cent.), but is more fattening, as it contains about nine or ten per cent. of oily or fatty ingredients.

The following analysis of maize is given by Dr. Samuel David, of Massachusetts:—

FLESH FORMING PRINCIPLES.
Gluten, albumen, and casein	12.60
FAT FORMING PRINCIPLES.
Gum, sugar, starch, woody fibre, oil, &c.	77.09
Water	9.00
Salts	1.31
	100.

Prof. Gorham, in “Thomson’s Organic Chem.,” published in London in 1838, gives another analysis:—

	Fresh grain.	Dried grain.
Water	9.00
Starch	77.00	84.60
Gluten	3.00	3.30
Albumen	2.50	2.74
Gum	1.75	1.92
Sugar	1.45	1.60
Loss	5.30	5.84
	100.	100.

Professor Johnston supplies a table, which, he says, exhibits the best approximate view we are yet able to give of the average proportion of starch and gluten contained in 100 lbs. of our common grain crops as they are met with in the market.

From this table I extract the following:—

	Starch, gum, &c.		Gluten, albumen, &c.
Wheat flour.	55	lbs.	10 to 15	lbs.
Oats	65	″	18	lbs.
Indian corn	70	″	12	″
Beans	40	″	28	″
Peas	50	″	24	″
Potatoes	12	″	2⅓	″

The Professor remarks that the proportion of oil is, in 100 lbs. of

Wheat flour	2 to 4
Oats	5 to 8
Indian corn	5 to 9
Beans and peas	2½ to 3
Potatoes	0¼

Maize is one of those plants in which potash preponderates, for analysis of its ashes gives the following proportions:—

Salts of potash and soda	71.00
Salts of lime and magnesia	6.50
Silica	18.00
Loss	4.50
	100.

Dr. Salisbury has also furnished the proximate analysis of five varieties of ripe maize or Indian corn:—

One hundred grains of each.	Proportions.
	Water.	Dry.
Golden Sioux corn, a bright, yellow, twelve-rowed variety, frequently having fourteen rows	15.02	84.98
Large eight-rowed yellow corn	14.00	86.00
Small eight-rowed ditto	14.03	85.97
White flint corn	14.00	86.00
Ohio Dent corn, one of the largest varieties of maize	14.50	85.50

COMPARATIVE ORGANIC ANALYSIS.
	Golden Sioux.	Ohio Dent Corn.	Small 8-rowed Corn.	Large 8-rowed Corn.	White Flint Corn.
Starch	36.06	41.85	30.29	49.22	40.34
Gluten	5.00	4.62	5.60	5.40	7.69
Oil	3.44	3.88	3.90	3.71	4.68
Albumen	4.42	2.64	6.00	3.32	3.40
Casein	1.92	1.32	2.20	0.75	0.50
Dextrine	1.30	5.40	4.61	1.90	3.00
Fibre	18.50	21.36	26.80	11.96	18.01
Sugar and extract	7.25	10.00	5.20	9.55	8.30
Water	15.02	10.00	13.40	14.00	14.00

Large quantities of starch are now made from this grain in Ohio; an establishment near Columbus consume 20,000 bushels of corn annually for this purpose. The offal of the grain is given to hogs, 500 to 600 head being annually fattened therewith. The quality of the starch is said to be superior to that of wheat, and commands a higher price in New York.

A corn plant, fifteen days after the seed was planted, cut on the 3rd June close to the ground, gave of—

Water	86.626
Dry matter	10.374
Ash	1.354
Ash calculated dry	13.053

By the above figures it will be seen that nearly 90 per cent, of the young plant is water; and that in proportion to the dry matter, the amount of earthy minerals which remain, as ash, when the plant is burnt, is large. This excess of water continues for many weeks. Thus, on the 5th July, thirty-three days from planting, the relations stood thus:—

Water	90.518
Dry matter	9.482
Ash	1.333
Ash calculated dry	14.101
(Ash very saline.)

Before green succulent food of this character is fit to give to cows, oxen, mules, or horses, it should be partly dried. Plants that contain from 70 to 75 per cent. of water need no curing before eaten. The young stalk cut July 12, gave over 94 per cent. of water. Such food used for soiling without drying would be likely to scour an animal, and give it the cholic.

The root at this time (July 12) gave of—

Water	81.026
Dry matter	18.974
Ash	2.222
Ash calculated dry	11.711
(Ash tastes of caustic potash.)

Ash of the whole plant above ground, 6.77 grains. Amount of ash in all below ground, 3.93 grains.

So late as July 26, the proportion of water in the stalk was 94 per cent.; and the ash calculated dry 17.66 per cent. The plant gained 21.36.98 grains in weight in a week preceding the 6th September. This was equal to a gain of 12.72 grains per hour.

The rapid growth of corn plants, when the heat, light, and moisture, as well as the soil are favorable, is truly wonderful. A deep, rich, mellow soil, in which the roots can freely extend to a great distance in depth and laterally, is what the corn-grower should provide for his crop. The perviousness of river bottoms contributes largely to their productiveness of this cereal. A compact clay, which excludes alike air, water, and roots, forbidding all chemical changes, is not the soil for Indian corn.

When farmers sell corn soon after it is ripe, there is considerable gain in not keeping it long to dry and shrink in weight. Corn grown by Mr. Salisbury, which was ripe by the 18th October, then contained 37 per cent. of water, which is 25 per cent. more than old corn from the crib will yield. The mean of man experiments tried by the writer has been a loss of 20 per cent. in moisture between new and old corn. The butts of cornstalks contain the most water, and husks or shucks the least, when fully matured and not dried. The latter have about 30 per cent, of dry matter when chemically desiccated.

COMPOSITION OF THE ASH OF THE LEAVES AT DIFFERENT STAGES.
	July 19.	Aug. 2.	Aug. 23.	Aug. 30.	Oct. 18.
Carbonic acid	5.40	2.850	0.65	3.50	4.050
Silicia	13.50	19.850	34.90	36.27	58.650
Sulphuric acid	2.16	1.995	4.92	5.84	4.881
Phosphates	21.60	16.250	17.00	13.50	5.850
Lime	.69	4.035	2.00	3.88	4.510
Magnesia	.37	2.980	1.59	2.30	0.865
Potash	9.98	11.675	10.85	9.15	7.333
Soda	34.39	29.580	21.23	22.13	8.520
Chlorine	4.55	6.020	3.06	1.63	2.664
Organic acids	5.50	2.400	3.38	2.05	2.200
	98.14	97.750	98.187	99.83	99.334

The above figures disclose several interesting facts. It will be seen that the increase of silica or flint in the leaf is steadily progressive from 13½ per cent. at July 19, to 58.65 at October 18.

Flint is substantially the bone earth of all grasses. If one were to analyse the bones of a calf when a day old, again when thirty days of age, and when a year old, the increase of phosphate of lime in its skeleton would be similar to that witnessed in the leaves and stems of maize. In the early stages of the growth of corn, its leaves abound in phosphates; but after the seeds begin to form, the phosphates leave the tissues of the plant in other parts, and concentrate in and around the germs in the seeds. On the 23rd of August, the ash of the whole stalk contained 19½ per cent. of phosphates; and on the 18th of October, only 15.15 per cent. In forming the cobs of this plant, considerable potash is drawn from the stalk, as it decreases from 35.54 per cent. August 16, to 24.69 October 18. When the plant is growing fastest, its roots yield an ash which contains less than one per cent. of lime; but after this development is nearly completed, the roots retain, or perhaps regain from the plant above, over 4½ per cent. of this mineral. Soda figures as high as from 20 to 31 per cent. in the ash obtained from corn roots. Ripe seeds gave the following results on the analysis of their ash:—

Silica	0.850
Phosphoric acid	49.210
Lime	0.075
Magnesia	17.600
Potash	23.175
Soda	3.605
Sodium	0.160
Chlorine	0.295
Sulphuric acid	0.515
Organic acids	5.700
	99.175

The above table shows a smaller quantity of lime than is usually found in the ash of this grain. It is, however, never so abundant as magnesia; and Professor Emmons has shown that the best corn lands in the State of New York contain a considerable quantity of magnesia. All experience, as well as all chemical researches, go to prove that potash and phosphoric acid are important elements in the organisation of maize. Corn yields more pounds of straw and grain on poor land than either wheat, rye, barley, or oats; and it does infinitely better on rich than on sterile soils. To make the earth fertile, it is better economy to plant thick than to have the rows five feet apart each way, as is customary in some of the Southern States, and only one stalk in a hill. This gives but one plant to twenty-five square feet of ground. Instead of this, three square feet are sufficient for a single plant; and from that up to six, for the largest varieties of this crop.

Mr. Humboldt states the production of maize in the Antilles as 300 for one; and Mr. H. Colman has seen in several cases in the New England States of America, a return of 400 for one; that is to say, the hills being three feet apart each way, a peck of Indian corn would be sufficient seed for an acre. If 100 bushels of grain is in such case produced by an acre—and this sometimes happens—this is clearly a return of 400 for one.

Of the whole family of cereals, Zea Mays is unquestionably the most valuable for cultivation in the United States. When the time shall come that population presses closely on the highest capabilities of American soil, this plant, which is a native of the New World, will be found greatly to excel all others in the quantity of bread, meat, milk, and butter which it will yield from an acre of land. With proper culture, it has no equal for the production of hay, in all cases where it is desirable to grow a large crop on a small surface.

Although there has been much written on the Eastern origin of this grain, it did not grow in that part of Asia watered by the Indus, at the time of Alexander the Great’s expedition, as it is not among the productions of the country mentioned by Nearchus, the commander of the fleet; neither is it noticed by Arian, Diodorus, Columella, nor any other ancient author; and even as late as 1491, the year before Columbus discovered America, Joan di Cuba, in his “Ortus Sanitatis,” makes no mention of it. It has never been found in any ancient tumulus, sarcophagus, or pyramid; nor has it ever been represented in any ancient painting, sculpture, or work of art, except in America. But in that country, according to Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the ancient Peruvian historians, the palace gardens of the Incas, in Peru, were ornamented with maize, in gold and silver, with all the grains, spikes, stalks, and leaves; and in one instance, in the “garden of gold and silver,” there was an entire cornfield, of considerable size, representing the maize in its exact and natural shape; a proof no less of the wealth of the Incas, than their veneration for this important grain.

In further proof of the American origin, it may be stated that this plant is still found growing, in a wild state, from the Rocky mountains in North America, to the humid forests of Paraguay, where, instead of having each grain naked, as is always the case after long cultivation, it is completely covered with glumes or husks. It is, furthermore, a well authenticated fact, that maize was found in a state of cultivation by the aborigines, in the island of Cuba, on its discovery by Columbus, as well as in most other places in America, first explored by Americans.

The first successful attempt to cultivate this grain in North America, by the English, occurred on James’ river, in Virginia, in 1608. It was undertaken by the colonists sent over by the Indian company, who adopted the mode then practised by the natives, which, with some modifications, has been pursued throughout this country ever since. The yield, at this time, is represented to have been from two hundred to more than one thousand fold. The same increase was noted by the early settlers in Illinois. The present yield, east of the Rocky Mountains, when judiciously cultivated, varies from 20 to 135 bushels to an acre.

The varieties of Indian corn are very numerous, exhibiting every grade of size, color, and conformation, between the “chubby reed” that grows on the shores of Lake superior—the gigantic stalks of the Ohio valley—the tiny ears, with flat, close, clinging grains, of Canada—the brilliant, rounded little pearl—the bright red grains and white cob of the eight-rowed hæmatite—the swelling ears of the big white and the yellow gourd seed of the South. From the flexibility of this plant, it may be acclimatised, by gradual cultivation, from Texas to Maine, or from Canada to Brazil; but its character, in either case, is somewhat changed, and often new varieties are the result. The blades of the plant are of great value as food for stock, and is an article but rarely estimated sufficiently, when considering of the agricultural products of the Southern and Southwestern States especially.

To supply slaves on plantations with bread, including old and young, requires from twelve to thirteen bushels of corn each a year. Taking thirteen bushels as the average consumption of breadstuffs by the 22,000,000 of people in the United States, the aggregate is 286,000,000 bushels per annum.

The increase of production, from 1840 to 1850, was 214,000,000 bushels, equal to 56 per cent.

The production of New England advanced from 6,993,000 to 10,377,000 bushels, showing an increase of 3,384,000 bushels, nearly fifty per cent. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, increased 20,812,000 bushels, more than fifty per cent. In the production of this crop no State has retrograded. Ohio, which in 1840 occupied the fourth place as a corn-producing State, now ranks as the first. Kentucky is second, Illinois third, Tennessee fourth. The crop of Illinois has increased from 2,000,000 to 5,500,000 bushels, or at the rate of 160 per cent. in ten years.

Of the numerous varieties some are best adapted to the Southern States, while others are better suited for the Northern and Eastern. Those generally cultivated in the former are the Southern big and small yellow, the Southern big and small white flint, the yellow Peruvian, and the Virginian white gourd seed. In the more Northerly and Easterly States they cultivate the golden sioux, or Northern yellow flint, the King Philip, or eight-rowed yellow, the Canadian early white, the Tuscarora, the white flour, and the Rhode Island white flint.

The extended cultivation of this grain is chiefly confined to the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, though much more successfully grown in the latter. The amount exported from South Carolina, in 1748, was 39,308 bushels; from North Carolina, in 1753, 61,580 bushels; from Georgia, in 1755, 600 bushels; from Virginia, for several years preceding the revolution, annually 600,000 bushels; from Philadelphia, in 1765-66, 54,205 bushels; in 1771, 259,441 bushels.

The total amount exported from America in 1770, was 573,349 bushels; in 1791, 2,064,936 bushels, 351,695 of which were Indian meal; in 1800, 2,032,435 bushels, 338,108 of which were in meal; in 1810, 1,140,960 bushels, 86,744 of which were meal. In 1820-21, there were exported 607,277 bushels of corn, and 131,669 barrels of Indian meal; in 1830-31, 571,312 bushels of corn, and 207,604 barrels of meal; in 1840-41,535,727 bushels of corn, and 232,284 barrels of meal; in 1845-46, 1,286,068 bushels of corn, and 298,790 barrels of meal; in 1846-47 16,326,050 bushels of corn, and 948,060 barrels of meal; in 1850-51, 3,426,811 bushels of corn, and 203,622 barrels of meal. More than eleven millions of bushels of Indian corn were consumed in 1850, in the manufacture of spirituous liquors.

According to the census of 1840, the corn crop of the United States was 377,531,875 bushels; in 1850, 592,326,612 bushels.

The increase in the production of corn in Ohio has been (in ten years) 66 per cent. I have also before me the auditor’s returns for the crop of 1850, as taken by assessors, and the number of acres planted. The auditor’s returns are:—

Seventy-three counties	55,079,374
Darke county	524,484
Twelve counties, average	8,400,000
Total	64,003,858

This is an advance of 15 per cent. on the crop of 1840, and it is known that the crop of 1850 was better than that of 1849. The number of acres planted, and the average production was:—

Acres planted	1,810,947
Bushels produced	64,003,858
Average per acre	35⅜	bush.

Considering how large a portion of hill land is planted, and how many fields are ill cultivated, the average is high. Many persons have believed that taking all years and all lands into view, the average of corn lands was not more than thirty bushels. But the immense fertility of bottom lands on the rivers and creeks of Ohio make up for bad cultivation and inferior soil. We may see something of the differences in the production of corn, by taking the averages of different counties, thus:—

	Acres.	Crop.	Average.
Butler	62,031	2,646,353	42½
Warren	42,322	1,757,409	42
Pickaway	65,860	2,627,727	40
Ross	69,520	2,918,958	42

Compare the average of these counties, which embrace some of the best lands in the State, with the following:—

	Acres.	Crop.	Average.
Carroll	10,107	316,999	32
Jackson	15,680	439,850	30
Monroe	23,375	728,242	31
Portage	10,426	329,529	32
Vinton	11,413	345,470	30

The last counties contain but little bottom land, and hence the average of corn is reduced one-fourth in amount. Of these counties, two are full of coal and iron. The resources of the last are more slow to develop, but in the end will be equally valuable.

But a small quantity of the corn of Ohio is exported as grain. It is first manufactured into other articles, and then exported in another form. The principal part of these are hogs, cattle, and whiskey. It is difficult to say exactly how much corn is in this way exported, but the following is an approximation—

	Bushels.
In Fat Cattle	4,000,000
In Fat Hogs	10,000,000
In Whiskey	2,500,000
Total	16,500,000

Taking into view the export of corn meal—about twenty millions of bushels—the residue goes to the support of the stock animals on hand, of which there are near three millions, exclusive of those fatted for market.

The exported corn in the shape of cattle, hogs, and whiskey, is worth about thirty cents cash, while on the farm it is not worth twenty—thus proving that it is more profitable to consume corn on the farm, than to export it in bulk. This fact is well known to good farmers, who seldom attempt to sell corn as a merchantable article.

No mining in the world has ever been equal to mining in a fertile soil, and no treasury is so reliable as a granary of surplus products.

Indian corn and meal generally find a market in the West Indies, Newfoundland, Spain, and Portugal. It commands a good price, and finds a ready sale in the ports which are open to its reception.

Deducting one-sixteenth for the amount exported, and one-tenth for seed, the quantity of maize annually consumed for food in the United States by a family of five persons is 85 bushels.

Maize may be considered as the great staple of the agricultural products of the States. It is exported in large quantities, in a raw state, or when manufactured into meal. Before it is manufactured into meal it is dried by a fire, in a kiln prepared for that purpose. By this process the meal is much less liable to become sour on the voyage, and can be preserved much longer in a warm climate. No inconsiderable quantities have likewise been consumed in distillation; and the article of kiln-dried meal for exportation is destined to be of no small account to the corn-growing sections of that country.

The improvement continually making in the quality of the seed augurs well for the productiveness of this indigenous crop, as it has been found that new varieties are susceptible of being used to great advantage.

The following was the produce of the different States in the years named, as given in the Official Census Returns:—

	1840 Bushels.	1841 Bushels.	1843 Bushels.	1850 Bushels.
Maine	950,528	988,549	1,390,799
New Hampshire	1,162,572	191,275	330,925
Massachusetts	1,809,192	1,905,273	2,347,451
Rhode Island	450,498	471,022	578,720
Connecticut	1,500,441	1,521,191	1,926,458
Vermont	1,119,678	1,167,219	1,252,853
New York	10,972,286	11,441,256	15,574,590
New Jersey	4,361,975	5,134,366	5,805,121
Pennsylvania	14,240,022	14,969,472	15,857,431
Delaware	2,099,359	2,164,507	2,739,982
Maryland	8,233,086	6,998,124	6,205,282
Virginia	34,577,591	33,987,255	45,836,788
N. Carolina	23,893,763	24,116,253	27,916,077
S. Carolina	14,722,805	14,987,474	18,190,913
Georgia	20,905,122	21,749,227	26,960,687
Alabama	20,947,004	21,594,354	24,817,089
Mississippi	13,161,237	5,985,724	9,386,399
Louisiana	5,952,912	6,224,147	8,957,392
Tennessee	44,986,188	46,285,359	67,838,477	52,000,000
Kentucky	39,847,120	40,787,120	59,355,156	58,000,000
Ohio	33,668,144	35,552,161	38,651,128	59,788,750
Indiana	28,155,887	33,195,108	36,677,171	53,000,004
Illinois	22,634,211	23,424,474	32,760,434	57,000,000
Missouri	17,332,524	19,725,146	27,148,608
Arkansas	4,846,632	6,039,450	8,754,204
Michigan	2,277,039	3,058,090	3,592,482
Florida Territory	898,074	694,205	838,667
Wisconsin	379,359	521,244	750,775
Iowa T.	1,406,241	1,547,215	2,128,416
D. of Columbia	39,485	43,725	47,837
Total	377,531,875	387,380,185	494,618,306	500,000,000

The Indian corn crop of 1850, for the whole of the United States, is returned as over 500 million bushels, a gain of about 40 millions on that of 1840.

I give below the quantities of Indian corn and meal which were exported from the United States in the following years:—

	Corn, Bushels.	Meal, Bushels.	Value. Dolls.
1790	1,713,241
1794	1,505,977	241,570
1798	1,218,231	211,694
1802	1,633,283	566,816
1806	1,064,263	108,342	1,286,000
1810	1,054,252	86,744	1,138,000
1814	61,284	26,438	170,000
1818	1,075,190	120,029	2,335,405
1822	509,098	148,288	900,656
1826	505,381	158,652	1,007,321
1829	897,656	173,775	974,535
1833	437,174	146,678	871,814

—(Pitkin’s Statistics of the United Stales, and Seybert’s Statistical Annals.)

System of culture pursued in the United States.—Maize, the corn, par excellence, of America, is grown in every State in the Union.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana, are in their order the greatest producers of this grain. In Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Arkansas, and the New England States, it appears to be a very favorite crop. In Massachusetts, the most Northern and least favorable State on that account, being cold, a fair proportion is grown, the aggregate produce being greater there than in any of the grains, except oats; more, indeed, than might be expected, were not labor somewhat cheaper than in more Southern States, where the climate is more congenial. The ordinary produce is twenty-five bushels per acre; forty bushels is often raised, and in prize crops the weight has come up to 100 bushels per acre. In Ohio the average is fifty-five bushels to the acre. The eight and twelve-rowed varieties of Indian corn are those most usually grown in New York, and the average produce of a good field in that State is from forty to sixty bushels; on ordinary ground twenty-five to thirty is a fair crop. The same returns appeared to be derived from ground in New Jersey. Mr. Doubleday, of Binghampton, New York, estimates the produce of that neighbourhood at forty bushels, and the expense of raising the crop as follows, estimating the worth of the land at twenty-five dollars (say £5) per acre:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
The interest of which is	1	16
One ploughing with double team, and harrowing	3	50
Seed and planting	1	00
Plaster or gypsum, and putting on the hill	0	37
Ploughing and hoeing twice, cutting or stalking the corn	2	75
Husking or thrashing	2	50
	11	62

Average yield, forty bushels; cost of produce, twenty-nine cents. (1s. 4½d.) per bushel.

Nothing is here put down for manure or cartage, because the fodder, cut up and saved, as usually adopted, is equal to the manure required. It is looked upon that the preparation of ground for corn costs less than wheat; the approved plan is to plant on sward ground, ploughing at once, and turning the ground completely over, then harrowing longitudinally until, a good tilth is obtained. Should the soil not be rich enough, stable manure is first spread on the land.

Now suppose the corn to sell at seventy-five cents the bushel, the account would stand thus:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
Forty bushels, at seventy-five cents.	30	00
Cost	11	62
Gain per acre	18	38

or £3 13s. 6d. British money profit per acre.

In Lichfield, Connecticut, the cost of produce has been, for the items as stated above, eighteen dollars twenty-five cents, or the cost of each bushel thirty-six and one-half cents. The acre produce was fifty bushels, so that it stood thus:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy-five cents	37	50
Cost	18	25
Gain	19	5

or £3 12s. per acre.

The cost of producing maize varies somewhat in the other States, thus:—

	Per bushel.
	Cents.
New Hampshire (Unity) the cost was	50
Fayette county, Pennsylvania	16¼
Donesville, Michigan, only	17½
Plymouth, Massachusetts	17-7/10

The cost on producing this crop was small, but it appears to have been a small crop, and did not bring more than thirty cents per bushel.

In Monroe county, the richest land in the State of New York, estimating the land at fifteen dollars per acre, the producing cost stood at:—

	Dollars.	Cents.
Interest at six per cent.	0	45
One ploughing sward, cover or stubble	1	00
Harrowing, furrowing, seed, and planting	0	87½
Cultivating three times and hoeing	1	00
Husking the hill	1	00
Shelling and cleaning	1	00
	5	82½

This yielded fifty bushels, the cost of producing the bushel was eleven and three-fifths cents. This low cost was owing to the fact of no manure being used; and while it speaks volumes as to the natural fertility of American soils, yet it reflects very disgracefully upon the careless system adopted there, as under such treatment no land could continue, after some years, to produce a crop which could come into competition with those from newer and less exhausted lands; but if under a good system of tillage the ground was yearly renewed with manure, and those amendments which every soil requires, after a crop has been raised from it, added to the soil in top-dressing and in ploughing-in, we should never hear of the exhausted state of New England land, or see the sons of the soil moving west and cultivating newer soils, thus removing much of the capital and intelligence of a country away from it.

Supposing the corn of Monroe county sold at seventy cents per bushel, the balance would appear thus:—

	Dollars. Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy cents	35	00
Cost of production	5	82½
Gain	29	18½

£6 1s. per acre profit.

In Northern Ohio and in Illinois the cost of production averages twenty cents per bushel.

The mode of cultivation in Connecticut and the New England States has been thus described to me by Mr. L. Durand, an experienced agriculturist:—If the soil selected is light and mellow, it should be ploughed and subsoiled in the spring, first spreading on the coarse unfermented manure which is to be ploughed in. For marking the rows for planting, a “corn marker” may be used to advantage. It is made by taking a piece of scantling, three inches square and ten to twelve feet long, with teeth of hickory or white oak inserted at distances of two to four feet, according to the width designed for the rows. Then an old pair of waggon-thills and a pair of old plough-handles are put to it, and your marker is done. With a good horse to draw this implement, the ground may be made ready for planting very rapidly. It is better to leave the ground flat than to ridge it, for the latter mode has no advantage, except when the ground is wet. The difference in the two modes is chiefly this:—When the ground is ridged, the corn being planted between the edges of the furrows, it comes immediately in contact with the manure, springs up and grows rapidly the fore part of the season. When the ground is left flat, and the manure turned under the furrows, the corn will often look feeble at first, and in growth will frequently be much behind that on the ridges; and the inference early in the season is, that the ridged ground will give the best crop, but as soon as the roots of the corn on the flat ground get hold of the manure (say about the 20th of July), the corn will shoot rapidly ahead, and the full force of the manure will be given to the stalk just at the time of forming the grain. Corn cultivated in this way, if the soil is deeply tilled, will often keep green, while that on ridges is dried up.

Many farmers, at planting, shell the corn off the cob, and plant it dry. Others soak it a few days in warm water. But when the seed is only treated in this way, it is very likely to be pulled up by birds and injured by worms. The best way to prevent this is to first soak the corn in a strong solution of saltpetre; then take a quantity of tar, and having warmed it over a fire, pour it on the corn, and stir with a stick or paddle till the grain is all smeared with the tar; then add gypsum or plaster till the corn will separate freely, and no birds will touch the grain.

The time of planting, in the United States, varies with the season and the section of the country. In New England it may generally be planted from the 15th to the 25th May. Where the ground is flat, a light harrow or a cultivator is much better to go between the rows than the plough. Formerly a great deal of useless labor was spent in hilling up corn; in dry seasons this was worse than useless. The earth hauled round the stalk does not assist its growth, nor aid in holding it up; the brace roots, which come out as the stalk increases in height, support it; and it has been observed, that in a heavy storm and thunder gust, corn that is hilled will be broken down more than that which is not hilled. The ground which is kept level has also the advantage of more readily absorbing rain, rendering the crop less liable to suffer from drought. The field should have two or three regular hoeings, and the weeds be carefully kept under.

In harvesting the following will be found a good plan:—Let two hands take five rows, cutting the corn close to the ground. A hill should be left standing to form the centre of the shock, placing the stalks round it, so that they may not lie on the ground. After the shock is made of sufficient size, take a band of straw, and having turned down the tops of the stalks, bind them firmly, and the work is done.

Maize may be cut as soon as the centre of the grain is glazed, even if the stalks are green. There will be sufficient nutriment in the stalk to perfect the ear, and the fodder is much better than when it gets dry before it is cut. If the shocks are well put up, they may stand four or five weeks. The corn may then be knocked out, and the fodder secured for winter use.

The report of the Ohio Board of Agriculture for 1849, contains many interesting statements in reference to maize culture, made by the officers of numerous county agricultural societies. In Miami county, 2,030,670 bushels were grown, at an average yield of fifty-five bushels per acre. Three varieties are cultivated: the common gourd seed, for cattle; the yellow Kentucky, for hogs and distilling; and the white, for grinding and exportation. According to the returns from Green county, which produced 1,250,000 bushels of corn in 1849, “a regular rotation of clover, corn, wheat, and clover again, is best for corn; and no crop pays better for extra culture.” The Harrison county Agricultural Society reports the pork crop at 4,800,000 pounds; and it gave its first premium for corn to Mr. S.B. Lukens, whose statement is as follows:—

“The ground had been in meadow ten years, was ploughed six inches deep about the middle of April, was harrowed twice over on the 9th May, and planted on the 11th four feet by two feet. It came up well, was cultivated and thinned when ten inches high; three stalks were left in a hill. About two weeks afterward it was again cultivated, and the suckers pulled off. About the last of June it was again cultivated, making three times the same way, as it was laid off but one way.

	d.	c.
Expense of culture, gathering, and cribbing, was	17	10
Produce of 374⅜ bushels, at 31¼ cents	117	10
Profit on three acres	100	00

The evidence on which a premium was awarded was such as should satisfy any one that 374 bushels were grown on three acres of land, and at a cost not exceeding 17 dollars 10 cents, delivered in the crib. This is producing corn at less than 5 cents a bushel.

Whether the statement be true to the letter or not, it shows conclusively the great value of a rich soil for making cheap corn. The Board of Agriculture estimates the crop of Ohio last year at 70,000,000 of bushels. Taking the United States as a whole, probably the crop of corn was never better than in the year 1849. One that has rich land needs only to plough it deep and well, plant in season, and cultivate the earth properly with a plough or cultivator, to secure the growth of a generous crop. On poor soils the case is very different.

To raise a good crop of corn on poor land, and at the least possible expense, requires some science and much skill in the art of tillage. Take the same field to operate in, and one farmer will grow 100 bushels of corn at half the cost per bushel that another will expend in labor, which is money. It unfortunately happens that very skilful farmers are few in number, in comparison with those who have failed to study and practice all attainable improvements. To produce cheap corn on poor land, one needs a clear understanding of what elements of the crop air and water will furnish, and what they cannot supply. It should be remembered that the atmosphere is precisely the same over ground which yields 100 bushels of corn per acre, that it is over that which produces only five bushels per acre. Now, the whole matter which forms the stems, leaves, roots, cobs, and seeds of corn, where the crop is 100 bushels per acre, is not part and parcel of the soil. A harvest equal to fifty bushels per acre can be obtained without consuming over ten per cent, of earth, as compared with the weight of the crop. No plant can imbibe more of the substance of the soil in which it grows, than is dissolved in water, or rendered gaseous by the decomposition of mould.

The quantity of matter dissolved, whether organic or inorganic, during the few weeks in which corn plants organise the bulk of their solids, is small. From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry matter, in a mature, perfect plant, including its seeds, cob, stems, leaves, and roots, are carbon (charcoal) and the elements of water. It is not only an important, but an exceedingly instructive fact, that the most effective fertilisers known in agriculture are those that least abound in the elements of water and carbon. The unleached dry excrements of dunghill fowls and pigeons, have five times the fertilising power on all cereal plants that the dry dung of a grass-fed cow has, although the latter has five times more carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, per 100 pounds, than the former. Although it is desirable to apply to the soil in which corn is to grow as much of organised carbon and water as one conveniently can, yet, where fertilisers have to be transported many miles; it is important to know that such of the measure as would form coal, if carefully burnt, can best be spared. The same is true of those elements in manure which form vapor or water, when the fertiliser decomposes in the ground.

Carbonic acid and nascent hydrogen evolved in rotting stable manure are truly valuable food for plants, and perform important chemical offices in the soil; but they are, nevertheless, not so indispensable to the economical production of crops, as available nitrogen, potash, silica, magnesia, sulphur, and phosphorus. These elements of plants being less abundant in nature, and quite indispensable in forming corn, cotton, and every other product of the soil, their artificial supply in guano, night soil, and other highly concentrated fertilisers, adds immensely to the harvest, through the aid of a small weight of matter. In all sections where corn is worth 30 cents and over a bushel, great benefits may be realised by the skilful manufacture and use of poudrette. This article is an inodorous compound of the most valuable constituents of human food and clothing. It is the raw material of crops.

It is not necessary to restore to a cornfield all the matter removed in the crop to maintain its fertility. A part of each seed, however, ought to be carried back and replaced in the soil, to make good its loss by the harvest.

In every barrel of meal or flour sent to market (196 pounds), there are not far from 186 pounds of carbon (coal), and the elements of water. When a bird eats wheat or corn, I have reason to believe, from several experiments, that over 80 per cent, of the food escapes into the air through its capacious lungs in the process of respiration; and yet the 20 per cent, of guano left will re-produce as much wheat or corn as was consumed. Imported guano, which has been exposed to the weather for ages, often gives an increase in the crop of wheat equal to three pounds of seed to one of fertiliser; while it has given a gain of seven to one of corn, and fifty to one of green turnips.

Like other grains that have been long cultivated, Indian corn abounds in varieties. In Spain they count no less than 130, and in the United States the number is upwards of forty. The difference consists in size, color, period of maturation, and hardness and weight of grain. Of size there exists a considerable variety, from Zea Curagua of Chili, and the Egyptian or chicken corn, both extremely diminutive, to the large white flint, and ground seed corn of the United States. The differences in color are the red, yellow, and white. The period of maturation varies, apparently, very considerably; but it is questionable whether this variation is real, and independent of climate. In the Northern States of America, Indian corn ripens in a shorter period of time than it does in the South, owing, possibly, to the greater length of the summer day in those latitudes.

In selecting varieties, some experienced and judicious farmers prefer that which yields the greater number of ears, without regard to their size, or number of rows. Others prefer that which furnishes one or two larger ears, having from twelve to twenty-four rows. In the Northern States of America the yellow corn bears the highest price in the market, and is considered the most prolific and best suited to feed cattle and hogs. For bread, the white Button is preferred at the North, and the white ground seed is used for that purpose in other quarters. Preference, however, is most frequently given to white flint corn, which is unquestionably the heaviest, and contains the greatest proportion of farina.

In Mississippi many varieties are grown, principally those known as flint and bastard flint. The gourd-seed varieties are very objectionable in that climate, principally on account of their softness rendering them unfit for bread, and open to the attacks of insects in the field and the crib. They require a grain, white, hard, and rather flinty—white because of its great consumption in bread and hommony, in the preparation of both of which their cooks greatly excel. When meal is ground for bread, the mill is set rather wide, that the flinty part of the grain may not be cut up too fine, this being sifted out for “small hommony;” the farinaceous part of the grain is left for bread. This hommony is a beautiful and delicious dish. On most plantations the negroes have it for supper, with molasses or buttermilk. A hard flinty grain is necessary to head the weevil, with which not only the cribs but the heads of corn in the field are infested. These are the Calandra oryzæ, the true rice weevil, distinguished from his European cousin by the two reddish spots on each elytra or wing-cover, and known in America as the “black weevil;” also a little brown insect, not a true weevil, but a Sylvanus. This sylvanus, and another of the same genus, most probably the S. surinamensis, attack the corn in the field before it becomes hard, causing serious damage—but nothing to equal that occasioned by the black weevil.

I know of no generally successful method of staying or even checking the injury caused by the insects, though much might be written in the way of suggestion.

In Michigan, the dent variety in dry seasons produces the best crops on sandy loam, as its roots run deeper than the common eight-rowed yellow or white. In moist seasons the latter varieties usually do well. They are grown most generally in the Northern part of the State, while in the Southern section the Ohio dent is principally raised. The shuck and blade are much used as fodder for cattle, in the early part of winter.

Indian corn is very liable to change of character from soil and climate, growing smaller the farther North it is raised. The mixing of the eight-rowed yellow with the Ohio dent has, so far as my experience goes, been beneficial in increasing the yield. Sandy loam, or clay, is considered the soil best adapted to corn. It is usually planted in May, and harvested in September. The blade is not taken off there as at the South; some farmers cut up their corn when ripe, put it into shocks, and husk it late in the fall; others cut the stalks, bind them in sheaves, and stack them for winter in the fields, or put them away in barns or sheds; while others husk the corn on the hill without cutting the stalks, and late in the fall turn their cattle into the field to eat the fodder. Of these different modes the preference is usually given to cutting the stalks and putting them under cover after being well cured, and busting the corn on the hill. The corn is thought to ripen better in this way, and to keep better in the cribs. The Ohio dent, having a smaller ear containing less moisture than other varieties, ripens quicker and keeps better. This crop ranges from 25 to 65 bushels per acre, and the difference in the yield is to be attributed to the manner of cultivation. My experience shows that a crop of 45 bushels per acre costs 13 cents a bushel, including interest on land. Corn is principally raised in Michigan for home consumption, and the stalks and shucks, if well cured, are worths dollars per acre, compared with hay at 5 dollars per ton.

As much as 134 bushels per acre have been obtained, in some instances, in Massachusetts; till the last 20 years 35 bushels was considered an average crop, but by a due rotation of crops, and ploughing in long manure, at least 75 bushels to the acre are now raised. The kinds preferred there, are an eight-rowed variety, procured originally from Canada; the Cass corn, another eight-rowed variety, and the Dutton corn, each of which averages about 60 lbs. to the bushel.

Maize is a principal crop in the Connecticut River Valley, Western Vermont, and along the Lake shore; but in the high dividing ridge, and in the Northern counties bordering on Canada, the climate is too severe for its profitable cultivation.

“The kind mostly grown (observes Mr. Colburn, of Vermont) is the yellow eight-rowed, though some prefer the twelve and sixteen-rowed, known here by the name of the Button corn; but my experience in cultivating the different kinds for the last twenty-four years, has forced me to the conclusion that the common eight-rowed, mixed with a kind called the Brown corn, does the best; the kernel of the-latter bearing upon a chocolate hue, and the mixture of these two kinds of seed imparting a deep rich color to the whole, when they become blended, and enhancing the yield whenever the soil is in high tilth. Of this kind, the writer has raised, the past season, upon eleven acres on the Connecticut River alluvium, over eight hundred bushels shelled corn, four acres of which, with extra preparation, produced four hundred and sixteen bushels.

It will never do to carry seed corn from South to North, as it will not mature in a higher or colder climate than that from which it has been taken. Even half a degree of latitude sensibly affects the maturing of the blade, and renders it an uncertain crop in our high northern latitudes. To insure an extra yield of this valuable grain, the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, thorough cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and plaster. This done, it is the most remunerative and profitable of all grain crops.”

In Delaware there are many varieties, and everybody esteems his own kind the best. The grain varies from pure “flint” to pure “gourd seed”—of course the mixtures which are between these two varieties are most common—it inclines more to gourd seed than to flint. Mint weighs full standard fifty-six, the gourd seed from forty-nine to fifty-two pounds, and the mixtures range between. Flint ripens from ten days to two weeks earlier. It will not produce as many pounds per acre as the lighter gourd seed. Soil exerts its influence over the character of corn, a heavy soil tending to produce flint—light soil, gourd seed.

The corn is “cut up” in the fall, and after curing in the shuck, is husked; the shuck remaining on the stalk with the blades.

The average yield, on improved land, is fifty bushels; though crops of one hundred and twelve, and one hundred and sixty bushels per acre are reported to have been raised in the county, in 1849. The yield increases from year to year. A general and rapid improvement of the State is in progress, and in nothing is this seen more clearly than in the corn crop. Mossy “old sedge” fields, which have been laid out for years, are broken up, and will yield, if it be a good season, from five to ten bushels per acre; fence them, lime them with twenty to thirty bushels, and seed the oat crop with clover, and in two years the clover sod will return eighteen to twenty bushels of corn. Another dressing of lime, or its equivalent in marl, of which there is an abundance in the lower half of Newcastle County, will show thirty bushels of corn; and of wheat, if the farm manure be used on it, nine to twelve bushels will not be too much to expect.

In Arkansas, Indian corn is regarded as the “king of grains.” It constitutes the chief food of every animal, from man down to the marauding rat, while its dried blade furnishes seven-tenths of the long food for working animals. The large white is the variety most esteemed, and most generally cultivated, for the reasons that it yields more grain and fodder, makes, when ground into meal, whiter and sweeter bread, and is less liable to injury from the weevils. The blade is usually esteemed the best long food for horses, exceeding in price the best Northern hay; the average price may be stated at about seventy cents per cwt. The shuck is fed to cows and young mules, they eat it, but with less relish than they do the blades, which are sweeter and more nutritious. The former are much used for mattresses, being preferred to moss, as they are cleaner, and easier manufactured. When mixed with coarse cotton, and properly prepared, they will make a mattress but little inferior to curled hair: price about fifty cents per cwt. The average price of this grain may be set down at forty cents per bushel; and the yield on upland in some parts of the State may be stated at thirty bushels per acre.

Five varieties of maize are grown in Peru. One is known by the name of chancayano, which has a large semi-transparent yellow grain; another is called morocho, and has small yellow grain of a horny appearance; amarello, or the yellow, has a large yellow opaque grain, and is more farinaceous than the two former varieties; blanco, white—this variety is large, and contains more farina than the former; and cancha, or sweet maize. The last is only cultivated in the colder climates of the mountains; it grows about two feet high, the cob is short, and the grains large and white; when green, it is very bitter, but when ripe and roasted, it is particularly sweet, and so tender that it may be reduced to flour between the fingers. In this roasted state it constitutes the principal food of the mountaineers of several provinces.

The natives remove the husk from the maize by putting it into water with a quantity of wood ashes, exposing it to a boiling heat, and washing the grain in running water, when the husk immediately separates from the grain.

In Jamaica I found maize to produce two crops in the year, and often three. It is usually grown there on the banks or ridges of the cane fields. It may be planted at any time when there is rain, and it yields from fifteen to forty bushels per acre, according to the richness of the soil, and the more or less close manner in which it is planted.

In the colony of New South Wales, including the district of Port Phillip, there were 20,798 acres under cultivation with maize in 1844, the produce from which was returned at 575,857 bushels; 27,058 bushels of maize were exported from Sydney in 1848.

Culture in the East Indies.—The growers on the hills of Nepaul reckon three kinds of maize: a white grained species, which is generally grown on the hill sides; a yellow grained one, grown in the low and hot valleys; and a smaller one, called “Bhoteah,” or “Murilli Makii,” which is considered the sweetest of the three, but from being less productive is not generally grown on good lands. Maize thrives best on a siliceous, well-drained, rich soil. A correspondent in my “Colonial Magazine,” vol. ii. p. 309, says the finest Indian corn he ever saw was in the Himalayas of the Sikim-range, where the soil consists of a substratum of decomposed mica from the under or rocky stratum, with a superstratum of from three to six inches of decayed vegetable matter, from leaves, &c., of the ancient forests.

Throughout Hindostan, June is the usual time for sowing. In Behar, about two seers are usually sown upon a beggah; in Nepaul, twenty-four seers upon an English acre; in the vicinity of Poonah, one and a-half seer per beggah. Before the seed is sown the land is usually ploughed two or three times, and no further attention given to the crop than two hoeings. In Nepaul, where it is the principal crop cultivated, the seed is sown, after one delving and pulverisation of the soil, in the latter end of May and early part of June, in drills, the seeds being laid at intervals of seven or eight inches in the drills, and the drills an equal space apart. The drills are not raised as for turnip sowing, but consist merely of rows of the plant on a level surface. The seed is distributed in this manner with the view of facilitating the weeding of the crop, not for the purpose of earthing up the roots, which seems unnecessary. The Indian corn sowing resembles that of the gohya (or upland) rice, in the careful manner in which it is performed; the sower depositing each grain in its place, having first dibbled a hole for it five or six inches deep, with a small hand hoe, with which he also covers up the grain.

The after-culture of this crop is performed with great care in the valleys, but much neglected in the hills, especially on new and strong lands. In the former it undergoes repeated weeding during the first month of its growth, the earth being loosened round the roots, at each weeding, with the hand hoe. After the first loosening of the soil, which is performed as soon as the plants are fairly above ground, a top dressing of ashes or other manure is given. By this mode the crop gets the immediate benefit of the manure, which otherwise, from the extraordinary rapidity of its growth, could not be obtained by it. In three months from the time of sowing, the seed is ripe. The crop is harvested by cutting off the heads. In Nepaul these are either heaped on a rude scaffolding, near the cultivator’s house, or, more commonly, they are suspended from the branches of the trees close by, where, exposed to wind and weather, the hard and tough sheath of the seed cones preserves the grain for many months uninjured.

Cattle are voraciously fond of the leaves and stems, which are very sweet, and even the dry straw, which Dr. Buchanan surmises may be the reason why it is not more generally cultivated by the natives, as the difficulty would be great to preserve the crop. So slow is the progress of changes in the regions of India, that near Kaliyachak, though the people give all other straw to their cattle, yet they burn that of maize as unfit for fodder. In Nepaul the stalks, with the leaves attached, often twelve feet long, cut by the sickle, are used as fodder for elephants, bedding for cattle, and as fuel. The maize crop within the hills of Nepaul suffers much from the inroads of bears, which are very numerous in these regions, and extremely partial to this grain. The average return from this crop is seldom below fifty seers, ranging frequently far above it.42 Maize is increasing in cultivation in Java, and some of the Eastern islands. It is found to have the advantage there over mountain rice, of being more fruitful and hardy, and does not suffer from cold until the mean temperature falls to 45 deg. of Fahrenheit, and no heat is injurious to it. Several varieties of it are known, but for all practical purposes these resolve themselves into two kinds: one, a small grain, requiring five months to ripen, and a larger one, which takes seven to mature. In some provinces of Java it yields a return of 400 or 500 fold. Mr. Crawfurd found, from repeated trials, that in the soil of Mataram, in Java, an acre of land, which afforded a double crop, produced of the smaller grain 848½ lbs. annually.

RICE.

This is one of the most extensively diffused and useful of grain crops, and supports the greatest number of the human race. The cultivation prevails in Eastern and Southern Asia, and it is also a common article of subsistence in various countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It is grown in the Japan Islands, on all the sea coasts of China, the Philippine and other large Islands of the Indian Archipelago, partially in Ceylon, Siam, India, both shores of the Red Sea, Egypt, the shores of the Mozambique Channel, Madagascar, some parts of Western Africa, South Carolina, and Central America. Three species only are enumerated by Lindley:—Oryza sativa, the common rice, a native of the East; O. latifolia, a species having its habitat in South America; and O. Nepalensis, common in Nepaul. But there are a host of varieties known in the East; these, however, may for all practical purposes, be resolved into two kinds—the upland or mountain rice (O. Nepalensis, the O. mutica, of Roxburgh), and the lowland or aquatic species (O. sativa).

Zizania aquatica is exceedingly prolific of bland, farinaceous seeds, which afford a kind of rice in Canada and North-West America, where it abounds wild in all the shallow streams. The seeds contribute essentially to the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, and feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other water fowl. Pinkerton says, this plant seems intended to become the bread-corn of the North. Two other species of Zizania are common in the United States of America.

Rice, the chief food, perhaps, of one-third of the human race, possesses the advantage attending wheat, maize, and other grains, of preserving plenty during the fluctuations of trade, and is also susceptible of cultivation on land too low and moist for the production of most other useful plants. Although cultivated principally within the tropics, it flourishes well beyond, producing even heavier and better filled grain. Like many other plants in common use, it is now found wild [it is to be understood that the wild rice, or water oat (Zizania aquatica), already referred to, which grows along the muddy shores of tide waters, is a distinct plant from the common rice, and should not be confounded with it], nor is its native country known. Linnæus considers it a native of Ethiopia, while others regard it of Asiatic origin.

The chief variety of this cereal is cultivated throughout the torrid zone, wherever there is a plentiful supply of water, and it will mature, under favorable circumstances, in the Eastern continent, as high as the 45th parallel of north latitude, and as far south as the 38th. On the Atlantic side of the Western continent, it will flourish as far north as latitude 38 degrees, and to a corresponding parallel south. On the Western coast of America, it will grow so far north as 40 or more degrees. Its general culture is principally confined to India, China, Japan, Ceylon, Madagascar, Eastern Africa, the South of Europe, the Southern portions of the United States, the Spanish Main, Brazil, and the Valley of Parana and Uruguay.

In 1834, 29,583 bags of rice were shipped from Maranham, but I am not aware what have been the exports since.

At the Industrial Exhibition in London, in 1851, there were displayed many curious specimens and varieties of rice, grown without irrigation, at elevations of three thousand to six thousand feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months compensates for the want of artificial moisture. Among these American rice received not only honorable mention for its very superior quality, but the Carolina rice, exhibited by E.I. Heriot, was pronounced by the jury “magnificent in size, color, and clearness,” and it was awarded a prize medal. The jury also admitted that the American rice, though originally imported from the Old World, is now much the finest in quality.

This grain was first introduced into Virginia by Sir William Berkeley, in 1647, who received half a bushel of seed, from which he raised sixteen bushels of excellent rice, most or all of which was sown the following year. It is also stated that a Dutch brig, from Madagascar, came to Charleston in 1694, and left about a peck of paddy (rice in the husk), with Governor Thomas Smith, who distributed it among his friends for cultivation. Another account of its introduction into Carolina is, that Ashley was encouraged to send a bag of seed rice to that province, from the crops of which sixty tons were shipped to England in 1698. It soon after became the chief staple of the colony. Its culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718, by the “Company of the West.”

The present culture of rice in the United States is chiefly confined to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. The yield per acre varies from twenty to sixty bushels, weighing from forty-five to forty-eight pounds when cleaned. Under favorable circumstances as many as ninety bushels to an acre have been raised.

Judge Dougherty, who resides near the borders of Henderson county, Texas, has raised a crop of several hundred bushels of upland rice. The crop averages thirty bushels to the acre. He thinks rice can be raised there as easily as Indian corn, and will be far more profitable.

Another variety is cultivated in America to a limited extent, called Cochin-China, dry, or mountain rice, from its adaptation to a dry soil, without irrigation. It will grow several degrees further north or south than the Carolina rice, and has been cultivated with success in the Northern provinces of Hungary, China, Westphalia, Virginia and Maryland; but the yield is much less than that already stated, being only fifteen to twenty bushels to an acre. It was first introduced into Charleston, from Canton, by John Brodly Blake, in 1772.

The American crop of rice in 1848, reached 162,058 tierces in market, and of these 160,330 tierces were exported from South Carolina. The largest rice crop grown in South Carolina for the past thirty years, was in 1847, when 192,462 tierces were raised; 140,000 to 150,000 is about the average, and it has only exceeded 170,000 on four occasions.

The amount of rice exported from South Carolina in 1724, was 18,000 barrels; in 1731, 41,957 barrels; in 1740, 90,110 barrels; in 1747-48, 55,000 barrels; in 1754, 104,682 barrels; in 1760-61, 100,000 barrels; from Savannah, in 1755, 2,299 barrels, besides 237 bushels of paddy or rough rice; in 1760, 3,283 barrels, besides 208 bushels of paddy; in 1770, 22,120 barrels, besides 7,064 bushels of paddy; from Philadelphia, in 1771, 258,375 pounds. The amount exported from the United States, in 1770, was 150,529 barrels; in 1791, 96,980 tierces; in 1800, 112,056 tierces; in 1810, 131,341 tierces; in 1820-21, 88,221 tierces; in 1830-31, 116,517 tierces; in 1840-41, 101,617 tierces; in 1845-46, 124,007 tierces; in 1846-47, 144,427 tierces; in 1850-51, 105,590 tierces.

According to the census of 1840, the rice crop of the United States amounted to 80,841,422 lbs.; in 1850, 215,312,710 lbs.

Rice being an aquatic plant, is best grown in low moist lands, that are easily inundated.

The ground is ploughed superficially, and divided into squares of from twenty to thirty yards in the sides, separated from each other by dykes of earth about two feet in height, and sufficiently broad for a man to walk upon. These dykes are for retaining the water when it is required, and to permit of its being drawn off when the inundation is no longer necessary. The ground prepared, the water is let on, and kept at a certain height in the several compartments of the rice field, and the seedsman goes to work. The rice that is to be used as seed must have been kept in the husk; it is put into a sack, which is immersed in the water until the grain swells and shows signs of germination; the seedsman, walking through the inundated field, scatters the seed with his hand, as usual; the rice immediately sinks to the bottom, and many even penetrate to a certain depth in the mud. In Piedmont, where the sowing takes place at the beginning of April, they generally use about fifty-five pounds of seed per acre. The rice begins to show itself above the surface of the water at the end of a fortnight; as the plant grows, the depth of the water is increased, so that the stalks may not bend with their own weight. About the middle of June this disposition is no longer to be apprehended; the rice is not so flexible as it was, so that the water can be drawn off for a few days to permit hoeing; after which the water is again let on, and maintained to the height of the plant. In July it is usual to top the stalks, an operation which renders the flowering almost simultaneous.

Rice generally flowers in the beginning of the month of August, and a fortnight later the grain begins to form. It is at this period especially that the stalks require to be supported, and this is effectually done by keeping the water at about half their height. The rice field is emptied when the straw turns yellow. The harvest generally takes place at the end of September. In the Isle of France rice is cultivated in very damp soils, upon which a great deal of rain falls, but which are not flooded, as in other tropical countries: but the process is not so certain nor the crop so great, as when inundation is employed. In Piedmont the usual return of a rice field is reckoned at about fifty for one. At Munzo, in New Granada, the paddy fields which are not inundated, under the influence of a mean temperature of 26 deg. centrigrade (79.0 deg. Fahrenheit), yield 100 for 1.—(Simmonds’s “Colonial Magazine,” vol. xi., p. 92.)

The rice now grown about New Orleans is as sweet, if not sweeter, than that imported from South Carolina, but it is deficient in hardness and brightness when ready for market, a defect owing entirely to two causes, neither of which is beyond the control of the planter. The one cause is the mode of culture, it being generally grown without due attention to the seed—seeded at too late a period of the season, and allowed to become rare-ripe upon the stalk. The other cause is the very imperfect mode of its preparation for market; this being invariably accomplished by the primitive pestle and mortar, or the old-fashioned “pecker mill.” The same seed is planted in the same soil from year to year, a system which, it is generally conceded, will deteriorate the quality and production of any grain crop. A very large proportion of the rice grown in Carolina is prepared for market at the steam toll-mills, in the vicinity of Charleston; and a mill of this description near New Orleans, would remedy the greatest defect in the rice of the country, greatly increase the demand for the article, and undoubtedly yield a large return for the investment. The toll mills at and around Charleston are, and always have been, prosperous. The mills of Mr. Lucas, in England, erected to clean “paddy,” i.e. “rough rice,” sent there in bulk from Carolina, have succeeded also, and have increased the consumption of the article in that country. The “rough rice,” “paddy,” or grain, as it comes from the ear, is composed, first, of a rough, silicious outer covering, impervious to water, which is very useful in the neighbourhood of cities, for filling up low lots or pools, for horse beds, and for packing crockery and ice, being far better for the latter purpose than the sawdust used; second, a brown flour or bran, lying directly under the outer covering; and third, of the clean or white rice. There is no question that, as a common diet, it is better adapted to the climate of Louisiana than Indian corn; and it can be grown on the hitherto waste lands of the sugar plantations; it is always substituted by the physician, when practicable, as the food best adapted to the laborer, in seasons of diarrhœa and other similar diseases, is preferred before any other grain by the negro; and if the clean rice be ground and bolted, a meal is produced which can be made up into various forms of cake and other bread, of unrivalled sweetness and delicacy. The outer flour, or brown bran, which is separated from the chaff at the toll mill, is known as “rice flour,” and corresponds to the “bran” of wheat, it is a most excellent food for horses, poultry, pigs and milch cows, and would always command a ready sale in New Orleans. It is used extensively for these purposes at and around Charleston, and is shipped thence, by the cargo, to Boston and other Northern ports.

No portion of the globe is better adapted to the growth of this grain than the delta of the Mississippi. The river is always “up and ready” to do the all-important duty of irrigation in March, April, May, and June, in which period of the year the crop ought to be made; and I am informed, and doubt not, that two cuttings can be obtained from the same plants, between March and the killing frosts of the succeeding November.

An interesting report by Dr. E. Elliot, on the Cultivation of Rice, was read before the Pendleton Farmer’s Society, South Carolina, at a recent annual meeting, from which I shall make an extract.

In “Ramsay’s History of South Carolina” it is stated:—“Landgrave Thomas Smith, who was Governor of the Province in 1693, had been at Madagascar before he settled in Carolina. There he observed that rice was planted and grew in low moist ground. Having such ground in his garden, attached to his dwelling in East Bay, Charleston, he was persuaded that rice would grow therein, if seed could be procured. About this time a vessel from Madagascar, being in distress, came to anchor near Sullivan’s Island. The master inquired for Mr. Smith, as an old acquaintance. An interview took place. In the course of conversation Mr. Smith expressed a wish to obtain some seed rice to plant in his garden. The cook being called, said that he had a small bag of rice suitable for the purpose. This was presented to Mr. Smith, who sowed it in a low spot in Longitude Lane. From this small beginning did one of the great staple commodities of South Carolina takes its rise, which soon became the chief support of the colony, and its great source of opulence.”

“Such is the historical account of the introduction of rice into South Carolina; and from that day to this, it has constituted one of her staple articles of production. Although the climate and soil were found admirably suited to the plant, the planters encountered incredible difficulty in preparing or dressing the rice for market. From the day of its introduction, to the close of the Revolution, the grain was milled, or dressed, partly by hand and partly by animal power. But the processes were imperfect, very tedious, very destructive to the laborer, and very exhausting to the animal power. The planter regarded a good crop as an equivocal blessing, for as the product was great so in proportion was the labor of preparing it for market. While matters stood thus, the planters were released from their painful condition by a circumstance so curious that it deserves a place in the history of human inventions. A planter from the Santee, whilst walking in King-street, Charleston, noticed a small windmill perched on the gable end of a wooden store. His attention was arrested by the beauty of its performance. He entered the store and asked who the maker was. He was told that he was a Northumbrian, then resident in the house—a man in necessitous circumstances, and wanting employment. A conference was held; the planter carried the machine to the Santee, pointed out the difficulties under which the planters labored, and the result was the rice pounding-mill. This man was the first Mr. Lucas, and to his genius South Carolina owes a large debt of gratitude. For what the cotton planter owes to Eli Whitney, the rice planter owes to Mr. Lucas. His mills were first impelled by water, but more recently by steam, and though much mechanical ingenuity and much capital have been expended in improving them, the rice pounding-mill of this day, in all essential particulars, does not differ materially from the mill as it came from the hands of Mr. Lucas.

This great impediment being removed, one formidable difficulty still remained in the way of the rice planters, and that was the threshing of the crop by flail. The labor requisite to accomplish this was so great, that we once heard a distinguished planter say, while having one large crop threshed out by flail, that he would regard another large crop as a calamity. Previous to 1830 threshing mills had been tried by various individuals, but with no apparent success. In that year the attempt was renewed, and we were present and witnessed the first trial of a thresher, constructed in New York, and which was tested on Savannah river, under the auspices of General Hamilton. The machinery was driven by apparatus similar to that employed for driving the cotton gin. The result was not very satisfactory, but there was ground for hope, and after an outlay of very large sums, and after many disappointments, the happy expedient was thought of, of testing the mill with steam instead of animal power. The experiment was completely successful, and it was manifest at once that the difficulties had not been in the imperfect construction, of the thresher, but in the insufficiency of the moving power.

It is now twenty years since we witnessed the working of the small mill alluded to, and the rice threshing-mill, with steam-engine attached, is now a splendid piece of operative machinery. The rice in sheaf is taken up to the thresher by a conveyor, it is threshed, the straw taken off, then thrice winnowed and twice screened, and the result in some cases exceeds a thousand bushels of clean rough rice, the work of a short winter day.

Humanity rejoices at these inventions—at this transfer to water and steam, of processes so slow and so exhausting to the human as well as to the animal frame—and in this feeling we are confident every planter deeply sympathises. Moreover, the relief they have afforded in other respects has been perfectly indescribable. Previous to these improvements all the finer portions of the winter were appropriated exclusively to the milling and the threshing of the crop with the flail, yet it is manifest they added not one particle to the value of the property; indeed, while going on, all other work, and all preparation for another crop had to be suspended, so that the condition of the plantation was not progressive, but retrograde.

A short recapitulation will show what has been accomplished by the enterprise of our planters in the last seventy years. At the close of the Revolution it is believed the rice fields were poorly drained, and when broken up were chiefly turned with the hoe, then trenched with the hoe; then came three or four hoeings and as many pickings. The rice was then cut with the sickle and carried in on the head, then threshed with the flail, then milled and dressed, in some cases wholly by human labor, and in others by a rude machine, called a pecker mill. Now, in 1852, the hoeing, the pickings, and the cutting with the sickle remain unchanged; but the lands are better drained, and in the turning the plough has superseded the hoe; the trenching, when, necessary, is done by animal power; the rice, when cut, is carried in on a flat and wagon, then threshed and milled by machinery, so perfect that it is difficult to imagine how it can be surpassed.

It is one hundred and fifty-nine years since the introduction of rice into Carolina, and there are grounds for supposing that our people have accomplished more during that period, in the cultivation and preparation of this grain, than has been done by any of the Asiatic nations who have been conversant with its growth for many centuries. We had the rare opportunity, a few years since, of seeing a Chinese book on rice planting, which contained many engravings. The language we could not read, but we comprehended a sufficient number of the engravings to institute a comparison between their system and our own, and the result was, in our method of irrigation we were their equals, while in economy of cultivation, and in the preparation of the grain for market and for use, we are greatly their superiors. Again, some six or seven years since the East India Company, of London, sent an agent to this country to procure American cotton seed, gins, and overseers, for the purpose of testing the practicability of raising cotton by our method in India. This agent, Captain Bayles, when in Savannah, was heard to say that he had especial directions from the Company to inform himself minutely of our system of rice culture. Here, then, was an embassage from the banks of the Ganges, a spot where rice has been cultivated probably for twenty centuries, to inquire into the method of cultivation and preparation, of a people amongst whom the grain had no existence one hundred and sixty years ago.”

The following is the mode of culture for rice in Carolina:—It is sowed as soon as it conveniently can be after the vernal equinox, from which period until the middle, and even the last of May, is the usual time of putting it in the ground. It grows best in low marshy land, and should be sowed in furrows twelve inches asunder; it requires to be flooded, and thrives best if six inches under water; the water is occasionally drained off, and turned on again to overflow it, for three or four times.

When ripe the straw becomes yellow, and it is either reaped with a sickle, or cut down with a scythe and cradle, some time in the month of September; after which it is raked and bound, or got up loose, and threshed or trodden out, and winnowed in the same manner as wheat or barley.

Husking it requires a different and particular operation, in a mill made for that purpose. This mill is constructed of two large flat wooden cylinders, formed like mill-stones, with channels or furrows cut therein, diverging in an oblique direction from the centre to the circumference, made of a heavy and exceedingly hard timber, called lightwood, which is the knots of the pitch pine. This is turned with the hand, like the common hand-mills. After the rice is thus cleared of the husks, it is again winnowed, when it is fit for exportation.

A bushel of rice will weigh about sixty or sixty-six pounds, and an acre of middling land will produce twenty-five bushels.

Various machines have been contrived for cleaning rice, of which one secured by patent to Mr. M. Wilson, in 1826, and thus described by Dr. Ure, may be regarded as a fair specimen:—It consists of an oblong hollow cylinder, laid in an inclined position, having a great many teeth stuck in its internal surface, and a central shaft, also furnished with teeth. By the rapid revolution of the shaft, its teeth are carried across the intervals of those of the cylinder, with the effect of parting the grains of rice, and detaching whatever husks or impurities may adhere to them. A hopper is set above to receive the rice, and conduct it down into the clean cylinder. About eighty teeth are supposed to be set in the cylinder, projecting so as to reach very nearly the central shaft, in which there is a corresponding number of teeth, that pass freely between the former.

The cylinder may also be placed upright, or horizontal if preferred, and mounted in any convenient framework. The central shaft should be put in rapid rotation, while the cylinder receives a slow motion in the opposite direction. The rice, as cleaned by that action, is discharged at the lower end of the cylinder, where it falls into a shute, and is conducted to the ground. The machine may be driven by hand, or by any other convenient motive power.43 The growth of rice in North America is almost wholly confined to two States; nine-tenths of the whole product, indeed, being raised in the States of South Carolina and Georgia. A little is grown in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The aggregate crop, for 1843, amounted to 89,879,185 lbs., while in 1847 it had risen to 103,000,000 lbs.

Besides the rice which is raised in the water, there is also the dry, or mountain rice, which is raised in some parts of Europe on the sides of the hills. It is said to thrive well in Cochin China, in dry light soils, not requiring more moisture than the usual rains or dews supply. By long culture the German rice, raised by the aid of water, is stated to have acquired a remarkable degree of hardness and adaptation to the climate. The upland rice of the United States is thought by some to be only a modified description of the swamp rice. It will grow on high and poor land, and produce more than Indian corn on the same land would do, even fifteen bushels, when the corn is but seven bushels. The swamp rice was originally cultivated on high land, and is not so now, because it is more productive in the swamp, in the proportion, as is said, of twenty to sixty bushels per acre; and the use of water likewise, it is stated, makes it easier of cultivation, by enabling the planter to kill the grasses. It is thought that on rich high land, rice may be made to produce twenty-five or thirty bushels to an acre in a good season. A letter from a gentleman in North Carolina gives the following account of some rice raised there. He says:—

“I have planted it the two past years with a view to private consumption only; not, however, with the success of my neighbours, who are famous, and have the things under their own management. They make from forty to fifty, and some, sixty bushels to the acre, on fine land that produces ordinarily from ten to fifteen bushels of Indian corn or maize. It is a larger grain than the gold or swamp rice, and very white; hence it is commonly called here the ‘white rice.’ It is planted generally about the middle of March, or 1st of April, in small ridges two-and-a-half feet apart, in chops at intervals of about eighteen inches, on the top of the ridge, ten or twelve seeds in each chop. A season that will make Indian corn, will, if long enough, make this rice; but it requires about four or five weeks more than the corn to mature. It ought to be cut before quite ripe, as it threshes off very easily, and is liable to great waste. Instead of the flail, we take the sheaf in the hand, and whip it across a bench in a close room until the rice leaves the straw. It does not stand the pestle as well as the swamp rice, but breaks a good deal in the beating; this, however, I have heard attributed to the dry culture.”

A new variety of rice is mentioned as having been discovered in South Carolina, in 1838, called the big-grained rice. It has been proved to be unusually productive. One gentleman, in 1840, planted not quite half an acre with this seed, which yielded forty-nine and a half bushels of clean winnowed rice. In 1842, he planted 400 acres, and in 1843, he sowed his whole crop with this seed. His first parcel when milled, was eighty barrels, and netted half a dollar per cwt. over the primest rice sold on the same day. Another gentleman also planted two fields in 1839, which yielded seventy-three bushels per acre. The average crop before from the same fields of fifteen and ten acres, had only been thirty-three bushels per acre.

The following were the returns of produce on some of the leading estates of South Carolina, in 1848:—

Plantation	Barrels Shipped		Barrels of 600 lbs.net	Weight	Average Net Produce per barrel.	Net Income Amount Dollars
	Whole	Half
1. Prospect Hill	1,387	10	1,495½	897,166	16 08/100ths	24,001
2. Springfield	737	5	801½	480,937	16 60/100ths	13,264
3. Brook Green	1,571	15	1,716	1,026,405	16 53/100ths	28,261
4. Longwood	1,113	4	1,227½	736,413	15 53/100ths	19,021
5. Alderly	484	6	533	319,912	16 68/100ths	8,851
Total	5,292	40	5,773½	3,460,833		93,398

Nos. 2 and 3 were sown with long grain rice, the others with small grain. These plantations were all on the river Waccamaw. The expenses of a well supplied rice plantation may be stated at 33⅓ per cent. on the net income.

A gentleman from the United States, named Colvin, proposes to establish the cultivation of rice in the colony of Demerara. This is no new experiment, rice having been already grown with success in several parts of the colony—for instance, in Leguan, up the Canje Creek, and elsewhere; and some of it is of superior quality, preferable, indeed, to that imported. If Mr. Colvin’s object be not merely to demonstrate the practicability of rice being grown in British Guiana, but to promote its cultivation on such a scale as may tend to render it in time one of the staples of the colony, he is deserving of support, and I hope that his efforts will be crowned with complete success.

The editor of the Gazeta, a local paper, has been shown some sprigs of rice raised near Matanzas, in Cuba, the smallest of which contains at least three hundred grains, perfectly opened, and of a larger size than is usually produced on the island. He observes that this phenomenon is not limited to a certain number of sprigs, but that the whole crop is similar—that this excess of production is to be attributed to the extraordinary abundance of rain this year. “Here we have a specimen,” says the editor, “of the enormous production that could be raised in our fields of this excellent and nutritious grain, if it were cultivated in places contiguous to the rivers, where it could be flowed during drought.”

The experiment of cultivating rice in France appears to have succeeded perfectly. A piece of ground of 100 hectares in extent (250 acres) was sown with rice last year in the lands of Arcachon, near Bordeaux, and the crop proved a highly satisfactory one. The seed is sown about the middle of April, and almost immediately appears above ground.

Rice may be kept a very long period in the rough—I believe a lifetime. After being cleaned, if it be prime rice, and well milled, it will keep a long time in this climate; only when about to be used (if old) it requires more careful washing to get rid of the must, which accumulates upon it. Some planters—the writer among the number—prefer for table use rice a year old to the new. The grain is superior to any other provisions in this respect. If a laborer in the gold diggings, or elsewhere, takes with him two days’ or a week’s provisions, in rice, and his wallet happens to get wet, he has only to open it to the sun and air, and he will find it soon dries, and is not at all injured for his purpose. Rough rice may remain under water twenty-four hours without injury, if dried soon after.

Passing eastward, rice begins to be found cultivated in Egypt, becomes more general in Northern India, and holds undisputed rule in the peninsulas of India, in China, Japan, and the East India islands—shares it in the west coast of Africa with maize, which, on the other hand, is the exclusively cultivated corn plant of the greatest part of tropical America, with only some unimportant exceptions. On the coast of Africa rice ripens in three months; they put it under water when cut, where it keeps sound and good for some time.

Rice is now the staple commodity of Bourbon, and it produces about 26,000 quintals annually. It forms, together with maize and mandioc, the principal article of food amongst the negroes and colored people.

The Bhull rice lands of Lower Sind.—Like all large rivers which flow through an alluvial soil, for a very lengthened course, the Indus has a tendency to throw up patches of alluvial deposit at its mouth; and these are in Sind called bhulls, and are in general very valuable for the cultivation of the red rice of the country. These bhulls are large tracts of very muddy swampy land, almost on a level with the sea, and exposed equally to be flooded both by it and the fresh water; indeed on this depends much of the value of the soil, as a bhull which is not at certain times well covered with salt water, is unfit for cultivation. They exist on both sides of the principal mouths of the Indus, in the Gorabaree and Shahbunder pergunnas, which part of the province is called by the natives “Kukralla,” and was in olden days, before the era of Goolam Shah Kalora, a small state almost independent of the Ameers of Sind. On the left bank of the mouths of the river these bhulls are very numerous and form by far the most fertile portion of the surrounding district. They bear a most dreary, desolate, and swampy appearance—are intersected in all directions by streams of salt and brackish water, and are generally surrounded by low dykes or embankments, in order to regulate the influx and reflux of the river and sea. Yet from these dreary swamps a very considerable portion of the rice consumed in Sind is produced; and the Zemindars, who hold them, are esteemed amongst the most respectable and wealthy in Lower Sind.

To visit a bhull is no easy matter. Route by land there is none, and the only way is to go by boat, in which it is advisable to take at least one day’s provisions and water, as the time occupied in the inspection will be regulated entirely by the state of the tide and weather. Very difficult is it too, to land on any of these places, the mud being generally two or three feet deep, and it is only here and there that a footing can be secured, in the embankment surrounding the field.

Let me now describe the mode of cultivating these anomalous islands, floating as it were in the ocean, and deriving benefit both from it and the mighty river itself, whose offspring they are. Should the river during the high season have thrown up a bhull, the Zemindar selecting it for cultivation, first surrounds it with a low bund of mud, which is generally about three feet in height. When the river has receded to its cold weather level, and the bhull is free of fresh water (for be it remembered, that these bhulls being formed during the inundation, are often considerably removed from the river branches during the low season), he takes advantage of the first high spring tide, opens the bund and allows the whole to be covered with the salt water. This is generally done in December. The sea water remains on the land for about nine weeks, or till the middle of February, which is the proper time for sowing the seed. The salt water is now let out, and as the ground cannot, on account of the mud, be ploughed, buffaloes are driven over every part of the field, and a few seeds of the rice thrown into every footmark; the men employed in sowing being obliged to crawl along the surface on their bellies, with the basket of seed on their backs; for were they to assume an upright position, they would inevitably be bogged in the deep swamp. The holes containing the seed are not covered up, but people are placed on the bunds to drive away birds, until the young grain has well sprung up. The land is not manured, the stagnant salt water remaining on it being sufficient to renovate the soil. The rice seed is steeped in water, and then in dung and earth for three or four days, and is not sown until it begins to sprout. The farmer has now safely got over his sowing, and as this rice is not as in other cases transplanted, his next anxiety is to get a supply of fresh water; and for this he watches for the freshes which usually come down the river about the middle and end of February, and if the river then reaches his bhull, he opens his bund, and fills the enclosure with the fresh water. The sooner he gets this supply the better, for the young rice will not grow in salt water, and soon withers if left entirely dry.

The welfare of the crop now depends entirely on the supply of fresh water. A very high inundation does not injure the bhull cultivation, as here the water has free space to spread about. In fact the more fresh water the better. If, however, the river remains low in June, July, and August, and the south-west monsoon sets in heavily on the coast, the sea is frequently driven over the bhulls and destroys the crops. It is in fact a continual struggle between the salt water and the fresh. When the river runs out strong and full, the bhulls prosper, and the sea is kept at a distance. On the other hand, the salt water obtains the supremacy when the river is low, and then the farmer suffers. In this manner much bhull crop was destroyed in the monsoons of 1851 and 1852, during the heavy gales which prevailed in those seasons. The rice is subject to attacks also of a small black sea crab, called by the natives Kookaee, and which, without any apparent cause, cuts down the growing grain in large quantities, and often occasions much loss.

The crop when ripe, which, if all goes well will be about the third week in September, is reaped in the water by men, either in boats, or on large masses of straw rudely shaped like a boat, and which being made very tight and close, will float for a considerable time. The rice is carried ashore to the high land, where it is dried, and put through the usual harvest process of division, &c.: and the bhull is then on the fall of the river again ready for its annual pickling.

The process of preparing the field for rice culture, in the Kandian country, Ceylon, is very simple.

When the paddy is to be cultivated in mud, a piece of ground is enclosed in a series of squares or terraces, by ridges raised with mud and turf; a quantity of water is directed into the field from an adjacent stream or tank, and is allowed to remain on it for fifteen days; at the expiration of this time the field is ploughed with a yoke of buffaloes, which operation is repeated at the end of fifteen days more, when, by the rotting of the weeds and other matter, the field has become manured. After another interval of fifteen days the field is again ploughed and the broken ridges are repaired. Eight days after the field is harrowed, and subsequently rolled or levelled; and when the water has been let out the seed is sown, having in most instances been previously made to germinate, by being spread on platforms and kept wet.

The water is turned in during night, to prevent crabs and insects from destroying the seedlings, and let out during the day; and this they continue to do till the plants attain the height of one foot. Water is only retained in the field until the ears are half ripe, otherwise they would ripen indifferently and be destroyed by vermin. A variety of coast paddy, called “moottoo samboo,” was introduced into the Kandian province in 1832, which was found to produce a more abundant crop, by one third, than the native. It is of six months growth.

In Kashmir rice is the staple of cultivation, and the practice adopted there is thus described by a writer in my “Colonial Magazine,” vol. x. p. 130. It is sown in the beginning of May, and is fit to cut about the end of August. The grain is either sown broadcast in the place where it is intended to stand till it is ripe, or thickly in beds, from which it is transplanted when the blade is about a foot high. As soon as the season will admit after the 21st of March, the land is opened by one or more ploughings, according to its strength, and the clods are broken down by blows with wooden mattocks, managed in general by women, with great regularity and address; after which water is let in upon the soil, which for the most part of a reddish clay, or foxy earth, is converted into a smooth soft mud. The seed grain, put into a sack of woven grass, is submerged in a running stream until it begins to sprout, which happens sooner or later, according to the temperature of the water and of the atmosphere, but ordinarily takes place in three or four days. This precaution is adopted for the purpose of getting the young shoots as quickly as possible out of the way of a small snail, which abounds in some of the watered lands of Kashmir, but sometimes proves insufficient to defend it against the activity of this destructive enemy. When the farmer suspects, by the scanty appearance of the plants above the water in which the grain has been sown, and by the presence of the snail drawn up in the mud, that his hopes of a crop are likely to be disappointed, he repeats the sowing, throwing into the water some fresh leaves of the Prangos plant, which either poison the snails or cause them to descend out of the reach of its influence. The seed is for the most part thrown broadcast into about four or five inches of water, which depth is endeavoured to be maintained. Difference of practice exists as to watering, but it seems generally agreed that rice can scarcely have too much water, provided it be not submerged, except for a few days before it ripens, when a dried state is supposed to hasten and to perfect the maturity, whilst it improves the quality of the grain. In general the culture of rice is attended with little expense, although dearer in Kashmir than Hindostan, from its being customary in the former country to manure the rice-lands, which is never done in the latter. This manure, for the most part, consists of rice straw rejected by the cattle, and mixed with cow-dung. It is conveyed from the homestead to the fields by women, in small wicker baskets, and is set on the land with more liberality than might have been expected from the distance it is carried. Many of the ripe lands are situated much higher than might be thought convenient in Hindostan, and are rather pressed into this species of culture than naturally inviting, but still yield good crops, through the facility with which water is brought upon them from the streams which fall down the face of the neighbouring hills. In common seasons the return of grain is from thirty to forty for one, on an average, besides the straw.

The rice of Bengal, by the exercise of some care and skill, has recently been so far improved as nearly to equal that of the Carolinas. Dr. Falconer has introduced into India the numerous and fine varieties of rice cultivated in the Himalayas; of these some of the best sorts were at his suggestion distributed to cultivators along the Doab canal.

A species of hill rice grows on the edge of the Himalaya mountains. The mountain rices of India are grown without irrigation, at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months compensates for the want of artificial moisture. The small reddish Assamese rices, which become gelatinous in boiling, and the large, flat-grained, soft, purple-black Ketana rice, of Java and Malacca, shown at the Great Exhibition, were curious.

The fertility of the province of Arracan is very great, its soil being fit for the culture of nearly all tropical productions; rice, however, is alone cultivated to any great extent; the low alluvial soil which extends over the whole country, from the foot of the mountains to the sea, being admirably suited for its growth. About 115 square miles are under culture with rice. The export trade in rice of the district, is seen by the following statistical return; and it gives employment to from 400 to 700 vessels, aggregating 60,000 to 80,000 tons.

QUANTITY OF PADDY AND RICE EXPORTED FROM AKYAB, THE PORT OF ARRACAN.
	Maunds of Paddy	Maunds of rice	Total value in Rupees	Average price per 100 baskets of 12 seers, in Rupees
				Rice	Paddy
1831-32	380,600	28,970	130,591	15.4 to 16.6	8 to 9
1832-33	502,740	175,560	232,915	16 to 17	7.5 to 8
1833-34	555,540	418,950	430,830	19 to 20	9 to 0
1834-35	127,050	260,650	176,717	18 to 19	8 to 9
1835-36	783,870	548,460	354,791	10 to 11	5 to 5.8
1836-37	1,737,841	641,010	666,732	10.8 to 12	5 to 6
1837-38	1,621,566	248,783	650,385	21 to 23	9 to 10.8
1838-39	1,364,100	332,380	821,168	24 to 25.1	8.8 to 11.12
1839-40	2,033,698	529,961	1,121,311	21.8 to 23	9.8 to 10
1840-41	2,212,068	446,941	1,131,087	20 to 21.8	10 to 11
1841-42	1,265,388	270,000	553,014	19 to 20	8 to 9
1842-43	1,310,900	393,900	472,889	14 to 15	7.8 to 8
1843-44	848,922	707,780	633,710	17 to 18	7 to 8
(" Colonial Magazine,” vol. vi., p. 348.)

EXPORT OF RICE FROM MOULMEIN
	Baskets	Value
1840	67,318	38,708
1841	11,175	6,900
1842	64,055	40,034
1843	35,635	35,289
1844	71,822	44,529
1845	149,815	73,034
1846	193,267	101,465
—(Simmonds’s “Colonial Magazine,” vol. xii., p. 462.)

From Tavoy and Mergui rice was also exported, equal in value to 41,000 rupees, in 1846; 100 baskets of 12 seers each, are equal to 30 Bengal maunds. The basket of rice named above, is equal to 55½ lbs. English.

Paddy means rice in the husk—rice, the grain when unhusked—a distinction to be kept in mind.

The daily average consumption of rice in a family of five, is rated in the Straits’ settlements at three and a quarter chupahs.

The Burmese and Siamese are the grossest consumers of rice. A common laboring Malay requires monthly 30 chupahs, or 56 pounds of rice, value 3s. 9d. or 4s. The Burmese and Siamese about 34 chupahs, or 64 pounds. Rice land in Penang yields a return which cannot be averaged higher than seventy-five fold—or nearly thirty guntangs of paddy for each orlong (1⅓ acres); but it has been considered advisable to rate it here at sixty fold only.

The rice land of Province Wellesley gives an average return of 117½ fold; the maximum degree of productiveness being 600 guntangs of paddy to an orlong of well flooded, alluvial land, or 150 fold, equal to 300 guntangs of clean rice, weighing nearly 4,520 English pounds. The present average produce has been very moderately estimated at 470 guntangs the orlong of paddy. The quantity of seed invariably allotted for an orlong of land is four guntangs. In Siam forty fold is estimated a good average produce. At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast, the maximum rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and is still believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam; while their average was only twenty-fold.—(Low, on “Straits Settlements.”)

Rice in Cochin-China is the “staff of life,” and forms the main article of culture. There are six different sorts grown; two on the uplands, used for confectionery, and yielding only one crop annually; the other sorts affording from two to five crops a year; but generally two, one in April and another in October; or three when the inundations have been profuse.

The late Dr. Gutzlaff stated, at a meeting of the Statistical Society of London, that the population of China was about 367,000,000, and the returns of the land subject to tax as used in rice cultivation there, gave nearly half an acre to each living person; and he further stated that in the southern and well watered provinces, it is anything but uncommon to take two crops of rice, one of wheat, and one of pulse, from the same land in a single season. Rice is the only article the Chinese ever offer a bounty for; the price fluctuates according to the seasons, from one and three-quarter dollars to eight dollars per picul. Siam and the Indian Islands, particularly Bali and Lombok, supply the empire occasionally with large quantities.

The price of rice in China varies according to the state of the canals leading to the interior; if they are full of water the prices rise; if on the contrary they are low, prices fall in proportion at the producing districts. The amount of consumption is controlled, in a considerable degree, by the cost of transit; when this is cheap prices rise from the general demand; but when land-carriage to any extent has to be resorted to, they fall; it raises prices so much at any great distance, that rice must be used very sparingly, from its enhanced price. It is obvious that if the waters are sufficiently high to allow a boat to pass fully loaded, she does so at an expense of nearly 50 per cent, less than she would do, if, from want of water, she could only take half the quantity; when transport is cheap every one obtains a full supply; when it is dear the rice districts have more than they can consume.

At home we are so much accustomed to the facilities of transit offered by railroads, canal boats, &c., that we do not readily take into consideration, that in China, except by water, all articles are conveyed from one place to another on men’s shoulders. Taking the population of Canton at the usual estimate of a million, and allowing to each a catty a day, the quantity of rice required for one day’s consumption alone in that city would be 10,000 piculs, of 133 lbs. each = 1,340,000 lbs.

Java is the granary of plenty for all the Eastern Archipelago; and the Dutch East India Company occupies itself in this culture with solicitude, well persuaded that a scarcity of rice might be fatal to its power. Ordinances to encourage and increase this branch of agriculture, have been promulgated at different times by an authority called to watch over the physical well-being of many millions of inhabitants.

As an evident proof that the culture of rice, of which it would be difficult to fix the quantity produced annually, increases considerably, I may mention that the exportation from Java, in 1840, was 1,488,350 piculs of 125 Dutch lbs.

Rice is cultivated in Java in three systems. The name of sawah is given to the rice fields, which can be irrigated artificially; tepar, or tagal, are elevated but level grounds; and gagah, or ladang, are cleared forest grounds. The two last only give one crop; a second crop may be obtained from the sawah, which then most commonly consists of katjang, from which oil is extracted, in kapus or fine cotton, and in ubie, a kind of potato.

There are, says Mr. Crawfurd, two distinct descriptions of rice cultivated throughout the Indian islands, one which grows without the help of immersion in water, and another for which that immersion is indispensably requisite. In external character there is very little difference between them, and in intrinsic value not much. The marsh rice generally brings a somewhat higher price in the market. The great advantage of this latter consists in its superior fecundity. Two very important varieties of each are well known to the Javanese husbandman, one being a large productive, but delicate grain, which requires about seven months to ripen, and the other a small, hardy, and less fruitful one, which takes little more than five months. The first we constantly find cultivated in rich lands, where one annual crop only is taken; and the last in well watered lands, but of inferior fertility, where two crops may be raised.

Both of these, but particularly the marsh rice, is divided into a great number of sub-varieties, characterised by being awned or otherwise, having a long or round grain, or being in color black, red, or white. The most singular variety is the O. glutinosa, of Rumphius. This is never used as bread, but commonly preserved as a sweetmeat. The rudest, and probably the earliest practised mode of cultivating rice, consists in taking from forest lands a fugitive crop, after burning the trees, grass, and underwood. The ground is turned up with the mattock, and the seed planted by dibbling between the stumps of trees. The period of sowing is the commencement of the rains, and of reaping that of the dry season. The rice is of course of that description which does not require immersion.

The second description of tillage consists also in growing mountain or dry land rice. This mode is usually adopted on the common upland arable lands, which cannot conveniently be irrigated. The grain is sown in the middle of the dry season, either broadcast or by dibbling, and reaped in seven or five months, as the grain happens to be the larger or the smaller variety.

The culture of rice by the aid of the periodical rains forms the third mode. The grain being that kind which requires submersion, the process of sowing and reaping is determined with precision by the seasons. With the first fall of the rains the lands are ploughed and harrowed. The seed is sown in beds, usually by strewing very thickly the corn in the ear. From these beds the plants, when 12 or 14 days old, are removed into the fields and thinly set by the hand. They are then kept constantly immersed in water until within a fortnight of the harvest, when it is drawn off to facilitate the ripening of the grain.

The fourth mode of cultivating rice is by forcing a crop by artificial irrigation, at any time of the year; thus, in one field, in various plots, the operations of sowing, ploughing, transplanting, and reaping may be seen at the same period.

The fertile, populous, and industrious countries of the Eastern Archipelago export rice to their neighbours. The most remarkable of these are Java, Bali, some parts of Celebes, with the most fertile spots of Sumatra, and of the Malay Peninsula. Rice is generally imported to these western countries from those farther east, such as the Spice Islands. Java is the principal place of production for the consumption of the other islands, and the only island of the Archipelago that sends rice abroad. The rice of the eastern districts is generally superior to that of the western. The worst rice is that of Indramayu, which is usually discolored. The subdivision of the province of Cheribon, called Gabang, yields rice of fine white grain, equal to that of Carolina. The rice of Gressie preserves best. All Indian rice is classed, in commercial language, into the three descriptions of table rice, white rice, and cargo rice. From the limited demand for the first, it is only to be had in Java, in small quantity. For the same reason the second is not procurable in large quantity, unless bespoken some time before-hand; but the third may be had at the shortest notice in any quantity required. Java rice is inferior in estimation to that of Bengal or Carolina in the markets of Europe.

The following statistics show the extent and progress of the culture in Java:—

	In 1840.	In 1841.
No. of Residencies in which rice is cultivated	18	18
″ Regencies	69	68
″ Districts	414	414
″ Desas or villages	39,931	36,296
Amount of the population who take a part in it, without distinction of caste	6,704,797	6,857,372
Number of families, &c.	1,466,845	1,475,675
″ ″ families who devote themselves to the cultivation	1,150,406	1,146,083
Number of men bound to obligatory service	1,321,767	1,325,746
Cleared grounds in bahus, of 71 decametres	1,470,047	1,540,054
Upon this extent the population had cultivated for the government, inbahusof 71 decametres	78,182	74,277
Extent of fields which the population had cultivated on their own account, inbahus, &c.	1,286,139	1,381,216
Extent of land in fallow in bahus, &c.	105,726	84,561
Produce in piculs of fields cultivated by the population on its own account	21,273,278	23,810,573
Average produce of abahu	16½	17
Gross amount of the land tax of 1840	8,502,402 fl	9,030,761 fl.
Extent of rice fields newly cultivated inbahus	10,328	13,561

This comparative summary shows that the culture of rice increases yearly, and that the average produce of the fields is also continually increasing. These results have been obtained by the attention paid to the proper irrigation of the soil fit for this culture; and to the hydraulic works which the Government executes on its own account in the parts of the island where rice fields can be established, and where they are required to feed a population whose number is still increasing yearly.

I have seen, continues Mr. Crawfurd, lands which have produced, from time beyond the memory of any living person, two yearly crops of rice. When this practice is pursued, it is always the five-months grain which is grown. The rapid growth of this variety, has, indeed, enabled the Javanese husbandman, in a few happy situations, to urge the culture to the amount of six crops in two years and a half. Rice cultivated in a virgin soil, where the wood has been burnt off, will, under favorable circumstances, give a return of twenty-five and thirty fold. Of mountain rice, cultivated in ordinary upland arable lands, fifteen fold may be looked upon as a good return. In fertile soils, when one crop only is taken in the year, marsh rice will yield a return of twenty-five seeds. When a double crop is taken, not more than fifteen or sixteen can be expected. In the fine province of Kadu, an English acre of good land, yielding annually one green crop and a crop of rice, was found to produce of the latter 641 lbs. of clean grain. In the light sandy, but well watered lands of the province of Mataram, where it is the common practice to exact two crops of rice yearly without any fallow, an acre was found to yield no more than 285 lbs. of clean rice, or an annual produce of 570 lbs. —(“History of the Indian Archipelago.”)

The low estimation of Java rice is not attributable to any real inferiority in the grain, but to the mode of preparing it for the market. In husking it, it is, for the want of proper machinery, much broken, and, from carelessness in drying, subject to decay from the attack of insects and worms. When in the progress of improvement more intelligent methods are pursued in preparing the grain for the market, it will equal the grain of any other country. Machinery must be employed for husking the grain, and some degree of kiln drying will be necessary to ensure its preservation in a long voyage.

I know nowhere that rice is so cheap as in Java, except in Siam, whence it is exported at one-third less cost. A great deal of rice is exported from Siam to China by the junks, and also occasionally a little from Java.

The quantity exported from Java in	1830	was	13,521	coyans.
″	1835	″	25,577	″
″	1839	″	1,103,378	piculs
″	1841	″	676,213	″
″	1843	″	1,108,774	″

Rice is grown to some extent in the Dutch portion of Celebes; it yields at a minimum one hundred and fifty fold. The average annual delivery of rice to the Government, from 1838 to 1842, was 3,390,119 lbs. At present the Government pays sixty cents for a measure of forty pounds. That which is sold for the consumption of the inhabitants may be procured at the public warehouse for a guilder the 35½ lbs.; and that which is sold for export may be had at public auction for 125 florins the coyan of 3,000 lbs.

The following description of some varieties of rice cultivated in the Philippine islands, is given by Mr. Rich, botanist to the United States Exploring Expedition. The varieties are very numerous; the natives distinguish them by the size and shape of their grain:—

Binambang.—Leaves slightly hairy; glumes whitish; grows to the height of about five feet; flowers in December: aquatic.

Lamuyo greatly resembles the above; is more extensively cultivated, particularly in Batangas, where it forms the principal article of food of the inhabitants of the coast: aquatic.

Malagcquit.—This variety derives its name from its being very glutinous after bailing; it is much used by the natives in making sweet or fancy dishes; and also used in making a whitewash, mixed with lime, which is remarkable for its brilliancy, and for withstanding rain, &c.: aquatic.

Bontot Cabayo.—Common in Ilocos, where it is cultivated both upland and lowland; it produces a large grain, and is therefore much esteemed, but has rather a rough taste.

Dumali, or early rice.—This rice is raised in the uplands exclusively, and derives its name from ripening its grain three months from planting; the seed is rather broader and shorter than the other varieties; it is not extensively cultivated, as birds and insects are very destructive to it.

Quinanda, with smooth leaves.—This variety is held in great estimation by the people of Batangas, as they say it swells more in boiling than any other variety; it is sown in May, and gathered in October: upland.

Bolohan.—This variety has very hairy glumes; it is not held in much esteem by the natives, but it is cultivated on account of its not being so liable to the attacks of insects and diseases as most of the other upland varieties.

Malagcquit.—With smooth leaves, and red glumes (all the preceding are whitish); possesses all the qualities of the aquatic variety of the same name—that of being very glutinous after boiling. This rice is said to be a remedy for worms in horses, soaked in water, with the hulls on; it is given with honey and water.

Tangi.—Leaves slightly hairy, glumes light violet color. This upland variety is held in much esteem for its fine flavor.

435,067 arrobas of rice were exported from Manilla in 1847.

A simple but rude mill is in use in Siam, and many parts of India, for hulling paddy, which is similar to those used 4,000 years ago. It consists of two circular stones, two feet in diameter, resting one on the other; a bamboo basket is wrought around the upper one, so as to form the hopper. A peg is firmly set into the face of the upper stone, half way between its periphery and centre, having tied to it by one end a stick three feet long, extended horizontally, and attached by the other to another stick pending from the roof of the shed under which the mill is placed. This forms a crank, by which the upper stone is made to revolve on the other set firmly on the ground. The motion throws the rice through the centre of the stone, and causes it to escape between the edges of the two.

More starch is contained in this grain than in wheat. Braconnet obtained from Carolina rice 85.07, and from Piedmont rice 83.8 per cent. of starch. Vogel procured from a dried rice no less than 98 per cent. of starch. There are several patent processes in existence for the manufacture of rice-starch, which are accomplished chiefly by digesting rice in solutions, more or less strong, of caustic alkali (soda), by which the gluten is dissolved and removed, leaving an insoluble matter composed of starch, and a white substance technically called fibre. Under Jones’s patent, the alkaline solution employed contains 200 grains of real soda in every gallon of liquor, and 150 gallons of this liquor are requisite to convert 100 lbs. of rice into starch. In manufacturing rice-starch on a large scale, Patna rice yields 80 per cent, of marketable starch, and 8.2 per cent. of fibre, the remaining 11.8 per cent. being made up of gluten, gruff, or bran, and a small quantity of light starch carried off in suspension by the solution.

Jones’s process may be thus described:—100 lbs. of rice are macerated for 24 hours in 50 gallons of the alkaline solution, and afterwards washed with cold water, drained, and ground. To 100 gallons of the alkaline solution are then to be added 100 lbs. of ground rice, and the mixture stirred repeatedly during 24 hours, and then allowed to stand for about 70 hours to settle or deposit. The alkaline solution is to be drawn off, and to the deposit cold water is to be added, for the double purpose of washing out the alkali and for drawing off the starch from the other matters. The mixture is to be well stirred up and then allowed to rest about an hour for the fibre to fall down. The liquor holding the starch in suspension is to be drawn off and allowed to stand for about 70 hours for the starch to deposit. The waste liquor is now to be removed, and the starch stirred up, blued (if thought necessary), drained, dried, and finished in the usual way.44 Rice is imported into this country in bags of 1½ cwt., and tierces of 6 cwt., not only for edible purposes, but, when ground into flour, for cotton manufactures, in aiding to form the weaver’s dressings for warps. Rice-meal is commonly used for feeding pigs.

Imported.
	British Plantation.	Foreign.	Retained for home consumption of all kinds.
	Bags.	Bags.	Bags.
1843	136,319	35,125	60,965
1844	127,876	69,112	126,733
1845	173,794	5,713	114,933
	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.
1847	38,736	3,033	28,375
1848	21,226	4,631	15,468
1849	19,397	1,410	14,961

		Total imported.		Re-exported.
1849		976,196	cwts.	290,732	cwts.
″	in the husk	31,828	qrs.
1850		785,451	cwts.	248,136	″
″	in the husk	37,150	qrs.
1851		714,847	cwts.	345,677	″
″	in the husk	31,481	qrs.
1852		989,316	cwts.	414,507	″
″	in the husk	23,946	qrs.

The quantity of rice retained for home consumption, by the corrected returns, in 1850, was 401,018 cwts. and 35,119 quarters; in 1851, 399,170 cwts. and 31,481 quarters; in 1852, 574,809 cwts. and 23,946 quarters. The aggregate imports range from 40,000 to 80,000 tons annually, of which about 500 to 800 tons are in the husk.

Among culmiferous plants and legumes used in the East, are the Panicum italicum, P. miliaceum, Eleusine coracana (the meal of which is baked and eaten in Ceylon under the name of Corakan flour), and Paspalum of several varieties. The pigeon pea (Cytisus Cajan), and a very valuable and prolific species of bean, called the Mauritius black bean (Mucuna utilis), growing even in the poorest soil, is cultivated in India and Ceylon. Sorghum vulgare is the principal grain of Southern Arabia, and the stems are also used extensively for feeding cattle. The plant bears its Indian name of joar, or juri, and is cultivated throughout Western Hindostan. Job’s tears (Croix lachryma) is another cereal grass, native of the East Indies.

MILLET.

Millet of different kinds is met with in the hottest parts of Africa, in the South of Europe, in Asia Minor, and in the East Indies. It is a small yellowish seed, growing in dense panicles or clusters, the produce of a grassy plant with large and compact seeds, growing to the height, in India, of seven or eight feet.

The millets, known to Europeans as petit mais, are tropical or sub-tropical crops. In India they hold a second rank to rice alone; and in Egypt, perhaps, surpass all other crops in importance. In Western Africa they are the staff of life. The red and white millets shown by Austria, Russia, and the United States, at the Great Exhibition, were beautiful, and Ceylon exhibited fair samples. Turkey abounds in small grains.

Panicum miliaceum and P. frumentaceum are the species grown in the East Indies. Loudon says there are three distinct species of millet; the Polish, the common or German, and the Indian. Setaria Germanica yields German millet. The plants are readily increased by division of the roots or by seed, and will grow in any common soil. The native West Indian species are P. fascisculatwm and oryzoides. Millet receives some attention in New South Wales. In 1844 there were 100 acres of land under cultivation with it, and the amount grown in some years in this colony has been about 3,500 bushels.

In the United States millet is chiefly grown for making hay, being found a good substitute for clover and the ordinary grasses. It is a plant which will flourish well on rather thin soils, and it grows so fast that when it is up and well set it is seldom much affected by drought. It is commonly sown there in June, but the time of sowing will vary with the latitude. Half a bushel of seed to the acre is the usual quantity, sown broadcast and harrowed in. For the finest quantity of hay, it is thought advisable to sow an additional quantity of three or four quarts of seed. The ordinary yield of crops may be put at from a ton to a ton and a half of hay to the acre. It should be cut as soon as it is out of blossom; if it stands later, the stems are liable to become too hard to make good hay. The variety known as German millet is that most common in North America. It grows ordinarily to the height of about three feet, with compact heads from six to nine inches in length, bearing yellow seed. There are some sub-varieties of this, as the white and purple-seeded.

The Italian millet, Setaria italica, is larger than the preceding, reaching the height of four feet in tolerable soil, and its leaves are correspondingly larger and thicker. The heads are sometimes a foot or more in length, and are less compact than the German, being composed of several spikes slightly branching from the main stem. It is said to derive its specific name from being cultivated in Italy, though its native habitat is India. It is claimed by some that this variety will yield more seed than any other, and the seed is rather larger, but the stalk is coarser, and would probably be less relished by stock.

If the greatest amount of seed is desired from the crop, it is best to sow it in drills, two to two-and-a-half feet apart, using a seed drill for the purpose. This admits of the use of a small harrow or cultivator between the rows, while the plants are small, which keeps out the weeds. The crop will ripen more uniformly in this way than broadcast, and enables the cultivator to cut it when there will be the least waste. The seed shatters out very easily when it is ripe, and when the crop ripens unequally it cannot be cut without loss, because either a portion of it will be immature, or, if left till it is all ripe, the seed of the earliest falls out. It should be closely watched, and cut in just about the same stage that it is proper to cut wheat, while the grain may be crushed between the fingers. It may be cut with a grain cradle, and, when dry, bound and shocked like grain; but it should be threshed out as soon as practicable, on account of its being usually much attacked by birds, many kinds of which are very fond of the seed. In particular localities they assail the crop in such numbers, from the time it is out of the “milk,” till it is harvested and carried off the field, that it is no object to attempt to ripen it. This crop is sometimes sown in drills, when it is only intended for fodder, being cut and cured in bundles, as the stalks of Indian corn are. It is best to pass it through a cutting machine before feeding it to stock; indeed, all millet hay will be fed with less loss in this way, than if fed to animals without cutting.

The seed is used in various European countries as a substitute for sago, for which it is considered excellent. It is likewise a valuable food for poultry, particularly for young chickens, which from the smallness of the grain can eat it readily, and it appears to be wholesome for them.

In some countries millet seed is ground into flour and converted into bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other respects, as a substitute for rice. A good vinegar has been made from it by fermentation, and, on distillation, it yields a strong spirit. Millet seed—the produce of H. saccharatum—is imported into this country from the East Indies for the purpose chiefly of puddings; by many persons it is preferred to rice. It is cultivated largely in China and Cochin-China. The stalks, if subjected to the same process that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, from which an excellent kind of sugar may be made.

Millet will grow best on light, dry soils. The ground being first well prepared, half a bushel of seed to the acre is ploughed in at the commencement of the rains, in India. The crop ripens within three months from the time of sowing. The usual produce is about 16 bushels to the acre. The Canary Islands export annually about 212,400 bushels of millet.

Great Indian Millet, or Guinea Corn.—This is a native of India (the Sorghum vulgare, the Andropogon Sorghum of Roxburgh), which produces a grain a little larger than mustard or millet seed. It is grown in most tropical countries, and has peculiar local names. In the West Indies, where it is chiefly raised for feeding poultry, it is called Guinea corn. In Egypt it is known as Dhurra, in Hindostan and Bengal as Joar, and in some districts as Cush.

In Lower Scinde joar is very extensively cultivated, as well as bajree (H. spicatus). It is harvested in December and January; requires a light soil, and is usually grown in the east, after Cynosurus corocanus.

Guinea corn is extensively cultivated in some parts of Jamaica. I did not, however, find it thrive on the north side of the island. It is best planted in the West Indies between September and November, and ripens in January. It ratoons or yields a second crop, when cut. The returns are from 30 to 60 bushels an acre, but the crops are uncertain.

Mr. C. Bravo tried Guinea corn at St. Ann’s, Jamaica, as a green crop, sown broadcast, for fodder, and it answered admirably, the produce being very considerable. It was weighed, and yielded 14 tons of fodder per acre, and was found very palatable and nutritious for cattle. It was grown on a very poor soil, which had, previously to ploughing, given nothing but marigolds and weeds. The luxuriant growth of the corn completely kept under the weeds. A great number of the stalks were measured, and they averaged 10 feet from the root to the top of the upper leaf. It had been planted 10 weeks, and had, therefore, grown a foot a month. Mr. Bravo is of opinion, that sown broadcast it would answer either as a grain crop, as fodder, or ploughed in to increase the fertility of the soil.

Dr. Phillips, of Barbados, being of opinion that it might be advantageously employed as human food, requested Dr. Shier, the analytical chemist, of Demerara, to determine in his laboratory its richness in protein compounds (the muscle-forming part of vegetable food) in comparison with Indian corn. He, therefore, caused a sample of each to be burned for nitrogen, when the following results were obtained:—

	Indian corn.	Guinea corn.
Water, per cent.	12.81	13.76
In ordinary state—
Nitrogen, per cent.	1.83	1.18
Protein compounds	11.51	7.42
In dry state—
Nitrogen, per cent.	2.10	1.36
Protein compounds	13.20	8.60

According to these results, the Guinea corn is less rich in nitrogen or protein compounds than Indian corn, though not much less so than some varieties of English wheat.

Indian corn meal, analysed by Mr. Hereford, from two localities, gave in the ordinary state of dryness 11.53 and 12.48 per cent. of protein compounds—results which come very near to that obtained by Dr. Shier.

Sorghum avenaceum, or Holcus avenaceus, is a native of the Cape.

Several species and varieties of sorghum have been introduced, and more or less cultivated in the United States. It is often popularly termed Egyptian corn. It is closely allied to broom corn (S. saccharatum), the head being similar in structure, and the seed similar, except that in most varieties of sorghum, the outer covering does not adhere as in broom corn. The plant bears a strong resemblance, while growing, to maize or Indian corn. There is also some similarity in the grain, and it is extensively used as food by many oriental nations.

A variety, under the name of African purple millet, was some years since introduced into North America, and recommended for cultivation as a soiling crop; but this, as well as other varieties, do not possess any advantages over Indian corn.

The natives of Mysore reckon three kinds, known as white, green, and red. The red ripens a month earlier than the rest, or about four months from the time of sowing. Near Bengal, Bombay, and elsewhere, in Eastern India, sowing is performed at the close of May or early in June. A gallon and a third of seed is sown per acre, and the produce averages 16 bushels. This grain, though small, and the size of its head diminutive, compensates for this deficiency by the great hulk and goodness of its straw, which grows usually to the height of 8 or 10 feet. It is sometimes sown for fodder in the beginning of April, and is ready to cut in July. It is said to be injurious to cattle, if eaten as green provender, the straw is therefore first dried, and is then preferable to that of rice.

This grain is frequently fermented to form the basis, in combination with goor or half made sugar, of the common arrack of the natives, and in the hills is fermented into a kind of beer or sweet wort, drank warm.

Holcus spicatus, the Panicum spicatum of Roxburgh, is cultivated in Mysore, Behar, and the provinces more to the north. From one to four seers are sown on a biggah of land, and the yield is about four maunds per acre. It is sown after the heavy rains commence, and the plough serves to cover the seed. The crop is ripe in three months, and the ears only are taken off at first. Afterwards the straw is cut down close to the surface of the soil, to be used for thatching, for it is not much in request as fodder. Being a grain of small price, it is a common food of the poorer class of natives, and really yields a sweet palatable flour. It is also excellent as a fattening grain for poultry.

The Poa Abyssinicais one of the bread-corns of Abyssinia. The bread made from it is called teff, and is the ordinary food of the country, that made from wheat being only used by the higher classes. The way of manufacturing it is by allowing the dough to become sour, when, generating carbonic acid gas, it serves instead of yeast. It is then baked in circular cakes, which are white, spongy, and of a hot acid taste, but easy of digestion. This bread, carefully toasted, and left in water for three or four days, furnishes the bousa, or common beer of the country, similar to the quas of Russia.

BROOM CORN.

The production of broom corn is rapidly extending, and corn brooms are driving broom sedge, as an article for sweeping floors, out of every humble dwelling in the United States. There are about 1,000 acres of it under culture in one county (Montgomery) alone, and it brings 30 dollars per acre in the field.

Messrs. Van Eppes, of Schenectady, have been engaged in the broom manufactory business about eleven years. They have a farm of about 300 acres, 200 of which are Mohawk flats. A large portion of the flats was formerly of little value, in consequence of being kept wet by a shallow stream which ran through, it, and which, together with several springs that issue from the sandy bluff on the south side of the flats, kept the ground marshy, and unfit for cultivation. By deepening the channel of the stream, and conducting most of the springs into it, many acres, which were formerly almost worthless, have been made worth 125 dollars per acre. They have also, by deepening the channel, saving the water of the springs, and securing all the fall, made a water privilege, on which they have erected an excellent mill, with several run of stones, leaving besides sufficient power to carry saws for cutting out the handles of brooms, &c.

They have about 200 acres of the flats in broom-corn. The cultivation of this article has within a few years been simplified to almost as great a degree as its manufacture. The seed is sown with a seed-barrow or drill, as early in the spring as the state of the ground will admit, in rows 3½ feet apart. As soon as the corn is above ground, it is hoed, and soon after thinned, so as to leave the stalks two or three inches apart. It is only hoed in the row, in order to get out the weeds that are close to the plants, the remaining space being left for the harrow and cultivator, which are run so frequently as to keep down the weeds. The cultivation is finished by running a small, double mould-board plough, rather shallow, between the rows.

The broom corn is not left to ripen, as formerly, but is cut when it is quite green, and the seed not much past the milk. It was formerly the practice to lop down the tops of the corn, and let it hang some time, that the brush might become straightened in one direction. Now, the tops are not lopped till the brush is ready to cut, which, as before stated, is while the corn is green. A set of hands goes forward, and lops or bends the tops to one side, and another set follows immediately and cuts off the tops at the place at which they are bent, and a third set gathers the cut tops into carts or waggons, which take them to the factory. Here they are first sorted over, and parcelled out into small bunches, each bunch being made up into brush of equal length. The seed is then taken off by an apparatus with teeth, like a hatchet. The machine is worked by six horses, and cleans the brush very rapidly. It is then spread thin to dry, on racks put up in buildings designed for the purpose. In about a week, with ordinary weather, it becomes so dry that it will bear to be packed closely.

The stalks of the corn, after the tops have been cut off, are five or six feet high, and they are left on the ground, and ploughed in the next spring. It is found that this keeps up the fertility of the soil, so that the crop is continued for several years without apparent diminution. It should be observed, however, that the ground is overflowed every winter or spring, and a considerable deposit left on the surface, which is undoubtedly equivalent to a dressing of manure.

This may be inferred from the fact that some of the flats have been in Indian corn every year for forty or fifty years, without manure, and with good cultivation have seldom produced less than sixty bushels per acre, and with extra cultivation from eighty to ninety bushels have been obtained.

In case of need, the stalks would furnish a large amount of good food for cattle. They are full of leaves which are nutritive, and whether cut and dried for winter, or eaten green by stock turned on the ground where they grow, would be very valuable in case of deficiency of grass.

Messrs. Van Eppes employ twenty hands during the summer; and in autumn, when the brush is being gathered and prepared, they have nearly a hundred, male and female. They are mostly Germans, who come to Schenectady with their families during the broom corn harvest, and leave when it is over.

The manufacture of brooms is carried on mostly in the winter season. The quantity usually turned out by Messrs. Van Eppes is 150,000 dozen per annum.—(“Albany Cultivator.”)

CHENOPODIUM QUINOA.

About twenty-eight years ago this plant was introduced into Britain from Peru, where the seeds are used as food, under the name of petty rice. Attention was drawn to it by Loudon, in his “Gardener’s Magazine,” in 1834, and in 1836 it was cultivated on a large scale by Sir Charles Lemon. This plant and the lentil are two of the most promising exotics that have been recommended for field culture. There are two varieties of quinoa, the white and the red seeded; the red has bitter properties, and is only used for medicine. In North America the seeds of the former are used as a substitute for maize and the potato. A white meal is obtained from it, having a tinge of yellow. It contains scarcely any gluten, but, like oatmeal, makes very good porridge and cakes. Its nutritive qualities are proved by the analysis of Dr. Voelcker (“Journal of Agriculture of Scotland,” October, 1850), which states it to yield 3.66 per cent. of nitrogen, equal to 2.87 per cent. of protein compounds. In this respect the meal appears to be superior to rye, barley, rice, maize, the plantain, and potato. It has long furnished the food of millions in South America; and in Scotland and Ireland the plant would find a congenial climate and rich soil.

FUNDI OR FUNDUNGI.

This is an hitherto undescribed species of African grain (probably the Paspalum exile), much cultivated and esteemed in Sierra Leone, and other places on the African coast, where it is known by the Foulahs, Joloffs, and other native tribes, under the local name of Hungry rice. It is a slender grass with digitate spikes, which have much of the habit of Digitaria, but which, on account of the absence of the small outer glume existing in that genus, Mr. Keppist, Librarian of the Linnean Society, of London, refers to Paspalum. It produces a semi-transparent cordiform grain, about the size of a mignionette seed; the ear consists of two conjugate spikes, the grain being arranged on the outer edge of either spike, and alternated; they are attached by a peduncle to the husk. The èpicarp, or outer membrane, is slightly rugous.

The ground is cleared for its reception by burning down the copse wood and hoeing between the roots and stumps. It is sown in the months of May and June, the ground being slightly opened, and again lightly drawn together over the seeds with a hoe. In August, when it shoots up, it is carefully weeded. It ripens in September, growing to the height of about 18 inches, and its stems, which are very slender, are bent to the earth by the mere weight of the grain. The patch of land is then either suffered to lie fallow, or is planted with yams or cassava in rotation. Experienced cultivators of this Lilliputian grain assert that manure is unnecessary, as it delights in light soils, and it is even raised on rocky situations, which are most frequent about Kissy. When cut down, it is tied up in small sheafs and placed in a dry situation within the hut; for if allowed to remain on the ground and to become wet, the grains are agglutinated to their coverings. The grain is trodden out with the feet, and is then parched or dried in the sun, to allow the more easy removal of the chaff in the process of pounding, which is performed in wooden mortars. It is afterwards winnowed with a kind of cane fanner or mats.

This grain could be raised in sufficient quantities to become an article of commerce, and I have no doubt would prove a valuable addition to the list of light farinaceous articles of food in use among the delicate or convalescent. In preparing this delicious grain for food, it is first put into boiling water, in which it is assiduously stirred for a few minutes; the water is then poured off, and the Foulahs, Joloffs, &c., add to it palm oil, butter, or milk; but Europeans and negroes connected with Sierra Leone prepare it as follows:—To the grain cooked as above mentioned, fowl, fish, or mutton, with a piece of salt pork for the sake of flavor is added, the whole being then stewed in a close saucepan. This makes a very good dish, and thus prepared resembles “Kous-kous.” The grain is sometimes made into puddings, with the usual condiments, and eaten either hot or cold, with milk. By the few natives of Scotland in the colony, it is occasionally dressed as milk porridge.

The negroes also eat it in the same way as they do rice, with palaver sauce. Fundi ought to be well washed in cold water, and afterwards rewashed in boiling water. If properly prepared it will be white, and perfectly free from gritty matter.

Canary-seed, obtained from Phalaris canariensis, is grown rather largely in Kent, the Isle of Thanet, and other parts of the south of England, as much as 500 tons being annually consumed here for feeding singing birds. The produce is three to five quarters the acre, and it is sold at about £25 the ton. We receive foreign supplies of the seed from Germany and the Mediterranean, and the duty on imports is 2s. 6d. per bushel.

PULSE.

There are a variety of pulses and leguminous seeds extensively cultivated as food for both man and cattle, and which form an important article in the husbandry of tropical countries. The importance of peas and beans is well appreciated, both by the horticulturists and agriculturists in Europe and our temperate colonies, where, however, they are comparatively of less importance than the smaller pulses and grains are in various tropical countries, such as haricots in the Brazils and West Indies; ground or earth nuts in South America, and especially in Western Africa; beans of different kinds amongst the miners of Peru; gram (Ervum lens), and dholl (Cajanus), with innumerable varieties of beans and small lentils among the natives of India and Egypt; and the Carob bean, or St. John’s bread (Ceratonia siliqua), in the Mediterranean countries.—(“Jury Reports.”)

Of leguminous grains there are various species cultivated and used by the Asiatics, as the Phaseolus Mungo, P. Max and P. radiatus, which contain much alimentary matter; the earth-nut (Arachis hypogæa), which buries its pods under ground after flowering.

The gram (Cicer arictinum) which is mentioned by Dr. Christie (“Madras Journal of Science,” No. 13) as exuding oxalic acid from all parts of the plant. It is used by the ryots in their curries instead of vinegar. It is the chick pea of England, and chenna of Hindostan.

Among the most commonly cultivated leguminous plants are the lentil (Ervum lens), horse gram (Dolichos biflorus, Linn), various species of Cytisus and Cajanus, &c. Many of these are grown in India as fodder plants; others for their seeds, known as gram, dholl, &c. The Cajanus flavus, of Decandolle (Cytisus Cajan), is very generally cultivated along the Western coast of Africa, and continues to bear for three years. Several species of dolichos are used as food in various countries, as D. ensiformus in Jamaica, D. tuberosus in Martinique, D. bulbosus and D. lignosus in the East Indies.

The vessels of the North bring to Shanghae a great quantity of a dry paste, known under the name of tanping, the residuum or husk of a leguminous plant called Teuss, from which the Chinese extract oil, and which is used, after being pressed, as manure for the ground. Captain H. Biggs, in a communication to the Agri.-Hort. Soc. of India, in 1845, states that of the esculents a large white pea forms the staple of the trade of Shanghae, or nearly so, to the astonishing amount of two and a-half millions sterling. This he gives on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Medhurst, of Shanghae, and Mr. Thorns, British Consul at Ningpo. These peas are ground in a mill and then pressed, in a somewhat complicated, though, as usual in China, a most efficient press, by means of wedges driven under the outer parts of the framework with mallets. The oil is used both for eating and burning, more for the latter purpose, however, and the cake, like large Gloucester cheese, or small grindstones in circular shape, is distributed about China in every direction, both as food for pigs and buffaloes, as also for manure.

We import on the average about 20,000 quarters of beans, peas, &c., from Ireland, 450,000 quarters of beans and 200,000 quarters of peas from foreign countries.

The land under cultivation with pulse, and the crops raised, have been estimated as follows:—

	Acres.	Quarters.
England	500,000	1,875,000
Ireland	130,000	540,000
Scotland	50,000	150,000
	680,000	2,565,000

This is of course exclusive of garden cultivation. The average produce of beans per acre in England is 3¾ quarters, 3½ in Ireland, and three in Scotland.

The price of beans per quarter in the last ten years has ranged from 39s. to 27s. the quarter; peas from 40s. 6d. to 27s. 6d.

Algaroba beans.—The seed pods or bean of the carob-tree (Ceratonia siliqua, or Prosopis pallida?) a tree common in the Levant and South of Europe, are used as food. The pods contain a large proportion of sweet fecula, and are frequently used by singers, being considered to improve the voice. The name of St. John’s Head has been applied to them, from the supposition that they were the wild honey spoken of in Scripture as the food of John the Baptist. About 40,000 quintals of these carobs are annually exported from Crete. During the Peninsular war, the horses of our cavalry were principally fed upon these algaroba seeds. The pods of the West India locust tree, Hymenæa courbaril, also supply a nutritious matter.

That well known sauce, Soy, is made in some parts of the East, from a species of the Dolichos bean (Soja hispida), which grows in China and Japan. In Java it is procured from the Phaseolus radiatus. The beans are boiled soft, with wheat or barley of equal quantities, and left for three months to ferment; salt and water are then added, when the liquor is pressed and strained. Good soy is agreeable when a few years old; the Japan soy is superior to the Chinese. Large quantities are shipped for England and America. The Dolichos bean is much cultivated in Japan, where various culinary articles are prepared from it; but the principal are a sort of butter, termed mico, and a pickle called sooja.

1,108 piculs of soy were shipped from Canton in 1844, for London, British India, and Singapore. 100 jars, or about 50 gallons of soy, were received at Liverpool in 1850. The price is about 6s. per gallon in the London market.

THE SAGO PALMS, BREAD-FRUIT, &c.

Sago, and starchy matter allied to it, is obtained from many palms. It is contained in the cellular tissue of the stem, and is separated by bruising and elutriation. From the soft stem of Cycas circinalis, a kind of sago is produced in the East and West Indies. The finest is, however, procured from the stems of Sagus lævis (S. inermis, of Roxburgh), a native of Borneo and Sumatra; and Arenga saccharifera, or Gomutus saccharifus, of Rumphius. The Saguerus Rumphii, or Metroxylon Sagus, which is found in the Eastern Islands of the Indian Ocean, yields a feculent matter. After the starchy substance is washed out of the stems of these palms, it is then granulated so as to form sago. The last-mentioned palm also furnishes a large supply of sugar. Sago as well as sugar, and a kind of palm wine, are procured from Caryota urens.

In China sago is obtained from Rhapis flabelliformis, a dwarfish palm; and some sago is made from it for native use in Travancore, Mysore, and Wynaad, and the jungles in the East Indies.

The trunk of the sago palm is five or six feet round, and it grows to the height of about 20 feet. It can only be propagated by seed. It flourishes best in bogs and swampy marshes; a good plantation being often a bog, knee deep. The pith producing the sago is seldom of use till the tree is fourteen or fifteen years old; and the tree does not live longer than thirty years. Mr. Crawfurd says there are four varieties of this palm; the cultivated, the wild, one distinguished by long spines on the branches, and a fourth destitute of these spines, and called by the natives female sago. This and the cultivated species afford the best farina; the spiny variety, which has a slender trunk, and the wild tree, yield but an inferior quality of sago. The farinaceous matter afforded by each plant is very considerable, 500 lbs. being a frequent quantity, while 300 lbs. may be taken as the common average produce of each tree.

Supposing the plants set at a distance of ten feet apart, an acre would contain 435 trees, which, on coming to maturity in fifteen years, would yield at the before-mentioned rate 120,500 lbs. annually of farinaceous matter. The sago meal, in its raw state, will keep good about a month. The Malays and natives of the Eastern Islands, with whom it forms the chief article of sustenance, partially bake it in earthenware moulds into small hard cakes, which will keep for a considerable time. In Java the word “saga” signifies bread. The sago palm (Metroxylon Sagus) is one of the smallest of its tribe, seldom reaching to more than 30 feet in height, and grows only in a region extending west to Celebes and Borneo, north to Mindanao, south to Timor, and east to Papua. Ceram is its chief seat, and there large forests of it are found. The edible farina is the central pith, which varies considerably in different trees, and as to the time required for its attaining proper maturity. It is eaten by the natives in the form of pottage. A farina of an inferior kind is supplied by the Gomuti palm (Borassus gomutus), another tree peculiar to the Eastern Archipelago growing in the valleys of hilly tracts.

At so great a distance it is difficult to decide as to which of these trees really produce the ordinary sagos of commerce, for there are several kinds. Planche, in an excellent memoir on the sagos, has described six species, which he distinguishes by the names of the places from which they come. Preferring to classify them according to their characters, M. Mayet distinguishes only three species.

The first he denominates Ancient sago, which comes from different parts, and varies much in color. It comprehends—1st, Maldivian sago of Planche, in spherical globules, of two or three millimetres in diameter, translucid, of an unequal pinkish white color, very hard and insipid. 2nd, New Guinea sago, of Planche, in rather smaller globules, of a bright red color on one side, and white on the other. 3rd. Grey sago of the Moluccas or brown sago of the English; of unequal globules, from one to three millimetres in diameter, opaque, of a dull grey color on one side, and whitish on the other. This grey color probably arises from long keeping and humidity. 4th. Large grey sago of the Moluccas, exactly resembling No. 3, only that the globules are from four to eight millimetres in diameter. 5th. Fine white sago of the Moluccas; entirely resembling No. 3, only that it is purely white, owing to the complete edulcoration of the fecula of which it is made.

Whatever may be the places of origin of these sagos, they all possess the following characters—

Rounded globules, generally spherical, all isolated, very hard, elastic, and difficult to break or powder. The globules put into water, generally swell to twice their original size, but do not adhere together.

Second sage.—This species corresponds with the pinkish sago of the Moluccas of Planche. It is in very small globules, less regular than those of the “first sago,” and sometimes stuck together to the number of two or three. Soaked in water, it swells to double its volume.

Third Species.—Tapioca sago.—-This name has been applied to a species of sago now abundant in commerce, because it bears the same relation to the ancient or first sago, and even to the preceding sago, that tapioca bears to “Moussache,” which is the fecula of the manioc, Janipha manihot (Manihot utilissima).

Whilst the two preceding species of sago, whatever may have been stated to the contrary, have been neither baked nor submitted to any heating process, as is proved by the perfect state of nearly all their grains of fecula, this species has been subjected to the action of heat while in a state of a moist paste. This sago is not in spherical globules, like the two preceding species, or at least there are but few of the globules of that form; it is rather in the form of very small irregular tubercular masses, formed by the adherence of different numbers of the primary globules. The facility with which this sago swells and is divided by water, has occasioned it to be preferred as an article of food to the ancient sago. It has been described by Planche under the name of the white sago of the Moluccas, and by Dr. Pereira under the name of pearl sago.

Bennet, in his work on “Ceylon and its Capabilities,” (1843), states that sago is procured from the granulated pith of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera.

The Sagus Rumphii, Willdenow, and S. farinifera, Gaertner.—Before maturity, and previous to the formation of the fruit, the stem consists of a thin hard wall, about two inches thick, and of an enormous volume of tissue (commonly termed the medulla or pith), from which the farina or sago is obtained. As the fruit forms, the farinaceous medulla disappears, and when the tree, attains full maturity, the stem is no more than a hollow shell. Sago occurs in commerce in two states, pulverulent and granulated. 1. The meal or flour as imported in the form of a fine amylaceous powder. It is whitish, with a buffy or reddish tint. Its odor is faint, but somewhat unpleasant and musty. 2. Granulated sago is of two kinds, pearl and common brown. The former occurs in small hard grains, not exceeding in size that of a pin’s head, inodorous, and having little taste. They have a brownish or pinkish yellow tint, and are somewhat translucent. By the aid of a solution of chloride of lime they can be bleached, and rendered perfectly white. The dealers, it is said, pay £7 per ton for bleaching it. Common sago occurs in larger grains, about the size of pearl barley, which are brownish white.

Sago is an article of exportation to Europe, and is also shipped to India, principally Bengal, and to China. It is in its granulated form that it is usually sent abroad. The best sago is the produce of Siak, on the north coast of Sumatra. This is of a light brown color, the grains large, and not easily broken. The sago of Borneo is the next in value; it is whiter, but more friable. The produce of the Moluccas, though greatest in quantity, is of the smallest estimation. The cost of granulated sago, from the hands of the grower or producer, was, according to Mr. Crawfurd, only a dollar a picul. It fetches in the London market—common pearl, 20s. to 26s. the cwt., sago flour, 20s. the cwt. The Chinese of Malacca and Singapore have invented a process by which they refine sago, so as to give it a fine pearly lustre, and it is from thence we now principally derive our supplies of this article. The exports from Singapore in 1847 exceeded 6½ million pounds, but are now much larger.

The following is a description of the manufacture of this important article of commerce:—The tree being cut down, the exterior bark is removed, and the heart, or pith of the palm, a soft, white, spongy and mealy substance is gathered; and for the purpose of distant transportation, it is put into conical bags, made of plantain leaves, and neatly tied up. In that state it is called by the Malays Sangoo tampin, or bundles of sago; each bundle weighs about 30 lbs.

On its arrival at Singapore it is purchased by the Chinese manufacturers of sago, and is thus treated:—Upon being carried to the manufactory, the plantain-leaf covering is removed, and the raw sago, imparting a strong acid odor, is bruised, and is put into large tubs of cold spring water, where it undergoes a process of purification by being stirred, suffered to repose, and again re-stirred in newly-introduced water. When well purified thus, it is taken out of the tubs by means of small vessels; and being mixed with a great deal of water, the liquid is gently poured upon a large and slightly inclined trough, about ten inches in height and width; and in the descent towards the depressed end, the sago is deposited in the bottom of the trough, whilst the water flows into another large tub, where what may remain of sago is finally deposited. As the strata of deposited sago increases in the trough, small pieces of slates are adjusted to its lower end to prevent the escape of the substance. When by this pouring process the trough becomes quite full of sago, it is then removed to make room for a fresh one, whilst the former one is put out into the air, under cover, for a short time; and on its being well dried, the sago within is cut into square pieces and taken out to be thoroughly dried, under cover, to protect it from the sun. It has then lost the acid smell already noticed, and has become quite white. After one day’s drying thus, it is taken into what may be called the manufactory, a long shed, open in front and on one side, and closed at the other and in the rear. Here the lumps of sago are broken up, and are reduced into an impalpable flour, which is passed through a sieve. The lumps, which are retained by the sieve are put back to be re-bruised, whilst that portion which has passed is collected, and is placed in a long cloth bag, the gathered ends of which, like those of a hammock, are attached to a pole, which pole being suspended to a beam of the building by a rope, one end of it is sharply thrown forward with a particular jerk, by means of which the sago within is shortly granulated very fine, and becomes what is technically termed “pearled.” It is then taken out and put into iron vessels, called quallies, for the purpose of being dried. These quallies are small elliptical pans, and resemble in form the sugar coppers of the West Indies, and would each hold about five gallons of fluid. They are set a little inclining, and in a range, over a line of furnaces, each one having its own fire. Before putting in the sago to be dried, a cloth, which contains a small quantity of hog’s-lard, or some oily substance, is hastily passed into the qually, and the sago is equally quickly put into it, and a Chinese laborer who attends it, commences stirring it with a pallit, and thus continues his labor during the few minutes necessary to expel the moisture contained in the substance. Thus each qually, containing about ten pounds of sago, requires the attendance of a man. The sago, on being taken off the fire, is spread out to cool on large tables, after which it is fit to be packed in boxes, or put into bags for shipment; and is known in commerce under the name of “pearl sago.” Thus the labor of fifteen or twenty men is required to do that which, with the aid of simple machinery, might be done much better by three or four laborers. A water-wheel would both work a stirring machine and cause an inclined cylinder to revolve over a fire, for the purpose of drying the sago, in the manner used for corn, meal, and flour in America, or for roasting coffee and chicory in England. But the Chinese have no idea of substituting artificial means, when manual ones are obtainable.

A considerable quantity of sago is exported from Singapore in the state of flour. The whole quantity made and exported there exceeds, on the average, 2,500 tons annually. The quantity shipped from this entrepot is shown by the annexed returns, nearly all of which was grown and manufactured in the settlement. The estimated value for export is set down at 14s. per picul of 1¼ cwt.

EXPORTS FROM SINGAPORE.
		Piculs
1840-41	Pearl sago	41,146
″	Sago flour	33,552
1841-42	Pearl sago	46,225
″	Sago flour	7,447
1842-43	Pearl sago	25,306
″	Sago flour	4,838
1843-44	Pearl sago	14,266
″	Sago flour	14,067
1844-45	Pearl sago	18,472
″	Sago flour	36,141
1845-46	Pearl sago	19,333
″	Sago flour	26,925
1846-47	Pearl sago	40,765
″	Sago flour	9,025

Imports of sago into the United Kingdom, and quantity retained for home consumption:—

	Imports. Cwts.	Home consumption. Cwts.
1826	9,644	2,565
1830	2,677	3,385
1834	25,763	13,827
1838	18,627	28,396
1842	45,646	50,994
1846	38,595	45,671
1848	65,000
1849	83,711	72,741
1850	89,884	83,954

THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE.

Artocarpus incisa.—This tree is less cultivated than would be supposed from its useful properties. In the West Indies and the Indian Islands, where it has been introduced from its native place, the South Sea Islands, it is held in very little consideration, the graminea, tuberous roots, and farinaceous plants being more easily and readily cultivated. There are two or three varieties known in the Asiatic regions. The properties of this tree are thus enumerated by Hooker:—The fruit serves for food; clothes are made from the fibres of the inner bark; the wood is used for building houses and making boats; the male catkins are employed as tinder; the leaves for table cloths and for wrapping provisions in; and the viscid milky juice affords birdlime.

A. integrifoliais the Jack or Jacca, the fruit of which attains a large size, sometimes weighing 30 lbs., but is inferior in quality to the bread-fruit.

The nuts or fruit of Brosimum Alicastrum, an evergreen shrub, native of Jamaica, are nutritious and agreeable articles of food. When boiled with salt fish, pork or beef, they have frequently been the support of the negroes and poorer sorts of white people in times of scarcity, and proved a wholesome and not unpleasant food; when roasted it eats something like our common chesnut, and is called bread-nut.

Kafir Bread.—According to Thunberg, the Hottentots being very little acquainted with agriculture, or with the use of the cerealia, and subsisting principally upon wild bulbs and fruits, obtain food also from Encephalartos caffer, a species of Zamia, with a cylindrical trunk, the thickness of a man’s body, and about seven feet high. Having cut down a tree, they took out the pith, that nearly fills its trunk, and which abounds in mucilage and an amylaceous fluid; after keeping this for some time buried under ground in the skin of an animal, they reduced it by pounding and kneading into a kind of paste; and then baked it in hot ashes, in the form of round cakes, nearly an inch thick. The Dutch colonists, in consequence of this practice of the natives, called the plant brood-boon, which signifies literally bread tree.

THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA.

The several varieties of the edible plantain which are known and cultivated throughout the West Indies, Africa, and in the East are all reducible to two classes, viz., the Plantain and the Banana (Musa Paradisiacaand sapientum). The difference between these two plants is even so slight as to be scarcely specific; it is therefore most probable that there was originally but one stock, from which they have, by cultivation and change of locality, been derived.

The tiger plantain (M. maculata) and the black ditto (M. sylvestris) are cultivated in Jamaica. The whole of the species and varieties of the tribe are what are called polygamous monœcious plants, each individual tree bearing the male and female organs of reproduction.

The plantain and its varieties invariably bear male, female and hermaphrodite flowers within the same spathe, all of them being imperfect and consequently unproductive of seed. An individual may, even from excess of culture, moisture, &c., be entirely incapable of flowering. During the prevalence of a disease or blight among the plantain walks of Demerara in the years 1844 and 1845, it was seriously proposed to introduce male plantains, or obtain fresh stock by seed.

It is, therefore, necessary to determine with exactness, if possible, whether the Plantain or Banana, (whichever be the parent stock) exists anywhere at present, or has been known to have existed as a perfect plant, that is bearing fertile seeds; or, whether it has always existed in the imperfect state, that is, incapable of being procreated by seed, the only state in which it at present exists in our colonies.

Whether Linnæus be right in his conjecture (Spec. Plant, 1763) that the “Bihai” (Heliconia humilis), a native of Caraccas, which produces fertile seeds, is the stock plant of the plantain, it is almost impossible to ascertain; but the absence of any description of a wild seed-bearing plantain, renders it highly probable that the cultivated species are hybrids produced long ago. The banana, from time immemorial, has been the food of the philosophers and sages of the East, and almost all travellers throughout the tropics have described these plants exactly as they are known to us, either as sweet fruit eaten raw, or a farinaceous vegetable roasted or boiled. It is remarkable that the plantain and banana should be indigenous, or at all events cultivated for ages both in the Old and New World. Numerous South American travellers describe some one of these plants as being indigenous articles of food among the natives, thus showing (if the plantain and its varieties be hybrids) a communication between the tropics of America, Asia and Africa, long before the time of Columbus. The older writers on the colony of Guiana, as Hartsinck, Bellin and others, consider the plantain to be a native. It is remarkable that Sir R. Schomburgk, during his travels, found a large species of edible plantain far in the interior. It appears, therefore, from all the investigations that have been made, that the plantain is either a hybrid, or its power of production from seed has been destroyed long ago by cultivation, and that it is not known to exist anywhere in a perfect state; in which case any attempt to improve the present stock by the introduction of suckers from elsewhere, must be totally futile. Mr. A. Garnett recommends the following system of cultivation, as calculated to prevent the blight. The walk or plantation is to be formed into beds 36 feet wide, divided by open drains 30 inches deep. Two rows of plantains to be planted upon each bed at 18 feet distance, both between and along the rows, to afford a clear ventilation to the enlarging plants, and so soon as the plantation has been established, the space of land between each row to be shovel-ploughed 12 inches deep; the same to be repeated annually, and upon the interspace may be planted maize, yams, sugar cane, or eddoes, and the whole kept clear at all times. Thus, with the conjoined principles of good tillage, free ventilation, and mixed crops, the blight may yet be successfully combated.

A great diminution in the cultivation of the plantain has been occasioned in British Guiana by this blight or disease, which first made its destructive appearance in Essequibo, upwards of thirty years ago, where its ravages increased with such fatal intensity as to render the profitable growth of the plant almost hopeless; and up to this hour no one has been able to discover the immediate or remote cause of this extraordinary vegetable endemic; whether arising from the action of insects among the sheathes of the petioles of the leaves, or in the soil, or from organic decay of the plant, remains without solution. The last-named cause seems to be rejected, by the fact that the fructification of the plant is as healthy and abundant in parts of the colony where the blight does not prevail, both in number and size of the fruit upon the spike, as at any former period. On the east coast of Demerara, both the plantain and banana have been grown for more than twenty years upon the same land, without any attack of the disease, and without any extraneous manure or even lime having been applied, and the plants still exhibit great luxuriance, and produce their former weight of fruit.

The foliage of the plantain affords food and bedding, and is used for thatch, making paper, and basket making; and from its petioles is obtained a fine and durable thread. The tops of the young plants are eaten as a delicate vegetable; the fermented juice of the trunk produces an agreeable wine.

The abundance and excellence of the nutritive food which the plants of this valuable genus supply are well known; but of the numerous uses to which they are applied I may mention, the following:—

The fruit is served up both raw and stewed; slices fried are also considered a delicacy. Plantains are sometimes boiled and eaten with salt meat, and pounded and made into puddings, and used in various other ways. In their ripe state these fruits contain much starchy matter. From their spurious stems, the fibres of the spiral vessels may be pulled out in such quantity as to be used for tinder. M. textilis yields a fibre which is used in India in the manufacture of fine muslins, and the coarser woody tissue is exported in large quantities from Manila, under the name of white rope or Manila hemp. Horses, cattle, swine, and other domestic animals are fed upon the fruit, leaves, and succulent trunks.

The same extent of ground which in wheat would only maintain two persons, will yield sustenance under the banana to fifty. That eminent naturalist and elegant writer, the Baron Von Humboldt, states (“Political Essay on New Spain,” vol. ii.) that an acre of land cultivated with plantains produces nearly twenty times as much food as the like space sown with corn in Europe. He refers to a place in Venezuela, where the most careful tillage was rendered to a piece of land, yielding produce supporting a humble population residing in huts, each placed in the centre of an enclosure, growing the sugar cane, Indian corn, the Papaw tree, and the Musa—a tropical garden!—upon the elaborate culture of which a whole family relied for subsistence.

Although from the extensive plantain walks in our colonies—which are seldom cultivated with a garden-like care—so large an average proportion may not be obtained as twenty times the production of wheat in Europe, yet I have had practical experience of the prodigious quantity of farinaceous matter obtainable from an acre of tolerably well-cultivated plantains, and no esculent plant requires less labor in its culture upon land suitable for its production. They are readily increased by suckers, which the old plants produce in abundance.

Lindley enumerates ten species of Musa, some of which grow to the height of 25 or 30 feet, but that valuable species M. Cavendishii, does not grow more than four or five feet high.

The bananas of the family of the Musaceæ, appear to be natives of the southern portion of the Asiatic continent (R. Brown, “Bot. of Congo,” p. 51). Transplanted at an unknown epoch into the Indian Archipelago and Africa, they have spread also into the, New World, and in general into all intertropical countries, sometimes before the arrival of Europeans.

According to Humboldt it affords, in a given extent of ground, forty-four times more nutritive matter than the potato, and 133 times more than wheat. These figures must be considered as only approximative, since nothing is more difficult than to estimate the nutritive qualities of different aliments.

Musa paradisiaca is cultivated in Syria, to latitude 34 deg. Humboldt says it ceases to yield fruit at a height of 3,000 feet, where the mean annual temperature is 68 deg., and where, probably, the heat of summer is deficient.

The banana seems, however, to be found no higher than 4,600 feet in a state of perfection.

No fruit is so easily cultivated as are the varieties of the plantain. There is hardly a cottage in the tropics that is not partly shaded by them; and it is successfully grown under other fruit trees, although it is independent of shelter. Its succulent roots and dew-attracting leaves render it useful in keeping the ground moist during the greatest heats. The plantain may be deemed the most valuable of fruits, since it will, in some measure, supply the place of grain in time of scarcity. To the negroes in the West Indian Islands the plantain is invaluable, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them denominated the staff of life. In Jamaica, Demerara, Trinidad, and other principal colonies, many thousand acres are planted with these trees.

The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line of thread be drawn across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when it begins to expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to have grown nearly an inch. The fruit when ripe is of a pale yellow, about a foot in length and two inches thick, and is produced in bunches so large as each to weigh 40 lbs. and upwards.

The soil best suited to the growth of the plantain is found in the virgin land most recently taken in from the forest, having a formation of clay and decomposed vegetable substances. A large portion of organic matter is required, as well as clay or other ponderous strata, to afford the greatest production of fruit. I have known good plantains produced in the West Indies, upon land considerably exhausted by the culture of cotton, but which was enriched by the application of a quantity of the decomposed seed of that shrub near the roots of the young plantains.

In the Straits’ settlements of the East, the following are the most approved varieties:—The royal plantain, which fruits in eight months; one which bears in a year, the milk plantain, the downy plantain, and the golden plantain or banana. A species termed gindy has been lately imported from Madras, where it is in great request. It has this advantage over the other kinds, that it can be stewed down like an apple while they remain tough.

The Malays allege that they can produce new varieties, by planting three shoots of different sorts together, and by cutting the shoots down to the ground three successive times, when they have reached the height of nine or ten inches.

About 144 suckers of the plantain are set on an orlong (1⅓ acres), each of which spreads into a group of six or eight stems, of about six inches to one foot in diameter, which yield each a bunch of fruit, and are then cut down, when fresh shoots succeed. In very rich soils the plant will continue to bear for twenty years, but otherwise it is dug up after the seventh or eighth year. The cost of cultivating 100 orlongs of land exclusively with plantains, will be nearly 2,000 Spanish dollars until produce be obtained. About 43,200 bunches may be had afterwards yearly, which might give a return of 2,160 dollars, or, deducting the cost of cultivation and original expenses, a profit per annum of 1,450 dollars.

The plantain has frequently been suggested as an article of export from our colonies. A few bunches are occasionally brought over by the Royal West India Mail Company’s steamers running to Southampton, but more as a curiosity than as articles of commerce.

In its ripe state no unexceptionable and sufficiently cheap method of preserving it has yet been suggested.

In some districts of Mexico it is, indeed, dried in the sun, and in this state forms a considerable article of internal commerce under the name of “plantado pasado.”

It is sometimes so abundant and cheap in Demerara, Jamaica, Trinidad, and other of our colonies, that it might, if cut and dried, in its green state, be exported with advantage.

It is in the unripe state that it is so largely used by the peasantry of the colonies as an article of food. It has always been believed to be highly nutritive, but Dr. Shier states that, in any sample of the dried plantain which he analysed, he could not find a larger amount than 88 per cent of nitrogen, which corresponds with about 5½ per cent. of proteine compounds.

When dried, and reduced to the state of meal, it cannot, like wheat flour, be manufactured into maccaroni or vermicelli, or at least the maccaroni made from it falls to powder when put into hot water. The fresh plantain, however, when boiled whole, forms a pretty dense firm mass, of greater consistency and toughness than the potato. The mass, beaten in a mortar, constitutes the foo-foo of the negroes. The plantain meal cannot be got into this state unless by mixing it up with water to form a stiff dough, and then boiling it in shapes or bound in cloths.

Plantain meal is prepared by stripping off the husk of the plantain, slicing the core, and drying it the sun. When thoroughly dry it is powdered and sifted. It is known among the Creoles of the West Indies under the name of Conquin tay. It has a fragrant odour, acquired in drying, somewhat resembling fresh hay or tea. It is largely employed as the food of infants, children, and invalids. As food for children and convalescents, it would probably be much esteemed in Europe, and it deserves a trial on account of its fragrance, and its being exceedingly easy of digestion. In respect of nutritiveness, it deserves a preference over all the pure starches on account of the proteine compounds it contains.

The plantain meal would probably be best and freshest were the sliced and dried plantain cores exported, leaving the grinding and sifting to be done in Europe. The flavor of the meal depends a good deal on the rapidity with which the slices are dried; hence the operation is only fitted for dry weather, unless indeed, when there was occasion for it, resource were had to a kiln or stove. Above all, the plantain must not be allowed to approach too closely to yellowness or ripeness, otherwise it becomes impossible to dry it. The color of the meal is injured when steel knives are used in husking or slicing, but silver or nickel blades do not injure the color. On the large scale a machine, on the principle of the turnip slicer, might be employed. The husking could be greatly facilitated by a very simple machine. Were the plantain meal to come into use in England, and bear a price in any way approaching to that of Bermuda arrowroot, it would become an extensive and very profitable export. Full-sized and well-filled bunches give 60 per cent. of core to 40 of husk and top-stem, but in general it would be found that the core did not much exceed 50 per cent., and the fresh core will yield 40 per cent. of dry meal, so that from 20 to 25 per cent. of meal is obtained from the plantain, or 5 lbs. from an average bunch of 25 lbs.; and an acre of plantain walk of average quality, producing during the year 450 such bunches, would yield a ton and 10 lbs. of meal, which, at the price of arrowroot, namely, 1s. per lb., would be a gross return of £112 10s. per acre. A new plantain walk would give twice as much. Even supposing the meal not to command over half the price of arrowroot, it would still form an excellent outlet for plantains whenever, from any cause, the price in the colony sank unusually low.

In respect of the choice of a situation for establishing a plantain walk, with a mill, boiling-house and drying ground, it will be necessary to fix upon new land with plenty of moisture, and flat if possible, in order that there may be no difficulty in making roads to carry the trees; whilst a deep river traversing the land, where there is no tide or danger of salt water—where facility would be afforded in making the basins wherein to wash the fibre; where a sea port would be near at hand for shipping the produce—where workmen, provisions, and fuel would be readily obtained, and where the climate is particularly healthy, should be especially sought after.

The plantain grows in profusion between the tropics in all parts of the world; but as it is an object to have the London market available for the prepared fibre, the following places may be mentioned as best calculated to produce a good and constant supply, viz:—the West India Colonies, the British Colonies in Africa, the South American Republics, along the Mosquito shore, and other places on the Continent of America, including Porto Rico, Hayti, and Cuba. The advantages to the paper manufacturer in employing the prepared fibre instead of rags, will be numerous, for the fibre is equal in texture, clean, and aromatic; whilst rags are dirty, full of vermin, and very often pestilential.

A large stock of the plantain can always be secured, without fear of its being injured by keeping. The paper will be superior to that made of rags, and the process of making it will be more economical, inasmuch as the sorting of the material will not be required. Another advantage is, that a new article of commerce will be opened for the benefit of the colonial shipping interests, and a stimulus will be given to the cultivation of a fruit which is the favorite food of large masses of the population.

The following is a “specification” of articles requisite for making three tons of prepared fibre in a day:—

Four wooden boilers lined with lead, in the form of coolers, 7 feet deep by 6 in diameter. One hydraulic press, from 400 to 500 tons. One stout screw press, to compress the fibre before it is submitted to the hydraulic press. One iron mill with horizontal cylinders. Six waggons; twenty mules. Utensils, such as spatulas, cutlasses, hoes, rakes, &c. &c. One lever, to take out the fibre from the boilers. One steam boiler, equal to 12-horse power, to steam the four wooden boilers.

It being very desirable that the works should be in the immediate neighbourhood of a river, the machinery should be worked by water-power; but if this mode should be inconvenient, a steam engine in addition must be obtained, of about 8 or 10-horse power; or if one steam engine of 20-horse power were employed, it would be sufficient for all purposes. Thirty men are required to make three tons of fibre in a day.

Buildings.—A store, 100 feet long by 25 feet broad, in wood, covered with straw, to contain the dried fibre and the presses. One open shed of the same dimensions, covered with straw for the boilers.

Capital required.—It is ascertained that the following outlay will be sufficient:—

The materials will cost	£2,000
Buildings	500
Purchase of land	1,500
Working capital	1,000
	£5,000

The estimated expense in cultivating one quarree, or 5 1-5th English acres, in plantains, will be £30, as the work can be easily performed by one laborer in 300 days, at 2s. sterling per day.

A quarree will produce 18 tons of mill fibre, the cost of the preparation of which is as follows:—

For workmen’s wages, soda, lime, and fuel, at £3 per ton	£54
Freight to Europe at £4 per ton	72
Managers	30
Duty, insurance, office fees, &c., at £1 per ton	18
	£174

Thus, making the total expense of producing 18 tons of fibre £174, or £9 13s. 4d. per ton. In 1848 Manila rope, or plantain fibre of good quality, was worth £38 per ton.

A correspondent in Jamaica, who has devoted much attention to the subject, has furnished me with some very valuable detailed information, the most complete and practical that has ever yet appeared:—

Cultivation.—The first care of a planter in superintending the cultivation of the banana tree, with the two-fold object of collecting both fibre and fruit, will be to study the nature of the tree to which he will give the preference. A number of experiments have been made upon different species of the banana with a view of obtaining therefrom the largest quantity and the best color of fibre, as well as the finest fruit. Those experiments were very tedious and minute, but were absolutely necessary, in order to arrive at the most economical and advantageous method of rendering the fibre into a state fit for shipment to Europe. At the same time, it was of the utmost importance to find out the best description of tree, for producing the strongest, the most abundant, and the most silky fibre—for containing the least quantity of juice, for producing the color sufficiently white to facilitate the operation of bleaching, for bearing fruit of the most esteemed quality, and, therefore, the most favorable for general consumption.

A banana tree, which seemed at first sight to possess all those good qualities—being of a large size, with whitish or flaxen colored fibre, and producing very savoury fruit, only gave 2 per cent, of fibre after preparation; that is to say, 100 lbs. in its raw state, only gave two pounds of fibre after it was boiled. In endeavoring to find out the cause of such a small result, it was discovered that this specimen of banana (commonly called the “pig banana,”) contained a larger proportion of water than of fibre, compared with other sorts—that the heart was too large, and that the inside leaves were so tender that they almost dissolved in the process of boiling. These were the greatest inconveniences of this species of tree. There was also another disadvantage, in the quality of its fruit, which was yellow in color, and not so useful as those descriptions of banana which are generally eaten as a substitute for bread. The results of several experiments made upon various descriptions of banana, demonstrated the properties of each species, both as regarded fibre and fruit. The most profitable in both respects is undoubtedly the yellow banana, or common plantain. This tree grows to the height of about fifteen feet, it is nine or ten inches in diameter, its fibre is firm and abundant, and its fruit is used both in a green and ripe state. This plantain abounds on the continent of Spanish America and between the tropics, where the natives cultivate it as producing the most nutritious fruit of its kind. Cargoes of the fruit are frequently exported from Surinam and Demerara. On the Spanish part of the American continent, land is measured by fanegas, each fanega containing twelve quarrees, and each quarree five and one-fifth English acres. A quarree measures one hundred geometrical paces, or three hundred square feet.

In the first instance, the suckers of the plantain (the tree being propagated by cuttings or suckers which shoot up from the bulb), should be set at ten feet distance from each other; this proposition gives 300 plants on one line of trees, or 900 on the surface of one quarree of land. Each plant propagates itself and gives upon an average ten trees of the same size and bearing. On one quarree of land, therefore there would be 9,000 trees, yielding four pounds of fibre and one bunch of fruit each, which is 9,000 bunches of fruit, and 36,000 lbs. nett of fibre, in the whole. In good ground the same plant will last fifteen years without any further trouble. Flat lands ought to be cultivated in preference to any other. The plantain thrives with the root in the water, and the head to the sun. On the borders of the river Orinoco it grows to the height of twenty feet, is one foot in diameter, and the stalks of the branches are three inches in circumference.

Cutting.—The tree which has not produced its ripe fruit ought to be cut, for two reasons—first, that the fruit be not lost; and secondly, that the tree will not have arrived at its full growth and ordinary size, and the fibres will be too tender. In cutting it down, take it off six inches above the surface of the ground, then divide it longitudinally into four parts, take out the heart, which must be left to serve for manure, and if fermentation is decided upon, leave the pieces at the foot of the tree, otherwise take them to the mill to be crushed. The tree being very tender, may, on being bent down, be cut asunder with a single stroke of a hatchet, cutlass, or other convenient instrument. One man can cut down 800 trees, and split them in a day.

Carrying.—The trees being thus divided, may be immediately carried to the mill to be crushed, or may remain until the fermentation separates the juice of sap from the fibres and the pith. By fermenting the trees, their weight will be so much reduced as to render their carriage considerably lighter than if taken away when first cut down. A wagon, with oxen or mules, can carry about a ton per day, and one man can load the wagon and drive the cattle.

Crushing.—If the tree is carried from the plantation without being subjected to fermentation, it must be passed through a mill, the rollers of which, if made about three feet in length, and one foot in diameter, will be found a very convenient size. In this operation, care should be taken, first of all, to separate the tender from the harder or riper layers of fibre. The tree is composed of different layers of fibre, which may be divided into three sorts; those of the exterior, having been exposed to the atmosphere, possess a great degree of tenacity—whilst those of the interior, having been secluded from the air, are much more soft and tender. If, therefore, the layers of the plantain are passed indiscriminately through the mill, those which are hard or firm will not be injured by the pressure, whilst those which are soft will be almost reduced to pulp. Therefore, the rollers of the mill should be always placed horizontally, and upon passing the trees lengthways through the mill, the pressure will be uniform and the fibre uninjured. In this manner, pass the different sorts of layers separately, and the produce will be about four pounds of fibre from each tree. The stalks of the branches of the plantain give the best fibre, and a large quantity, as compared with the body of the tree; 100 lbs. of the stalk will give 15 lbs. nett of fibre. In general, if a tree will give 4 lbs. nett of fibre, the stalks will give 1 lb. out of the 4 lbs. The stalks ought also to be crushed separately, because they are harder than the exterior layers of the tree. About 3,000 trees may be passed through the mill in a day. Whilst the experiments were in progress it was ascertained that with a single horse, 100 plantain trees on an average were crushed in twenty minutes, giving five minutes rest for the horse.

Fermentation.—This operation may be performed in several ways. If the trees are allowed to ferment upon the spot after being cut, a great saving will occur in respect of carriage; this matter ought to be carefully studied, because, on an extensive scale of manufacture, it is of serious importance. It is found that the trees when cut and heaped up, are subject to a drainage of juice, which, having a tanning property, discolors those pieces which lie at the bottom; hence much time is consumed in afterwards restoring the fibre to its natural color. The cut plants should be removed from the stumps of the trees, and then placed in heaps, shaded from the sun by laying the leaves over them. They will take several weeks to ferment. To pursue this process in the immediate vicinity of the establishment, would give rise to many inconveniences, in consequence of the very large space of ground that would thereby be occupied. Fermentation requires a mean temperature. A tree cut down and exposed to the sun, would be nearly dry at about 30 deg. centigrade, showing a result quite different to that which ought to be obtained; whilst a tree placed on a wet soil, and open for the fresh air to circulate between the plants, covered at the same time with its own leaves, and shaded by the foliage of the plantation, would be decomposed at the desired point of about 22 degrees. The different modes of fermentation require the same proportions. If the cut plants be covered with a thick layer of earth, they will not decompose in six months; but if, on the contrary, they are covered slightly, so that they may receive the freshness of the earth, and the heat of the air, they will decompose in six weeks. It is the same with the fermentation of alkaline baths. Baths at only one degree will produce decomposition, whilst baths at three degrees will not produce any decomposition. The stuff after being passed through the mill, or after fermentation, will be put into the chemical baths, or vats, or chemical liquor, and the persons in charge of the mill and boilers will do this work. Fermentation may be advantageously used, in cases where the trees are grown at a distance from the establishment—but, where they are in the immediate vicinity of the works, it will be best to crush them by the mill. The principal saving that is occasioned by fermentation, will be found in the carriage, as the substance will be much reduced in weight by that process. In an establishment where the manufacture is carried on upon a very large scale, trees cut down at a distance can be fermented, whilst those produced near the mill can be crushed.

Chemical Agents.—For decomposing the gluten in the trees during the process of boiling, soda, carbonate of soda, and quick lime, are used. The proportions herein given, are those requisite for making three tons of fibre per day, upon which scale the cost price of the fibre in a prepared state for bleaching, is subsequently calculated. To make three tons of fibre per day, it is necessary to have four boilers of 800 gallons each, and give five boilings in a day, or 1,650 lbs. of nett fibre for each boiler, or 6,600 lbs. for the four boilers per day. After having put into the boiler a sufficient quantity of water to cover the material, wait until the water begins to boil, and then add the chemical agents.

	lbs.
To the first boiling of a copper, put of soda	60
To the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th boilings of the same copper, 15 lbs., each making	60
	120
Therefore the four boilings will take of soda	480
The same liquid will serve for two other days, by adding 15 lbs. to each fresh boiling, say, in the whole, 40 lbs., or	600
It will consume in soda for nine tons made in three days	1,080
Or 360 lbs. for three tons made in one day.

On the fourth day commence again in the same manner, and go on for the two remaining days as above, producing eighteen tons in the six days. The quick lime is to be employed in each of the boilings, in the proportion of one-third less than the quantity of soda. Crude soda may be used in the boilings, without previously discarbonising it, and quick lime reduced to lime water; but, to render the action of the chemical ingredients more quick and certain, it is better to discarbonise the soda before it is put into the boiler. This may be done by preparing in a small separate boiler the quantity of liquid necessary for a day’s consumption, which is prepared in about an hour. The carbonisation is effected in the following manner:—

Ten parts of salt of soda. } In weight.
Six parts of quick lime.
Seventy parts of water (never less.)

Boiling.—This is a most important operation. By it the gluten and coloring matter are separated from the fibres, which separation is absolutely necessary, in order to prepare the fibre to receive the bleaching. It is necessary to observe that the three several sorts of layers which are found in the tree, and which, under the head of “crushing,” are recommended to be pressed separately, should be also boiled separately, because the outermost layer has more coloring matter than the next under it, which again has more than the innermost layer. As they are boiled so will they be dried and shipped, and each sort will have a different price in the market; that fibre which is lightest in color bearing the preference, in consequence of its not requiring more than six hours to bleach—whilst the darkest will, probably from its greater tenacity, take twelve to eighteen hours. It is advisable to place over each boiler the means of lifting the mass of fibre when boiled, and suffering it to drain into the boiler before it is carried away to be washed. This is easily effected by a chain from the roof, to which may be hung a lever, having at that end over the boiler some hooks attached to it, whereby the mass is lifted out of the boiler, and the liquor thus preserved for the next boiling.

Washing.—It is absolutely necessary that the fibre should be well washed after being taken out of the boiler, in order that all extraneous matter may be separated therefrom. In choosing the site for an establishment of this kind, care must always be taken to make choice of a spot in the immediate neighbourhood of a large river, or other plentiful supply of fresh clean water. The machinery necessary for cleansing and washing the fibre may be of various descriptions; but, perhaps a selection from one of the three following sorts will be found to answer every purpose, viz., those used by paper manufacturers in England, and by coffee planters and arrowroot growers in the West Indies.

Drying.—The washed fibre, when hung over lines made of the twisted fibre, or any other convenient material, will be sufficiently dry in a few hours to be taken down, when more can be hung up, and then several batches can be dried in a day; and it will be necessary to have the drying ground as near the water as possible, in order to save weight in carriage.

Pressing.—When the fibre is perfectly dry, it must be well pressed, for the convenience of packing, carriage, and shipment. The hydraulic press is the best machine that can be used for the purpose; but in the absence of that, the lever and screw will make a large amount of pressure available. A hydraulic press of from 400 to 500 tons, will press bales of from four to five hundred weight each, which will not be too large for shipment.”

STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS INVESTIGATED.

Starch is one of the constituent parts in all mealy farinaceous seeds, fruits, roots, and other parts of plants, and is in large demand for domestic use, the arts, &c. Our common starch is made from wheat, and a good deal from potatoes. Pure fecula is separated by art from a variety of plants.

Of plants yielding starch we have the Indian arrowroot, which is the fecula in the rhizomata of several species of the Marantaceæ. In the West Indies it is obtained from the Maranta arundinacea, Allomyca and nobilis, and also from various species of Canna called Tous les mois, and in the East Indies from species of Curcuma, and from Maranta ramossissima in Silhet.

The bread fruit (Artocarpus incisa), already alluded to, yields a large quantity of starch; as do the sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas, or Batatas edulis). The pith or farinaceous part of the trunk of the Caryota urens, is almost equal to the finest sago. In Assam the sago of this palm is much used.

The two varieties of the Cassava afford a very superior fecula, which is imported under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. 8,354 bags of tapioca and farina were imported from Maranham in 1834. Some excellent starch from Norfolk Island was shown at the Great Exhibition.

The Cycadaceous family yields much starchy matter, along with mucilage. From the soft stems of Cycas revoluta and C. circinalis, natives of China and the East Indies, a kind of sago is made. These plants are propagated by suckers. Zamia pumila, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and other species of this remarkable genus of plants, which is nearly related to both ferns and palms, supply an amylaceous matter, which has been sold as arrowroot. A similar product is obtained from Alstrœmeria pallida, a perennial plant, with pink red flowers, growing in Chili. From the nuts of the Cycas circinalis, the Singalese prepare an inferior kind of starch, by pounding the fresh kernels. These are cut in slices, and well dried in the sun before they are fit for use, otherwise when eaten they are intoxicating, and occasion vomiting and purging.

The quantity of starch in a plant varies according to the period of growth. The results of examination on the comparative yield of starch in the potato, showed that while it abounded towards the latter part of the season, it decreased when the tubers began to germinate in the spring. It was found by Professor Balfour that 240 lbs. of potatoes left in the ground, contained of starch—

	lbs.				Per cent.
In August	23	to	25	or	9.6	to	10.4
September	32	″	38	″	13.3	″	16
October	32	″	40	″	13.3	″	16.6
November	38	″	45	″	16	″	18.7
April	38	″	28	″	16	″	11.6
May	28	″	20	″	11.6	″	8.3

The quantity of starch remained the same during the dormant state of winter, but decreased whenever the plant began to grow, and to require a supply of nourishment.

Mr. Harris, of Jamaica, some years ago, made experiments upon the nutritious qualities of the principal roots and vegetables of the West Indies. These being well washed and scraped, were grated, in each case into two gallons of clear rain-water, and the whole then filtered through a clean linen strainer, after which it was left to settle; when the amylaceous matter had wholly subsided the supernatant liquor was carefully decanted, and fresh water added, which process was repeated until every foreign substance appeared to be removed; the produce of these several operations was then carefully collected and dried with a temperature of about 110 deg. Fahrenheit, and, when dry, weighed. In this manner the results given in the following table were obtained:—

PRODUCE FROM FIVE POUNDS OF THE
	Oz.	Drms.	Centes. prop.
Root of the sweet cassava (Janipha Loeflingii)	14	1	17.27
Root of ocoes or taniers (Caladium esculentum)	11	17	14.29
Root of the bitter cassava (Janipha manihot), the Yucca amarga of the Spaniards	11	2	13.90
Full grown but unripe fruit of the plantain (Musa paradisiaca)	11	1	13.82
Root of the Guinea yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)	8	6	10.46
Root of the sweet potato (Batatas edulis)	8	6	10.46
Root of the arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea)	5	6	6.71
The full-grown but unripe fruit of the banana (Musa sapientum)	0	0	0.00

This table exhibits, no doubt, very unexpected results, since it places the sweet cassava at the very top, and the banana at the lowest place in the list, while the bitter cassava, which seems to be little more than a variety of the sweet, notwithstanding its being the staple material of West Indian bread, occupies two places lower down, and is followed by the plantain. The sweet potato and the yam, both of which are considered to be less nutritious than the arrowroot, rank above it in the centesimal proportion of their amylaceous produce. Upon what, then, do the nutritive properties of these various substances depend? Is it upon a gluten which was overlooked by Mr. Harris, in his experiments, or, if not, may we not suspect some inaccuracy in the proportion of starch assigned by him to each? It is to be wished that similar experiments were repeated with care in different quarters, and the list extended to other tropical products applicable to human sustenance, especially the roots which yield the farinaceous starch of the South Sea islanders, to the achira of Choco, &c.

I shall extract largely from a very valuable report drawn up by Dr. John Shier, agricultural chemist, of Demerara, and submitted to the Governor of that colony in 1847, on the starch-producing plants, which is deserving of more widely extended publicity than the merely local circulation it has received. The remarks and results of experiments are worthy of deep consideration; and although they were meant to apply specially to British Guiana, they are equally pertinent to the West India colonies generally, our African and Australian settlements, and many other of our foreign possessions.

For many reasons it is desirable that the number of the staples of cultivation and export of our colonies should be increased. It is the general experience of British agriculturists, that the mixed system of agriculture is more profitable to the farmer and safer for the land, than the continued cultivation of any single crop, or indeed of nearly allied crops; and although fewer valid objections can be urged against the continued cultivation of the sugar cane, when properly conducted, than against that of grain crops, it is nevertheless certain that a well-arranged alternation or rotation of crops would be better. When an efficient system of covered drainage is adopted in British Guiana, there can be no doubt that the sugar cane will be replanted at shorter intervals of time than at present, and that other crops, such as provender crops for cattle, and provision crops for the colonial and perhaps the home market, will be made to alternate in cultivation with the cane. When the cane rows are as far apart as they require to be, to admit of sufficient tillage with the plough and other implements, it will also be possible to intercalate crops of rapidly growing plants; and were this done, as it easily might, in such a manner as to prevent undue exhaustion of the land, or impoverishment of the sugar crop, the returns could not fail to be materially increased. It would then probably be found that the fluctuations in prices would be less felt, for they would not likely, at the same time, affect different crops in the same manner.

It has been ascertained, in regard to some plants at least, that a much larger return can be obtained in the colonies than can be grown in temperate countries, however fertile. This is partly owing to the greater fertility of the soil under powerful tropical atmospheric influences, and partly to the fact that vegetation is continuous throughout the year, so that slow growing plants can do more within the time, from their functions not being arrested by the chill of winter; and of many rapidly growing plants, two successive crops can be grown within the year.

Starch is a substance easily manufactured, and being largely used in several of the arts, as well as an article of diet, there consequently exists a considerable demand for it in England. It may be obtained from a great variety of plants, and many of the most productive of it are natives of the tropics.

The high prices commanded by grain and breadstuffs in Europe, renders the present a remarkably favorable time to ascertain what can be done in this branch of tropical agriculture; for should the potato disease return, or this root be less extensively planted than hitherto, starch must maintain a high price, and it will be worth ascertaining whether some of the superior starch-producing plants of the tropics might not be cultivated to such an extent as to supply the English market, and thus be at once profitable to the colonies and advantageous to the mother country.

Before entering on such a cultivation, however, various points require investigation. We ought to be able to answer such questions as the following:—

1. What differences exist between the characters of starch produced by different plants?

2. What are the qualities or properties that lead manufacturers—calico printers for example—to prefer one variety to another?

3. For culinary purposes, and as an article of diet, what qualities or characters obtain a preference?

4. Can the starches from different plants be distinguished from one another by distinct and well marked characters, so that the substitution of a less esteemed variety for a more esteemed one, or the adulteration of a high priced variety with a cheaper one, could be readily detected?

5. What plants produce the most esteemed varieties?
6. What plants produce it in the largest quantity?
7. What plants produce the largest yield per acre?
8. From what plants is it most easily manufactured?

9. Is the process attended with any particular difficulties that ought to deter the East and West India planters from engaging in it?

In the following observations (continues Dr. Shier) I shall be able to reply to several of these questions, especially those capable of being settled in the laboratory. On other points, particularly those relating to the returns per acre, I am at present but imperfectly informed, in consequence of the limited extent to which these plants have hitherto been cultivated in this colony (Demerara), and from the total absence of authentic data regarding the amount of yield.

Characters of starch produced from different plants.—Starches from different plants are best distinguished from one another by examination under a good miscroscope. The grains or globules may be examined either as transparent or opaque objects; and although in the same species there are considerable differences in size and form, the different kinds are, on the whole, quite distinguishable. One of the best ways of examining the form of the globules, under the microscope, is to lay them on a plate of glass and cover them with a drop of aqueous solution of iodine, which renders them gradually blue and opaque. When the difference in size and form between the globules of different species is considerable, as between the Tous les mois starch and cassava starch, or even between the arrowroot starch and cassava starch frequently used to adulterate it, it is not difficult, with a little practice, to detect the fraud.

TABLE ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SIZE AND FORM OF THE STARCH GLOBULES OF VARIOUS PLANTS.

1. Tous-les-mois (Canna coccinea).—Grown in Grenada, 1-300 to 1-2,000 of an inch; general size, 1-500; form of the globules, large, elliptical and ovate, and remarkably transparent.

2. Ditto ditto (species unknown).—From a plant grown in the garden of the Hon. J. Croal, Georgetown, but gathered before the root was fully ripe; globules spherical, shortly ovate and elliptical; size, from 1-600 to 1-1,600; general size, 1-800.

3. Buck Yam (Dioscorea triphylla).—Grown on the banks of the Demerara River. Form of globules, elliptical, often truncated at one end, so as to be mullar-shaped, some pear-shaped; length, twice the width; size, 1-600 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-800.

4. Common Yam (D. sativa).—Grown on No. 1 Canal, Demerara River. Elliptical, some long elliptical; size, 1-700 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-1,000.

5. Guinea Yam (D. aculeata).—Grown in the same locality. Larger globules, elliptical; smaller ditto, spherical, often truncated; some shortly ovate, with the appearance of being flattened; general size and range, same as No. 4.

6. Barbados Yam, grown on banks of Demerara river. Globules, pear-shaped and mullar-shaped; range, 1-700 to 1-1,600; general size, 1-1,000.

7. Plantain (Musa paradisiaca).—Grown on the banks of the Demerara river. Globules long and narrow, generally long elliptical, often more acute at the ends than in any other species, some linear ended abruptly; length, often three times the width; range, from 1-400 to 1-4,000 of an inch; general size, 1-800.

8. Potato (Solanum tuberosum).—Irish tubers, from Belfast Sound. Globules, 1-600 to 1-2,000; general size, 1-1,200.

9. Potato (Commercial).—Locality unknown. Range from 1-600; globules generally same as former, but a few stray ones as large as 1-40 of an inch.

10. Sweet Potato (Convolvulus Batatas).—Grown at the Lodge, Demerara. Form of globules, spherical aggregated; range, 1-1,000 to 1-4,000; general size, 1-2,400.

11. Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea).—Specimens from Bermuda, where the highest priced and best quality is prepared. Ovate and elliptical; length in the larger globules, twice the width; range, from 1-800 to 1-2,400; general size, 1-1,400.

12. Ditto ditto, grown on plantation Turkeyen, Demerara, by J.W. King. Size and description same as No. 11.

13. Ditto ditto, grown and prepared in Barbados. Characteristics the same, but globules more uniform in size.

14. Ditto ditto, grown on plantation Enmore; not quite so uniform in size.

15. Bitter Cassava (Janipha Manihot).—Grown on Haagsbosch plantation. A few globules occur as large as the 1-1,000 of an inch; these are ovate, the rest are spherical. The range is from 1-2,000 to 1-8,000; general size, 1-4,000.

16. Sweet Cassava (Janipha Loeflingii).—Grown on No. 1 Canal, Demerara River.

17. Tannia (Caladium sagittifolium).—Grown at the Lodge. Globules not so truly spherical as the foregoing, but range and size the same.

18. Wheat (Triticum sativum).—Locality unknown. Form of globules, spherical and slightly elliptical, some very small; range, 1-2,000 to 1-6,000, the former the general size.

19. Maize (Zea Mays).—Grown in the colony, but locality uncertain. Globules, approaching to spherical, much aggregated; range, 1-2,000 to 1-4,000; general size, 1-3,000.

From an inspection of this list, it does not appear that the species would be easily distinguishable, and it is not easy briefly to describe the differences; in practice, however, and especially when the observer has a number of pure and authentic specimens before him, to have recourse to as standards of comparison, the discrimination is by no means difficult.

Specific gravity of starch derived from various plants.—Of many bodies the determination of the specific gravity is one of the best modes of distinguishing the purity. With the view of ascertaining whether the different varieties of starch have all the same density, as has been asserted by some, trials were carefully made of as many specimens as I could procure. The results are embodied in the following table:—

TABLE No. I.—DENSITY OF STARCH DERIVED FROM VARIOUS PLANTS.
Names of Plants	Density	Tem. at time of Obs. °F.	Remarks
1. Bitter cassava	1.4773	87.	Grown in the colony and prepared in the Colonial Laboratory.
2. Tannia	1.4773	87.	Ditto ditto
3. Arrowroot	1.4772	86.25	Ditto ditto
4. Arrowroot	1.4748	86.25	Ditto ditto
5. Common yam	1.4733	83.25	Ditto ditto
6. Sweet potato	1.4718	85.75	Ditto ditto
7. Arrowroot	1.4717	82.75	St. Vincent’s, commercial
8. Arrowroot	1.4701	84.75	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
9. Tous les mois	1.4698	85.25	Ditto ditto
10. Sweet cassava	1.4692	86.5	Ditto ditto
11. Wheat starch	1.4632	85.	Commercial, of English manufacture
12. Plantain	1.4615	85.75	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
13. Tous les mois	1.4611	84.25	Grenada, commercial
14. Barbados yam	1.4607	83.5	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
15. Irish potato	1.4589	84.75	Tubers from Belfast; prepared in C.L.
16. Guinea yam	1.4581	84.2	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
17. Potato	1.4561	84.	Commercial
18. Buck yam	1.4489	81.25	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.
19. Arrowroot	1.4443	85.5	Barbados, commercial
20. Arrowroot	1.4158	86.25	Bermuda, ditto
21. Maize	1.4109	85.5	Grown in the colony and prepared in C.L.

From this it will be seen that the order of density does not correspond with the order in any of the other tables. Probably those specimens prepared from dry seeds, such as wheat and maize starch, which, as commercial articles at least, are less pure than those prepared from recently dug roots, have also the lowest density.

Hygroscopic properties of starch produced from different plants.—Such of the specimens as are marked in the following table, as prepared in the colonial laboratory, were dried in the sun in shallow trays, to which they had previously been transferred in the wet state. When sun dried, the masses were broken down, and the starches freely exposed to the air in the shade for ten days. Any adherent masses were then rubbed to powder by light pressure in a glazed mortar, and the whole sifted. Portions of each of these starches, and of others for the sake of comparison, were then dried, at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, in a current of dry air, and the loss determined:—

TABLE No. II.—SHOWING THE HYGROSCOPIC WATER CONTAINED BY STARCH PRODUCED FROM DIFFERENT PLANTS.
	Percentage of water.	Remarks.
1. Potato	20.27	Commercial, locality unknown
2. Sweet potato	19.57	C., C.L.**
3. Buck yam	19.43	C., C.L.
4. Barbados yam	19.40	C., C.L.
5. Arrowroot	18.81	Bermuda, commercial
6. Irish potato	17.28	Tubers from Belfast, C.L.
7. Guinea yam	17.14	C., C.L.
8. Tous les mois	16.74	Grenada, commercial
9. Arrowroot	16.43	Barbados, ditto
10. Common yam	16.36	C., C.L.
11. Plantain	16.23	C., C.L.
12. Arrowroot	15.65	C., C.L.
13. Arrowroot	14.84	C., Plantation Enmore
14. Tous les mois	14.64	C., C.L.
15. Tannia	14.60	C., C.L.
16. Sweet cassava	14.30	C., C.L.
17. Maize	14.22	C., C.L.
18. Arrowroot	13.36	C., C.L.
19. Bitter cassava	11.88	C., C.L.
20. Wheat starch	11.16	Commercial, of English manufacture
[** The initial C. throughout these tables indicates that the plant was grown in the colony; C.L., that the starch was prepared in the colonial laboratory.]

That the extremes in this table should occur in the case of the starches of commerce, was, perhaps, to be expected; nevertheless the difference between the starch of the sweet potato and that of the bitter cassava is nearly as great, and both these specimens were prepared in the laboratory, by the same process, and subject to the same temperature and exposure.

Characters of the jellies formed by various starches.—Tenacity.—I have met with no very precise results on this subject, except the well-known fact that it takes a much larger quantity of some starches, the arrowroot for instance, to form a jelly of equal tenacity with that formed by others, such as the Tous les mois; and hence in the West Indies the latter is universally preferred to the cassava starches.

After trying various plans, the method which I found best fitted for comparing the tenacity of different starch jellies, was the following:—Of each of the kinds of starch, 24 grains were weighed out and mixed with 400 grains of distilled water, in a porcelain capsule of suitable size. The mixture was then heated and boiled briskly for three minutes, with constant stirring, and was immediately poured into a conical test-glass,45 which the jelly nearly filled. The time at which each glass was filled was noted, and exactly two hours were allowed for the contents to cool in a current of air. The glass is then set on a plate of glass, supported on a ring of a retort stand, and the weight ascertained, which was necessary to force a metallic disc, of ascertained size, through the jelly. The most convenient way of doing this was by using a piece of apparatus of the form rudely represented on the margin. The rectangular frame is of thin brass wire, and the slightly cup-shaped disc, d d, is soldered to a wire, attached to the upper short side of the rectangle. From the opposite or lower side of the rectangle a small glass cup, c., is suspended, into which weights are put as soon as the disc has been made to rest on the surface of the jelly, pp is the plate of glass on which the test-glass is set. Whenever the disc tears the skin of the jelly and begins to sink in it, no further addition, of weights is made, and the weight of the disc, framework, and cup being known, we have an estimate of the tenacity of the jelly. This process is but approximative, and some practice is necessary before the operator succeeds in getting uniform results from the same series of specimens.

The following statement shows the results on such specimens as I could procure. The disc was exactly 7/10ths of an inch in diameter.

TABLE NO. III.—TENACITY OF STARCH IN JELLIES.
No.	Names of specimens.	Weight in grains required to break the jelly.
1.	Tous les mois, C., C.L.	2,446 *
2.	Tous les mois, Grenada, Commercial	1,742
3.	Maize, C., C.L.	955
4.	Barbados yam, C., C.L.	895
5.	Irish potato, from Belfast, C.L.	756
6.	Tannia, C., C.L.	630
7.	Bermuda arrowroot, finest Commercial	627
8.	Common yam, C., C.L.	657
9.	Guinea yam, C., C.L.	571
10.	Plantain, C., C.L.	467
11.	Potato starch, Commercial	467
12.	Arrowroot, C., C.L.	393
13.	Sweet potato, C., C.L.	368
14.	Arrowroot, C., C.L.	340
15.	Arrowroot, C.	301
16.	Arrowroot, St. Vincent’s, Commercial	289
17.	Barbados arrowroot, Commercial	273
18.	Wheat starch, Commercial	183
19.	Buck yam, C., C.L.	151
20.	Bitter cassava, C., C.L.	150
21.	Sweet cassava, C., C.L.	78
[* In this instance the weight stated detached the jelly from the side of the glass, but the skin of the jelly was not torn as in the other cases.]

From this list it is obvious that, in respect of tenacity, there is a very great difference between the jellies prepared from the different starches—greater, indeed, than exists in regard to any other character. At first I thought it probable that the tenacity of the jelly would bear some relation to the size of the globules, and it is true that we find the Grenada Tous les mois, the largest globule, next the top, and the cassava among the smallest, at the bottom of the scale. But, on the other hand, we have the Buck yam starch, a large sized globule, very high; together with many other exceptions.

As an article of diet, the most tenacious varieties of starch are preferred, on account of the economy of employing an article of which a less quantity will suffice; and the same is true when applied to starching linen, provided the jelly be not deficient in clearness.

Clearness of jellies.—When starch jelly is used for the purpose of starching, or glazing linen, or cotton goods, those varieties that are most transparent are understood to be preferred, provided, at the same time, they possess the requisite tenacity. This and other matters will be best determined by practical men in England; but having had occasion many times to prepare specimens for trying the tenacity, the opportunity was always taken of arranging the specimen of jellies in the order of their clearness, or, to speak more accurately, of their translucency. In this respect also they exhibit considerable differences, varying, when prepared according to the formula described under the head of tenacity, from very translucent approaching to opaque. The order is shown in the annexed list, which begins with the clearest.

TABLE NO. IV.—SHOWING THE ORDER OF CLEARNESS
OR TRANSLUCENCY OF UNIFORMLY PREPARED
STARCH JELLIES.

Order. Names of specimens.

1. St. Vincent Arrowroot, Commercial

2. Arrowroot, C., C.L.

3. Sweet cassava, C., C.L.

4. Bitter cassava, C., C.L.

5. Bermuda arrowroot, Coml.

6. Arrowroot, C., C.L.

7. Irish potato, C.L.

8. Potato starch, Coml.

9. Buck yam, C., C.L.

10. Arrowroot, C.

11. Plantain, C., C.L.

12. Tannia, C., C.L.

13. Sweet potato, C., C.L.

14. Common yam, C., C.L.

15. Tous les mois, Grenada, Cml.

16. Barbados arrowroot, Coml.

17. Tous les mois, C., C.L.

18. Barbados yam, C., C.L.

19. Guinea yam, C., C.L.

20. Wheat starch, Coml.

21. Maize, C., C.L.

On comparing this list with the former one, and taking a general view of the subject, it will be seen that the jellies that are most tenacious are generally the least translucent, and that the order of the two lists is more nearly the converse than occurs in regard to any other properties.

Percentage of starch yielded by different plants.—On this point no two writers do or can agree. The quantity of starch, even in the same plants, the potato for instance, varies with the season, the soil, climate, age, ripeness, length of time the roots have been out of the ground, &c.

In the following table I have given the result of a series of trials made in the Colonial Laboratory, Demerara. The roots were all fresh dug, and, with two exceptions, noticed in the remarks, were fair average specimens. The process was the common one. The grater or rasping machine was of copper, to avoid injuring the color of some of the starches, which an iron grater is liable to do:—

TABLE NO. V.—PERCENTAGE OF STARCH YIELDED BY DIFFERENT PLANTS.
No.	Names of plants.	Percentage of starch.
1.	Sweet cassava	26.92
2.	Bitter cassava	24.84
3.	Another sample	20.26
4.	A third	16.02
5.	Common yam	24.47
6.	Arrowroot (roots scarcely ripe)	21.43
7.	Another sample	17.28
8.	Barbados yam	18.75
9.	Tannia	17.05
10.	Another sample	15.35
11.	Guinea yam	17.03
12.	Plantain	16.99
13.	Sweet potato	16.31
14.	Buck yam	16.07
15.	Another sample	15.63
16.	A third, from a dark colored variety	14.83

From the foregoing list it appears that the sweet and bitter cassava merit attention as starch-producing plants. They are occasionally grown for this purpose in the colonies, and yield a large per centage of starch; but there exists an opinion, whether well or ill founded, that it is liable to rot linen, and the preference is given here to the starch of arrowroot. It remains to be seen, however, what estimate will be formed of this starch in England, for if it should prove an esteemed variety, there can be no doubt of its proving a highly profitable cultivation. Cassava grows readily in almost any soil, and when the drainage is tolerable, two crops of the sweet variety can, it is stated be grown in a year. I have seen it growing luxuriantly in the light soils of the interior, as well as in the stiff clay soils of the coasts. It is considered an excellent preparatory crop in new and stiff land, on account of its tendency to loosen the soil. Were the bitter variety fixed on, the preparation of Casareep might be combined with the preparation of starch; and as that substance is one of the most esteemed bases for the preparation of various sauces, it is probable that this might turn out the most profitable part of the produce. At all events, bitter cassava would have this advantage over all other starch-producing roots, that the juice of the roots could be turned, to account as well as the starch.

Of all the plants mentioned in the list, starch is most readily separated from the arrowroot, in consequence of the tissue being more fibrous, and yielding little or no cellular tissue requiring to be run off the starch. Time and water are thus saved in the process, and were the fibrous residue pressed and dried, it could probably be turned to good account in the manufacture of paper.

In respect of facility of preparation, the plantain starch, though of excellent quality, ranks lowest, for the flesh-colored tissue in which the starch is embedded is somewhat denser than the starch, and settles down under it, and it is not a little difficult to arrange the process so as completely to separate the finer parts of this matter from the starch, and hence its color is never perfectly white.

Yield of starch-producing plants per acre.—On this subject, as already remarked, I do not at present possess sufficiently accurate data.

In England ten tons of potatoes are not unfrequently produced per acre; now assuming 15 the per centage of starch, there would be a yield of one-and-a-half tons per acre, which, at the-lowest quotation, 28s. a cwt., would give £42 per acre; and were the starch to rank with that prepared from wheat, it would produce £40 per ton, or £60 per acre. In the thorough drained land of Demerara, and under a good system of cultivation, I have no doubt that ten tons of cassava could easily be grown, and if it yielded 25 per cent. of starch, it would be a return of 2½ tons, or of £62 10s. per acre, reckoned at the price of potato starch.

Of the yield of the plantain we possess much more accurate information. A new plantain walk in this colony (British Guiana) will yield 450 bunches, of 50 lbs. each, of which, as nearly as possible, 50 per cent. will be of core, containing 17 per cent. of starch, thus producing 17 cwt. of starch per acre. But an old plantain walk, even when free from disease, could not be reckoned to yield more than half this quantity, namely, 8½ cwt. per acre. Considering the value that is set on the plantain as an article of food, and the difficulties incident to the process of making starch from it, it is by no means probable that it will ever be used as a source from which to obtain starch.

Of the quantity of arrowroot that can be grown per acre, I have been able (continues Dr. Shier) to procure no information; but from the price it commands in the market, the facility with which it can be grown, and the ease with which the process of separating the starch can be carried on, it deserves a fair trial here. To cultivate it to advantage it ought to be done on thorough-drained and well-tilled land, planted at the proper season, and not dug till ripe and in dry weather.

Of the Tous les mois, I have only been able to procure a single plant, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the Hon. John Croal. As the root was immature, it would be unfair to deduce from the quantity of starch obtained, the per centage generally contained by the plant. Its immaturity was also indicated by the globules being smaller than in the specimen obtained from Grenada; in other respects, however, such as the tenacity of its jelly, it stands highest. It is altogether one of the most promising starch-producing plants, and obviously deserves a careful trial. It is a plant that expends a good deal of matter in maturing a considerable quantity of dense and bulky seeds, but as it propagates both by root and seed, it is probable that, as a root-crop, it would be highly advantageous to procure a variety that does not flower.

Both the tannia and the sweet potato can be readily grown, and the produce per acre is large; but from the foregoing tables it would appear that there are other plants whose starch is likely to be held in greater estimation.

Difficulties attendant on the process of preparing starch.—Were the manufacture of superior starch to be carried out in this colony (British Guiana) on a large scale and profitably, recourse would require to be had to all the well-known means of economising labor. In the cultivation as much as possible would require to be done by cattle and implement labor, and this would be the easier to accomplish, inasmuch as, to grow roots to great advantage, the land would require to be thorough drained. When the produce was brought to the buildings, machinery similar to what is already in use in Europe, for the purpose of washing and rasping roots, and of separating and washing starch, would suffice with comparatively little manual labor. An ordinary amount of judgment being exercised in determining the proper period of ripeness of the roots, and in selecting seasons when the weather is usually most suitable for conducting the process of manufacture, it does not appear that any unusual difficulty would have to be encountered by growers or manufacturers, unless as regards the obtaining of a sufficient supply of good water; for that is essential to the production of good starch.

The creek water of the colony is generally too brown, and the trench water too muddy, and contains often too much salt to produce starches of the finest color, hence recourse would require to be had to rain water, or Artesian water. The first is remarkably pure, and it certainly does not appear that were sufficiently capacious reservoirs built, or ponds dug, and protected from infiltration by the usual well-known means, there would be great difficulty in getting a sufficient supply of rain water. It is done in Bermuda, and why not here? On the other hand, almost all the Artesian wells in the colony contain a large quantity of oxide of iron held in solution by carbonic acid, and which separates as an ochrey deposit on free exposure to the air. Were this water used in the starch process, it would certainly injure the color materially; but by a chemical process, exceedingly simple, inexpensive, and easy of application, it is possible to purify the Artesian water, and render it almost as fit as rain water for the purpose of manufacturing starch.

In some of the other colonies a great deal of the best starch is produced by the holders of small lots of land, and many parts of the labor being light, and suited for women and children, it is one of the most desirable cultivations for small holders, and would be very beneficial for Demerara, where the lands of the peasantry too generally lie in a state of utter neglect; yet small holders could not be expected to be able to compete with those who should grow starch on the large scale, and prepare it with the best machinery.

Cassava meal, plantain meal, &c., as articles of export.—It may soon become an important question whether the plantain, or some of the edible roots grown in the tropics, might not be sent to Europe in a fresh state as a substitute for the potato. Many of them, the buck yam and the cassava, for instance, ought to be used when fresh dug, for every day they are out of the ground they deteriorate. This, however, is not so much the case with some of the larger yams. It is worth trying whether the finer sorts that deteriorate by keeping, might not, after being sliced and dried in the sun, become articles of export, either in that state or when ground to meal. For this purpose the bitter cassava, the plantain, and the buck yam are the most promising.

Of the bitter cassava mention has already been made as a substance from which the starch and casareep might be prepared. In this case, however, the woody and cellular tissue, with the small quantity of starch left in it by the ordinary starch process, would form far too poor an article of diet to constitute part of the food of man. But the roots might be used as a medium from which to prepare cassava meal, casareep, and the very small quantity of starch which is expressed along with the juice, leaving all the rest of the starch to form part of the meal. It is of such meal that the cassava cakes of the Indians are prepared; and although by no means so nutritive as Indian corn meal46, there can be little doubt that in the Scotch and Irish markets the cassava meal would obtain a preference; and were it exported in quantity it would probably come into extensive use among all classes.

The process would be as follows:—After washing in a revolving apparatus, by which means the adherent earth would be got quit of, and almost the whole of the thin dark colored cuticle become detached, the roots could be reduced to pulp in a rasping-mill, without the use of water; the pulp might be compressed in bags by hydraulic pressure, whereby the juice, together with a small portion of the starch, would be expressed. After allowing the starch to subside, the juice should be concentrated to about the density of 1.4. The starch would be washed, purified, and dried. The contents of the bags would then be broken up and dried in the sun or in a current of air, after which the meal would be sifted through a coarse sieve to separate the coarser parts, which, if their amount was considerable, could be ground and added to the rest. In this state of rough meal it is fit for making the cassava cakes. If ground to flour it might be used to mix with wheat, rye, or barley flour.

The process is usually conducted as follows:—The squeezed pulp is broken up, sifted, and exposed to the sun on trays or mats till it is fully more than half dry. An iron hoop of the size and thickness of the cake to be made is then laid on a griddle or hot plate, and the space within the hoop is filled evenly with the somewhat moist meal, no previous kneading or rolling having been employed. As soon as the coarse meal coheres, the ring is lifted and the cake is turned and heated on the opposite side. The heat should not be sufficient to brown the cake. The cakes are finally dried by exposure to the sun. From the dry cassava meal cakes may be prepared by sprinkling it with as much cold water as to moisten it to the proper point, and then proceeding as above. Hot water cannot be employed, neither can kneading, or any considerable degree of compression be used, otherwise the water does not evaporate readily enough; the starch gets too much altered by the heat, and the cake becomes tough.

If an acre of well-tilled thorough-drained land yield 10 tons of fresh roots, and I have every reason to believe that such a return might be obtained, I have ascertained that the produce would be 3½ tons of meal, 598 lbs. of casareep, and 2 cwt. of starch; and estimating the meal at 1d. per lb., the casareep at 1s. 5d. per lb., and the starch at 40s. per cwt., the gross amount would be £78 13s. 4d. per acre. In ascertaining these proportions, very simple machinery was employed, and had the pulp been better pressed the quantity of casareep would have been considerably greater.

From the table given in a former note it will be seen that the cassava meal prepared in this way contains but a very small proportion of matter nutritive in the sense of contributing to the formation of blood, and that the expressed juice carries off fully one-half of the proteine compounds contained in the plant.

Lichenin is a variety of starch occurring in Cetraria islandica, or Iceland moss.

Indian corn starch.—The advance of science has recently brought to our knowledge the preparation and use of another article, not only important as food, but also essential in the arts. I have had occasion to mention the high value of the Indian corn, and I might with advantage allude to many of its uses and properties; at present I must confine my remarks to a product from this valuable grain, known as corn starch, and yet another as the fecula of maize. In the close of 1849, Mr. Willard and his associates, of Auburn, established extensive works at Oswego, for the preparation of these important products, their establishment covering an area of 49,000 square feet. As the proprietors have to some extent held unrevealed the process by which they produce a starch more pure than the starch of commerce, we may not indulge in speculative curiosity; yet I can hardly doubt their great success is mainly attributable to perfect machinery, guided by science and talent. The rapid and extended demand for these new products presents sufficient evidence of their character, as we are told that about three millions of pounds of this corn starch are demanded annually by the trade, notwithstanding the usual supply of wheat starch is undiminished. A remarkable feature of maize starch is the absence of impurities; upon being subjected to analysis, it is found that only 2 76-100 parts in 1000 are of other matter than pure starch. According to Dr. Ure, wheat yields only 35 to 40 per cent, of good starch, a material extensively used in arts and manufactures.

In addition to starch, the Oswego starch-factory produces from Indian corn a fecula, peculiarly adapted to culinary purposes, presenting to our domestic economy one of the most acceptable, pure, and nutritious articles of food. Already has it become an indispensable household article, and is consumed largely at home and abroad. The factory, though in its infancy, consumes annually 150,000 bushels of corn, equal to about nine millions of pounds in weight. Hitherto the quantities of starch used for laundry purposes and in the manufactories of America, have been produced from costly wheats, though it may be found in many vegetable substances, such as potatoes, the horse chesnut and other seeds. In England, where breadstuffs, particularly wheat, have been raised in quantities inadequate to the demand for food, attempts have been made to convert the viscid matter of lichens into a gum, for the use of calico printers, paper-makers, and ink makers; for the stiffening of silks, crapes, and the endless variety of dry goods, which, by means of these gums or starch, are made to appear of greater consistency. Most of these attempts had partial success, yet the making of starch from wheat has not been arrested.

The Oswego starch factory has happily introduced the use of Indian corn, as a grain producing a larger proportion of pure amylaceous properties than any other known vegetable substance, proffering to the American manufacturer another economic advantage, sustaining, in a most legitimate matter, sound rivalry and competition with all the world. I am not aware whether the Oswego factory has converted its starch into gum—a process easily accomplished by heat, and thus rendered soluble in cold water, which cannot be done while in its condition of starch. Here is another result of vast importance derivable from Indian corn; and we can well conceive that, in a short period of time, the advantages now derived from the production of corn starch, may have grown into a national benefit.

Rice (according to Prof. Solly) contains on an average about 84 per cent of starch; but till comparatively a few years ago, no starch was manufactured from it, notwithstanding its low price, and the large quantity of starch which exists in it. The reason of this was, that the old process of fermentation, by means of which starch is procured from grain, was not found to be applicable to rice; and hence the latter only became available as a source of starch in 1840, when Mr. Orlando Jones introduced his new process, for which he obtained a patent. This process consisted in macerating the rice for about 20 hours in a dilute solution of caustic potash, containing about 200 grains of the alkali in every gallon; the liquor is then drawn off, the rice dried, reduced to powder by grinding, then a second time digested in a similar alkaline lye for 24 hours, repeatedly agitated. After this it is allowed to settle, and well washed with pure cold water. A prize medal was awarded for this rice starch at the Great Exhibition.

Mr. S. Berger, of Bromley, also received a prize medal. He adopts a different mode of preparation. In place of employing a dilute solution of caustic potash to dissolve the gluten and other insoluble matters of the grain, Mr. Berger uses a solution of carbonate of soda, containing half a pound to the gallon. The rice is steeped, in cold water for 48 hours, levigated in a suitable mill, and the pulp thus formed is treated with the solution of carbonate of soda for 60 or 70 hours, being repeatedly stirred; it is then allowed to settle for some hours, the alkaline liquor is drawn off, and the starch is washed and purified. This process was patented by Mr. Berger, in December, 1841. A third process was patented in February, 1842, by Mr. J. Colman; he uses dilute muriatic acid for the same purpose as Messrs Jones and Berger.

ARROWROOT, EAST AND WEST INDIAN.

The genuine arrowroot of commerce is the produce of the tuberous rhizomata of Maranta arundinacea, a native of South America, and M. indica, indigenous to the West Indies, but also cultivated in the East. The best West Indian arrowroot comes from Bermuda. Its globules are much smaller and less glistening than those of Tous-les-mois, or potato starch.

The peculiar characteristics of the starch obtained from various plants has been particularised and described already in the elaborate investigation of the commercial yield and value of the starch-producing plants. Amylaceous matter of a similar kind to arrowroot is obtained from other species of Maranta, as from some species of Canna, well known under the popular name of Indian shot, from the similarity of their round black seeds.

The arrowroot plant (M. arundinacea) is a perennial, its root is fleshy and creeping, and very full of knots and numerous long white fibres. Arising from the root are many leaves, spear-shaped, smooth on the upper surface and hairy beneath. The length of the leaf is about six or seven inches, and the breadth about three towards their base, the color and consistence resembling those of the seed. From the root arise slender petioles upon which the leaves stand, and several herbaceous erect stalks come out between them, rising to the height of about two feet. A loose bunch of small white flowers is succeeded by three-cornered capsules, each containing one hard rough seed.

The propagation and culture of this plant are of the simplest kinds. The roots should be parted, and the most suitable soil is a rich loam.

In the Bermudas, a deep rich soil, or one in which marsh or peat prevail, is alone adapted for growing arrowroot in perfection.

A correspondent from the Bermudas, (where arrowroot forms the great staple crop of the islands), informs me that he ploughed up a small piece of land, twenty rods (or the eighth part of an acre), with a small plough and one horse. He ploughed it over three times, and the third time planted the arrowroot as he ploughed it. The land had not been turned up before for twenty years.

The expenses and profits stand thus:—

EXPENSE.
				£.	s.	d.
To the ploughman, harrowing and planting the arrowroot				1	0	0
Arrowroot plants					16	0
Digging it up	£1	0	0
Deduct half, as the land was planted for the next year	0	10	0	0	10	0
Balance carried down, being net profit				5	14	0
				8	0	0
PRODUCE.
By 2,000 lbs. of root at 8s. per 100 lbs.				8	0	0
By balance brought down as net profit				5	14	0

The above £5 14s. clear profit on the 20 rods, is at the rate of £45 12s. profit for one acre. Now, if a small cultivator were to plant three or four acres, and get only one-half of the above profit, it would give a good return, and would be well worth the trial.

Arrowroot requires a good rich red soil, of which there is still much lying waste. The best time for planting it is in April, but it can be planted in March, or indeed at any time after the first of the year, till May: though if taken up and planted before Christmas, you may depend it will not come to any perfection. Arrowroot can be planted in many ways; either in holes made with a hoe, ploughed under, or in drills like Irish potatoes. Now the way I prefer is to prepare the land, then strike the line at two feet apart, and make holes with a pointed stick or dibble six inches apart, putting in each hole one strong plant or two small ones, then cover them up. This is more trouble than the old way, but it gives an excellent crop. It can also be planted like Irish potatoes in drills, two feet apart in the rows, and six inches between the plants. It should be hand-weeded in the spring, because if it is hoed, most likely you will cut some of it off which may be springing under ground, and it will never come up so strong again. Arrowroot requires very strong ground and plenty of manure. Farm yard manure is the best; next to that green seaweed dripping with salt water—this is an excellent manure, and should be dug in the ground as the arrowroot is taken up. I have no doubt that it would be of great advantage to the planter, if he were to put a cask in a cart, fill it with salt water, and put it on the land a few weeks before it is planted. Some people say that arrowroot does not pay so well, because it has to stay in the ground a whole year; but then if you have onions you can plant them over it, and so obtain a crop which will pay much better than the arrowroot itself. If you have a large piece of arrowroot ground, take up one half early, and plant it out with Irish potatoes; then take up the other half later, and with the plants set out your potato ground, that is if you have taken up your potatoes; if not, plant the arrowroot between the rows, in holes; so that when you take up the potatoes, you clean the arrowroot and loosen the ground, which will give a good crop; or you can plant Indian corn very thin over the arrowroot ground (if you have nothing else), but be sure to cut it up before it ripens corn, or it will injure your arrowroot crop; or you may plant a few melon seeds over it, and you will have a fine crop of fruit.

In 1845 I planted, in the months of January and February, a quarter of an acre of good land, in arrowroot and onions.

The expense and profit stand as follow.—

EXPENSE
	£.	s.	d.
To digging the ground	1	0	0
Planting arrowroot	0	6	0
Twelve load of seaweed, at 1s.	0	12	0
Rotten manure for onions, 10 loads, at 2s.	1	0	0
One bottle onion seed	0	16	0
Sowing onion seed and keeping the plants clean	0	10	0
Planting out onions	1	0	0
Cleaning onions after set out	0	15	0
Tops and making basket	1	8	0
Pulling, cutting, and basketing	0	18	0
Carting and shipping	0	8	0
Digging arrowroot	2	0	0
	10	13	0
Clear profit on quarter acre	22	13	9
	33	6	9
PRODUCE
By onions sold	20	16	0
By arrowroot	12	10	9
	33	6	9

This is at the rate of £90 15s. clear profit per acre, which is more than double the worth of the land. I have not named the arrowroot plants, because I have planted my land with them again, but they might be fairly put to the credit of the account. The above statement shows what may be done with good land and good management; but even if a man can only clear £10 on an acre of land, he ought not to grumble.

Dr. Ure gives a most interesting and lucid account of the mode of manufacture in the island of St. Vincent, where the plant is now cultivated with great success, and the root manufactured in a superior manner.

It grows there to the height of about three feet, and it sends down its tap root from twelve to eighteen inches into the ground. Its maturity is known by the flagging and falling down of the leaves, an event which takes place when the plant is from ten to twelve months’ old. The roots being dug up with the hoe, are transported to the washing-house, where they are thoroughly freed from all adhering earth, and next taken individually into the hand and deprived, by a knife, of every portion of their skins, while every unsound part is cut away. This process must be performed with great nicety, for the cuticle contains a resinous matter, which imparts color and a disagreeable flavor to the fecula, which no subsequent treatment can remove. The skinned roots are thrown into a large cistern, with a perforated bottom, and there exposed to the action of a copious cascade of pure water, till this runs off quite unaltered. The cleansed roots are next put into the hopper of a mill, and are subjected to the powerful pressure of two pairs of polished rollers of hard brass; the lower pair of rollers being set much closer together than the upper. The starchy matter is thus ground into a pulp, which falls into the receiver placed beneath, and is thence transferred to large fixed copper cylinders, tinned inside, and perforated at the bottom with numerous minute orifices, like a kitchen drainer. Within these cylinders, wooden paddles are made to revolve with great velocity, by the power of a water-wheel, at the same time that a stream of pure water is admitted from above. The paddle-arms beat out the fecula from the fibres and parenchyma of the pulp, and discharge it in the form of a milk through the perforated bottom of the cylinder. This starchy water runs along pipes, and then through strainers of fine muslin into large reservoirs, where, after the fecula has subsided, the supernatant water is drawn off, and fresh water being let on, the whole is agitated and left again to repose. This process of ablution is repeated till the water no longer acquires anything from the fecula. Finally, all the deposits of fecula of the day’s work are collected into one cistern, and being covered and agitated with a fresh change of water, are allowed to settle till next morning. The water being now let off, the deposit is skimmed with palette knives of German silver, to remove any of the superficial parts, in the slightest degree colored; and only the lower, purer, and denser portion is prepared by drying for the market.

On the Hopewell estate, in St. Vincent, where the chief improvements have been carried out, the drying-house is constructed like the hot-house of an English garden. But instead of plants it contains about four dozen of drying pans, made of copper, 7½ feet by 4½ feet, and tinned inside. Each pan is supported on a carriage having iron axles, with lignum vitæ wheels, like those of a railway carriage, and they run on rails. Immediately after sunrise, these carriages, with their pans, covered with white gauze to exclude dust and insects, are run out into the open air, but if rain be apprehended they are run back under the glazed roof. In about four days the fecula is thoroughly dry and ready to be packed, with German silver shovels, into tins or American flour barrels, lined with paper, attached with arrowroot paste. The packages are never sent to this country in the hold of the ship, as their contents are easily tainted by noisome effluvia, of sugar, &c.

Arrowroot is much more nourishing than the starch of wheat or potatoes, and the flavor is purer. The fresh, root consists, according to Benzon, of 0.07 of volatile oil; 26 of starch (23 of which are obtained in the form of powder, while the other 3 must be extracted from the parenchyma in a paste, by boiling water); 1.48 of vegetable albumen; 0.6 of a gummy extract; 0.25 of chloride of calcium; 6 of insoluble fibrine; and 65.6 of water.

Arrowroot is often adulterated in this country with potato flour and other ingredients.

Dr. Lankester asserts that the value of arrowroot starch, as an article of diet, is not greater than that of potato starch, and that the yield of starch is not greater from the arrowroot than from potatoes; but this I must decidedly deny. Chemical analysis and experience are proofs to the contrary.

The analogy arrowroot has to potato starch, has induced many persons to adulterate the former substance with it; and not only has this been done, but I have known instances in which potato starch alone has been sold for the genuine foreign article. There is no harm in this, to a certain extent; but it certainly is a very great fraud upon the public (and one for which the perpetrators ought to be most severely punished), to sell so cheap an article at the same price as one which is comparatively costly. There is, moreover, in potato starch, a peculiar taste, bringing to mind that of raw potatoes, from which the genuine arrowroot is entirely free. This fraud, however, can be readily detected; arrowroot is not quite so white as potato starch, and its grains are smaller, and have a pearly and very brilliant lustre; and further, it always contains peculiar clotted masses, more or less large, which have been formed by the adhesion of a multitude of grains during the drying. These masses crush very readily when pressed between the fingers, and as before stated, arrowroot is free from that peculiar odor due to potato starch. This may be most readily developed by mixing the suspected sample with hot water; if it be genuine arrowroot, the mixture is inodorous, if potato starch, the smell of raw potatoes is immediately developed. If a mixture of arrowroot and potato starch be minutely observed by means of a good microscope, the grains of arrowroot may be readily detected; they are very small and exceedingly regular in shape, whilst those of potato starch are much larger, and very irregular in shape. But the most convenient and delicate test of all, is that proposed by Dr. Scharling, of Copenhagen. After mentioning the test by the microscope, he goes on to state that he has obtained more favorable results by employing diluted nitric acid; and that, if arrowroot or potato starch be mixed with about two parts of concentrated nitric acid, both will immediately assume a tough gelatinous state. This mass, when potato starch is employed, is almost transparent, and when arrowroot is used, is nearly opaque, as in the case above mentioned, in which hydrochloric acid is substituted. A mixture of nitric acid and water, however, operates very differently on these two kinds of starch. The glutinous mass yielded by the potato starch, becomes in a very brief period so tough that the pestle employed for stirring the mixture is sufficiently agglutinated to the mortar, that the latter may be lifted from the table by its means. Arrowroot, on the other hand, requires from twenty-five to thirty minutes to acquire a like tenacity.

The Lancet recently stated that, on a microscopical analysis of 50 samples of arrowroot, purchased indiscriminately of various London tradesmen, 22 were found to be adulterated. In 16 cases this adulteration consisted in the addition of a single inferior product much cheaper in price, such as potato flour, sago meal, or tapioca starch, while in other instances there was a combination of these articles, potato flour being usually preponderant. Ten of the mixtures contained scarcely a particle of the genuine Maranta or West India arrowroot, for which they were sold. One consisted almost wholly of sago meal; two of potato flour and sago meal; two of potato flour, sago meal, and tapioca starch; one of tapioca starch; and four of potato arrowroot, or starch entirely. The worst specimens were those which were done up in canisters especially marked as “Genuine West India arrowroot,” or as being “warranted free from adulteration;” and one, which contained a considerable quantity of potato flour, was particularly recommended to invalids, and certified as the finest quality ever imported into this country. The profits to the vendors of the inferior compounds are to be estimated from the fact that the price of sago meal and potato starch is about 4d. per lb., while the genuine Maranta arrowroot is from 1s. to 3s. 6d. per lb.

The arrowroot of Bermuda has long borne a high reputation, being manufactured on a better principle and being therefore of superior quality to that produced in Antigua, St. Vincent, and other West Indian islands. The process is tedious and requires a good deal of labor. There is no doubt, however, that the quality of the water has a great deal of influence on the fecula. Bermuda arrowroot is necessarily made from rain water collected in tanks or reservoirs, and the lime and the deposit from houses, &c., may alter its properties. After the root is taken from the ground it is placed in a mill, and is thereby cleansed of its exterior excrescences; it is then thoroughly washed, when it is ready for the large machine, the principle of which is similar to the “treadmill.” A horse is placed on something like a platform, and as he prances up and down, the machinery is set in play. A person stands at the end, and places the root in the wheel of the machine, which, after being ground, falls into a trough of water. After going through this process, it is rewashed and then placed in vessels to dry in the sun. It is packed in boxes lined with blue paper or tin, and sent to the markets in England and America, where it generally meets with ready sale.

At a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Bermuda, held in May, 1840, Mr. W.M. Cox submitted a new arrowroot strainer which he had invented. It consists of two cloth strainers fixed to hoops from 15 to 20 inches in diameter. The strainers working one within the other, are kept in motion by a lever, moved by hand. The whole apparatus is not an expensive one, and is well adapted for aiding the manufacture of arrowroot upon an expeditious and economical plan.

A simple method by which starch may be extracted from the fecula with much purity consists in enclosing the flour in a muslin bag and squeezing it with the fingers while submerged in clean water, by which process the starch passes out in a state of white powder and subsides. Two essential constituents of flour are thus separated from each other; a viscid substance remains in the bag, which is called gluten, and the white powder deposited is starch.

The principal quarters from whence the supply is derived, are the Bermudas, St. Vincent, Barbados and Grenada, in the West Indies; Ceylon, and some other parts of the East—and a few of our settlements on the West coast of Africa. The annual imports for home consumption average 500 tons.

The cultivation of arrowroot for the production of starch in St. Vincent has increased enormously of late years. In 1835, the island produced 41,397 lbs.; in 1845 it exported 828,842 lbs. The exports to 15th June, 1851, were, 2,934 barrels, 2,083 half barrels, 5,610 tins. The culture is year by year extending, and as, unlike that of the sugar cane, it may be carried on on a small scale with very little outlay of capital, we may reasonably anticipate a still further progressive extension for some years to come. Arrowroot, when once established in virgin soil, produces several crops with very little culture. In the first half of 1851, 25,027 lbs. were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica. The quantity of arrowroot on which duty of 1s. per cwt. was paid in the six years ending 1840, was as follows:—

	Cwts.
1835	3,581
1836	3,280
1837	2,858
1838	2,538
1839	2,264
1840	2,124

The imports in the last few years have been in

	Cwt.
1847	8,040
1848	10,580
1849	9,252
1850	15,980
1851

About 500 cwt. are re-exported.

East India arrowroot is procured in part from Curcuma angustifolia, known locally as Tikoor in the East, and a similar kind of starch is yielded by C. Zerumbet, C. rubescens, C. leucorhiza, and Alpinia Galanga, the Galangale root of commerce. C. angustifolia grows abundantly on the Malabar coast, and is cultivated about the districts of Patna, Sagur and the south-west frontier, Mysore, Vizigapatam, and Canjam, Cochin and Tellicherry. It was discovered but a few years ago growing wild in the forests extending from the banks of the Sona to Nugpore.

The particles of East India arrowroot are very unequal in size, but on the average are larger than those of West India arrowroot.

Dr. Taylor, in his Topography of Dacca, speaks of fecula or starch being obtained from the Egyptian lotus (Nymphæa lotus), which is used by the native practitioners as a substitute for arrowroot.

Chinese arrowroot is said to be made from the root of Nelumbium speciosum.

The original Indian arrowroot is extracted at Travancore, according to Ainslie, from the root of the Curcuma angustifolia. It is easily distinguished by its form, which is sometimes ovoid, sometimes elongated, of considerable size, rounded at one of the extremities, and terminating in a point at the other, often resembling a grain of rice.

The manufacture of arrowroot on the southern borders of the Everglades, at Key West, Florida, bids fair to become as extensive and as profitable as at Bermuda, whence, at present, we receive the bulk of our supplies. The wild root, which the Indians call Compti, grows spontaneously over an immense area of otherwise barren land. It is easily gathered, and is first peeled in large hoppers ingeniously contrived, and thrown into a cylinder and ground into an impalpable pulp. It is then washed and dried in the sun, baked and broken into small lumps, when it is ready for the market. The article is extensively used in the Eastern woollen and cotton establishments, as well as for family use. Arrowroot is cultivated in the interior of East Florida with great success. It is also cultivated to a considerable extent in Georgia, and is, I understand, a profitable crop.

The following is the process of manufacture:—The roots, when a year old, are dug up, and beaten in deep wooden mortars to a pulp; which is then put into a tub of clean water, well washed, and the fibrous part thrown away. The milky liquor being passed through a sieve or coarse cloth, is suffered to settle, and the clean water is drawn off; at the bottom of the vessel is a white mass, which is again mixed with clean water, and drained; lastly the mass is dried in the sun, and is pure starch. Arrowroot can be kept without spoiling for a very long time.

A considerable quantity of arrowroot is now produced in the Sandwich Islands. In 1841 arrowroot to the value of 3,320 dolls. was shipped, and in 1843, 35,140 lbs., valued at £1,405, was exported, principally to Tepic and San Blas, where it is used as starch for linen.

A kind of arrowroot of very good quality was sent to the Great Exhibition of 1851, by Sir R. Schomburgk, which is obtained in St. Domingo from the stems of a species of Zamia, called there Guanjiga; and the Zamia Australis, of Western Australia, yields even better fecula. The taste was unpleasant and salt, as if it had been immersed in lime. The other starch, from the Western Australian Zamia, in quality rivalled arrowroot. This fecula hangs together in chains, quite unlike the ordinary appearance of arrowroot when seen under the microscope.

The following figures show the exports of arrowroot from Bermuda:—

	lbs.	Value of the exports.
1830	18,174	—
1831	77,153	—
1832	34,833	—
1833	44,651	—
1834	54,471	—
1835	65,500	—
1836	—	—
1841	91,230	—
1842	136,610	—
1843	151,757	£8,682
1844	173,275	10,974
1845	224,480	8,084
1847	—	4,716
1848	—	4,747
1849	—	6,760
1850	854,329	—

In the spring of 1851, 201,130 lbs. were shipped from Bermuda.

In 1843 the quantity of arrowroot in the rough state made in Bermuda was 1,110,500 lbs.

ARROWROOT EXPORTED FROM ANTIGUA TO
	Great Britain	B. N. America	B.W. Indies
	Boxes	Boxes	Boxes
1835	1,075	20	—
1836	581	43	—
1837	100	42	—
1838	472	20	—
1839	682	—	32
1840	453	—	30
1841	289	—	10
1842	582	—	—
1843	744	—	—
1844	376	—	—
1845	402	5	—

Barbados exported in 1832, 16,814 lbs., value £469; in 1840, 387 packages; in 1843, 302; in 1844, 790 packages; in 1851, 306 packages; these average about 30 lbs. each.

Ceylon now produces excellent arrowroot. In 1842, 150 boxes were exported; in 1843, 200; in 1844, 300; in 1845, 600 boxes.

From Africa we now import a large quantity: 250 boxes were received in 1846. Not unfrequently arrowroot from Africa has been sent to the West Indies in the ships with the liberated Africans, and thence re-exported to England, as of St. Vincent or Bermuda growth. The duty on arrowroot, under the new tariff, is equalised on all kinds to 4½d. per lb.

The imports and home consumption of arrowroot have increased very largely, as may be seen from the following figures:—

	Imports	Retained for home consumption
	lbs.	lbs.
1826	318,830	358,007
1830	449,723	516,587
1834	837,811	735,190
1835	287,966	895,406
1838	404,738	434,574
1839	303,489	224,792
1840	408,469	330,490
1841	—	454,893
1842	890,736	846,832
1846	905,072	981,120
1847	1,185,968	1,211,168
1848	906,304	933,744
1849	1,036,185	1,032,992
1850	1,789,774	1,414,669
1851	2,083,681	1,848,778
1852	2,139,390	2,024,316

SALEP is the prepared and dried roots of several orchideous plants, and is sometimes sold in the state of powder. Indigenous salep is procured, according to Dr. Perceval from Orchis mascula, O. latifolia, O. morio, and other native plants of this order. On the continent it is obtained from O. papilionaceo, and militaris. Oriental salep is procured from other orchideœ. Professor Royle states that the salep of Kashmir is obtained from a species of Eulophia, probably E. virens. Salep is also obtained from the tuberous roots of Tacca pinnatifida, and other species of the same genus, which are principally natives of the East Indies and the South Sea Islands.

The large fleshy tubers of tacca, when scraped and frequently washed, yield a nutritious fecula resembling arrowroot.

Salep consists chiefly of bassorin, some soluble gum, and a little starch. It forms an article of diet fitted for convalescents when boiled with water or milk. The price of salep is about eight guineas per cwt. in the London market. A little is exported from Constantinople, as I noticed a shipment of 66 casks in 1842; excellent specimens from this quarter were shown in the Egyptian department of the Great Exhibition in 1851. It was formerly a great deal used, but has latterly been much superseded by other articles.

Major D. Williams (“Journal of the Agri. and Hort. Soc. of India,” vol. iv., part I), states that the tacca plant abounds in certain parts of the province of Arracan, where the Mugs prepare the farina for export to the China market.

After removing the peel, the root is grated on a fish-skin, and the pulp having been strained through a coarse cloth, is washed three or four times in water, and then dried in the sun.

According to a recent examination of the plant by Mr. Nuttall (“American Journal of Pharmacy,” vol. ix., p. 305), the Otaheite salep is obtained from a new species of tacca, which he names T. oceanica.

For many years we have obtained from Tahiti, and other islands of the South Seas, this fecula, known by the name of Tahiti arrowroot, probably the produce of Tacca pinnatifida. It is generally spherical, but also often ovoid, elliptic, or rounded, with a prolongation in the form of a neck, suddenly terminated by a plane.

The tacca plant grows at Zanzibar, and is found naturalised on the high islands of the Pacific. The art of preparing arrowroot from it is aboriginal with the Polynesians and Feejeeans.

At Tahiti the fecula is procured by washing the tubers, scraping off their outer skin, and then reducing them to a pulp by friction, on a kind of rasp, made by winding coarse twine (formed of the coco-nut fibre) regularly round a board. The pulp is washed with sea water through a sieve, made of the fibrous web which protects the young frond of the coco-nut palm. The strained liquor is received in a wooden trough, in which the fecula is deposited; and the supernatant liquor being poured off, the sediment is formed into balls, which are dried in the sun for twelve or twenty-four hours, then broken and reduced to powder, which is spread out in the sun further to dry. In some parts of the world cakes of a large size are made of the meal, which form an article of diet in China, Cochin-Caina, Travancore, &c., where they are eaten by the natives with some acid to subdue their acrimony.

Some twenty varieties of the Ti plant (Diacaena terminalis) are cultivated in the Polynesian islands. There is, however, but one which is considered farinaceous and edible. In Java the root is considered a valuable medicine in dysentery.

Within the last three or four years, considerable quantities of a feculent substance, called Tous les mois, have been imported from the West Indies. It is cultivated in Barbados, St. Kitts, and the French islands, and is said to be prepared by a tedious and troublesome process from the rhizomes of various species of Canna Coccinea, Achiras, glauca, and edulis. It approaches more nearly to potato starch than to any other fecula, but its particles are larger. Like the other amylaceous substances, it forms a valuable and nutritious article of food for the invalid.

The large tuberous roots of the Canna are equal in size to the human head. The plant attains in rich soils a stature of fourteen feet, and is identical, it is supposed, with the Achira of Choco, which has an esculent root highly esteemed; and my friend, Dr. Hamilton, of Plymouth, has named it provisionally, in consequence, Canna achira. The starch of this root, he asserts, is superior to that of the Maranta.

ROOT CROPS.

Amongst tuberous rooted plants, which serve as food for man in various quarters of the globe, the principal are the common potato, yam, cocoes or eddoes, sweet potatoes, taro, tacca, arrowroot, cassava, or manioc, and the Apios (Arracacha esculenta). There are others of less importance, which may be incidentally mentioned. The roots of Tropæolum tuberosum are eaten in Peru, those of Ocymum tuberosum in Java. In Kamschatka they use the root of the Lilium Pomponium as a substitute for the potato. In Brazil the Helianthus tuberosus. The rhizomæ and seed vessels of the Lotus form the principal food of the aborigines of Australia. As a matter of curious information, I have also briefly alluded to many other plants and roots, furnishing farinaceous substance and support in different countries.

The comparative amount of human food that can be produced upon an acre from different crops, is worthy of great consideration. One hundred bushels of Indian corn per acre is not an uncommon crop. One peck per week will not only sustain life, but give a man strength to labor, if the stomach is properly toned to the amount of food. This, then, would feed one man 400 weeks, or almost eight years! 400 bushels of potatoes can also be raised upon an acre. This would give a bushel a week for the same length of time; and the actual weight of an acre of sweet potatoes (Convolvulus batatas) is 21,344 lbs., which is not considered an extraordinary crop. This would feed a man (six pounds a day) for 3,557 days, or nine and two-third years!

To vary the diet we will occasionally give rice, which has been grown at the rate of 93 bushels to the acre, over an entire field. This, at 45 lbs. to the bushel, would be 4,185 lbs.; or, at 28 lbs. to the bushel when husked, 2,604 lbs., which, at two pounds a day, would feed a man 1,302 days, or more than three-and-a-half years!

POTATOES.

The common English or Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum), so extensively cultivated throughout most of the temperate countries of the civilised globe, contributing as it does to the necessities of a large portion of the human race, as well as to the nourishment and fattening of stock, is regarded as of but little less importance in our national economy than wheat or other grain. It has been found in an indigenous state in Chili, on the mountains near Valparaiso and Mendoza; also near Monte Video, Lima, Quito, as well as in Santa Fe de Bogota, and more recently in Mexico, on the flanks of Orizaba.

The history of this plant, in connection with that of the sweet potato, is involved in obscurity, as the accounts of their introduction into Europe are somewhat conflicting, and often they appear to be confounded with one another. The common kind was doubtless introduced into Spain in the early part of the sixteenth century, from the neighbourhood of Quito, where, as well as in all Spanish countries, the tubers are known as papas. The first published account of it we find on record is in “La Cronica del Peru,” by Pedro de Cieca, printed at Seville, in 1553, in which it is described and illustrated by an engraving. From Spain it appears to have found its way into Italy, where it assumed the same name as the truffle. It was received by Clusius, at Vienna, in 1598, in whose time it spread rapidly in the South of Europe, and even into Germany. It is said to have found its way to England by a different route, having been brought from Virginia by Raleigh colonists, in 1586, which would seem improbable, as it was unknown in North America at that time, either wild or cultivated; and besides, Gough, in his edition of Camden’s “Britannia,” says it was first planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his estate at Youghal, near Cork, and that it was cultivated in Ireland before its value was known in England. Gerarde, in his “Herbal,” published in 1597, gives a figure of this plant, under the name of Batata Virginiana, to distinguish it from the Batata edulis, and recommends the root to be eaten as a “delicate dish,” but not as a common food. “The sweet potato,” says Sir Joseph Banks, “was used in England as a delicacy, long before the introduction of our potatoes. It was imported in considerable quantities from Spain and the Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigor.” It is related that the common potato was accidentally introduced into England from Ireland, at a period somewhat earlier than that noticed by Gerarde, in consequence of the wreck of a vessel on the coast of Lancashire, which had a quantity on board. In 1663 the Royal Society of England took measures for the cultivation of this vegetable, with the view of preventing famine.

Notwithstanding its utility as a food became better known, no high character was attached to it; and the writers on gardening towards the end of the seventeenth century, a hundred years or more after its introduction, treated of it rather indifferently. “They are much used in Ireland and America as bread,” says one author, “and may be propagated with advantage to poor people.”

The famous nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, did not consider it worthy of notice in their “Complete Gardener,” published in 1719. But its use gradually spread as its excellencies became better understood. It was near the middle of the last century before it was generally known either in Britain or North America, since which it has been most extensively cultivated.

The period of the introduction of the common potato into the British North American colonies, is not precisely known. It is mentioned among the products of Carolina and Virginia in 1749, and by Kalm as growing in New York the same year.

The culture of this root extends through the whole of Europe, a large portion of Asia, Australia, the southern and northern parts of Africa, and the adjacent islands. On the American continent, with the exception of some sections of the torrid zone, the culture ranges from Labrador on the east, and Nootka Sound on the west, to Cape Horn. It resists more effectually than the cereals the frosts of the north. In the North American Union it is principally confined to the Northern, Middle, and Western States, where, from the coolness of the climate it acquires a farinaceous consistence highly conducive to the support of animal life. It has never been extensively cultivated in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, probably from the greater facility of raising the sweet potato, its more tropical rival. Its perfection, however, depends as much upon the soil as on the climate in which it grows; for in the red loam, on the banks of Bayou Bœuf, in Louisiana, where the land is new, it is said that tubers are produced as large, savory, and as free from water as any raised in other parts of the world. The same may be said of those grown at Bermuda, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous other ocean isles.

The chief varieties cultivated in the Northern States of America are the carter, the kidneys, the pink-eyes, the mercer, the orange, the Sault Ste. Marie, the merino, and Western red; in the Middle and Western States, the mercer, the long red, or merino, the orange, and the Western red. The yield varies from 50 to 400 bushels and upwards per acre, but generally it is below 200 bushels.

Within the last ten years an alarming disease, or “rot,” has attacked the tubers of this plant, about the time they are fully grown. It has not only appeared in nearly every part of America, but has spread dismay, at times, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and has been felt more or less seriously in every quarter of the globe.

To the greater uncertainty attending its cultivation of late years, must be attributed the deficiency of the United States crop of 1849, as compared with that of 1839. This is one of the four agricultural products which, by the last census, appears smaller than ten years since.—(“American Census Reports for 1850.”)

The crops in Ireland, where the potato is the principal object of culture, vary from 1½ to 10½ tons per acre, according to the season; but in the average of three years ending 1849, the annual growth of Great Britain and Ireland amounted to nine million tons, which, at £3 per ton, exhibits the value at £27,000,000 sterling. Ireland produced in 1847 a little over two million tons, the yield being 7¼ tons per acre. In 1848 the produce was 2,880,814 tons, averaging only four tons to the acre. In 1849, 4,014,122 tons, averaging 5½ tons to the acre. In 1850, 3,954,990 tons; and in 1851, 4,441,022 tons; the average yield per acre not stated. In many parts of Scotland 24 tons to the acre are raised. The sales of potatoes in the principal metropolitan markets exceed 140,000 tons a year, which are irrespective of the sales which take place at railway stations, wharfs, shops, &c. The imports into the United Kingdom average about 70,000 tons annually. Potatoes are exported to the West Indies, Mediterranean, and other quarters. For emigrant ships, preserved or dried potato flour is now much used.

The following quantities of potato flour were imported from France in the last few years:—

	Cwts.
1848	17,222
1849	3,858
1850	12,591
1851	2,631

We also imported the following quantities of potatoes in the last five years:—

	Cwts.
1848	940,697
1849	1,417,867
1850	1,348,867
1851	636,771
1852	773,658

Thoroughly dried potatoes will always produce a crop free from disease. Such is the positive assertion of Mr. Bollman, one of the professors in the Russian Agricultural Institution, at Gorigoretsky. In a very interesting pamphlet47 by this gentleman, it is asserted, as an unquestionable fact, that mere drying, if conducted at a sufficiently high temperature, and continued long enough, is a complete antidote to the disease.

The account given by Professor Bollman of the accident which led to this discovery is as follows:—He had contrived a potato-setter, which had the bad quality of destroying any sprouts that might be “on the sets, and even of tearing away the rind. To harden the potatoes so as to protect them against this accident, he resolved to dry them. In the spring of 1850, he placed a lot in a very hot room, and at the end of three weeks they were dry enough to plant. The potatoes came up well, and produced as good a crop as that of the neighbouring farmers, with this difference only, that they had no disease, and the crop was, therefore, upon the whole, more abundant. Professor Bollman tells us that he regarded this as a mere accident; he, however, again dried his seed potatoes in 1851, and again his crop was abundant and free from disease, while everywhere on the surrounding land they were much affected. This was too remarkable a circumstance not to excite attention, and in 1852 a third trial took place. All Mr. Bollman’s own stock of potatoes being exhausted, he was obliged to purchase his seed, which bore unmistakable marks of having formed part of a crop that had been severely diseased; some, in fact, were quite rotten. After keeping them about a month in a hot room, as before, he cut the largest potatoes into quarters, and the smaller into halves, and left them to dry for another week. Accidentally the drying was carried so far that apprehensions were entertained of a very bad crop, if any. Contrary to expectation, however, the sets pushed promptly, and grew so fast that excellent young potatoes were dug three weeks earlier than usual. Eventually nine times the quantity planted was produced, and although the neighbouring fields were attacked, no trace of disease could be found on either the herbage or the potatoes themselves.

This singular result, obtained in three successive years, led to inquiry as to whether any similar cases were on record. In the course of the investigation two other facts were elicited. It was discovered that Mr. Losovsky (living in the government of Witebsk, in the district of Sebege), had for four years adopted the plan of drying his seed potatoes, and that during that time there had been no disease on his estate. It was again an accident which led to the practice of this gentleman. Five years ago, while his potatoes were digging, he put one in his pocket, and on returning home threw it on the stove (poele), where it remained forgotten till the spring. Having then chanced to observe it, he had the curiosity to plant it, all dried up as it was, and obtained an abundant, healthy crop; since that time the practice of drying has been continued, and always with great success. Professor Bollman remarks that it is usual in Russia, in many places, to smoke-dry flax, wheat, and rye; and in the west of Russia, experienced proprietors prefer, for seed, onions that have been kept over the winter in cottages without a chimney. Such onions are called dymka, which may be interpreted smoke-dried.

The second fact is this:—Mr. Wasileffsky, a gentlemen residing in the government of Mohileff, is in the habit of keeping potatoes all the year round, by storing them in the place where his hams are smoked. It happened that in the spring of 1852 his seed potatoes, kept in the usual manner, were insufficient, and he made up the requisite quantity with some of those which had been for a month in the smoking place. These potatoes produced a capital crop, very little diseased, while at the same time the crop from the sets which were not smoke-dried was extensively attacked by disease. Professor Bollman is of opinion that there would have been no disease at all if the sets had been better dried.

The temperature required to produce the desired result is not very clearly made out. Mr. Bollman’s room, in which his first potatoes were dried, was heated to about 72 degrees, and much higher. By way of experiment he placed others in the chamber of the stove itself, where the thermometer stood at 136 degrees, and more. He also ascertained that the vitality of the potato is not affected, even if the rind is charred. Those who have the use of a malt-kiln, or even a lime-kiln, might try the effect of excessive drying, for a month seems to be long enough for the process.—(Gardener’s Chronicle.)

A Mr. Penoyer, of Western Saratoga, Illinois, publishes the following, which he recommends as a perfect cure and preventive of the potato rot, having tested it thoroughly four years with perfect success; while others in the same field, who did not use the preventive, lost their entire crop by the rot. It not only prevents the rot, but restores the potato to its primitive vigor, and the product is not only sound, but double the size, consequently producing twice the quantity on the same ground, and the vines grow much larger, and retain their freshness and vitality until the frost kills them. Aside from the cure of the rot, the farmers would be more than doubly compensated for their trouble and expense in the increase and quality of the crop. The remedy or preventive is as follows:—“Take one peck of fine salt and mix it thoroughly with half a bushel of Nova Scotia plaster or gypsum (the plaster is the best), and immediately after hoeing the potatoes the second time, or just as the young potato begins to set, sprinkle on the main vines, next to the ground, a tablespoon full of the above mixture to each hill, and be sure to get it on the main vines, as it is found that the rot proceeds from a sting of an insect in the vine, and the mixture coming in contact with the vine, kills the effect of it before it reaches the potato.” I cannot but consider Professor Bollman’s as the most important of the two remedies suggested.

The potato crop of the United States exceeds 100 million bushels, nearly all of which are consumed in the country; the average exports of the last eight years not having exceeded 160,000 bushels per annum.

According to the census returns of 1840, the quantity of potatoes of all sorts raised in the Union, was 108,298,060 bushels; of 1850, 104,055,989 bushels, of which 38,259,196 bushels were sweet potatoes.

Last year (1852) there was under cultivation with potatoes in Canada, the following extent of land:—

	Acres.		Bushels.
Upper Canada	77,672	Produce	498,747
Lower Canada	73,244	Produce	456,111

About 782,008 cwts. of potatoes are annually exported from the Canary Islands. In Prussia, 153 million hectolitres of potatoes were raised in 1849. In 1840 Van Diemen’s Land produced 15,000 tons of potatoes, on about 5,000 acres of land.

The potato is not yet an article of so much importance in France, as in England or the Low Countries, but within the last twenty years its cultivation has increased very rapidly. It is mostly grown where corn is the least cultivated. The quantity raised in 1818, was 29,231,867 hectolitres, which had increased in 1835 to 71,982,814 hectolitres. About 2,000,000 hectolitres of chesnuts are also annually consumed in France, a portion of the rural population in some of the Central and Southern Departments living almost entirely on them for half the year.

In Peru dried potatoes are thus prepared:—Small potatoes are boiled, peeled, and then dried in the sun, but the best are those dried by the severe frosts on the mountains. In the Cordilleras they are covered with ice, until they assume a horny appearance. Powdered, it is called chimo. They will keep for any length of time, and when used required to be bruised and soaked. If introduced as a vegetable substance in long sea voyages, the potato thus dried would be found wholesome and nourishing. A large and profitable business is now carried on, in what is called “preserved potatoes,” for ships’ use, prepared by Messrs. Edwards and Co., which are found exceedingly useful in the Royal Navy, in emigrant ships, for troops and other services, from their portability, nutritious properties, and being uninjured by climate.

Few persons are probably aware of the quantity of potatoes used in England, America and the Continent, in the manufacture of starch, arrowroot, and tapioca, &c., A starch manufactory in Mercer, Maine, United States, grinds from 16,000 to 24,000 bushels annually of potatoes, and makes 140,000 to 240,000 lbs. of starch, which finds a ready market at Boston, at four dollars the hundred pounds. The New England manufacturers prefer it to Poland starch. Another starch manufacturer, in Hampden, America, consumes 2,500 bushels per day. In a single district in Bavaria, in Germany, 400,000 lbs. of sago and starch are manufactured from potatoes; 100 lbs. of potatoes are said to yield 12 lbs. of starch. From experiments made in America, with three varieties of potatoes, the long reds, Philadelphia, and pink-eyes, it was found that the former yielded the most starch, viz., about 6 lbs. to the bushel. A bushel of potatoes weighs about 64 lbs. The following table from Accum, gives the rate of starch and component parts per cent. in different varieties:—

Sort.	Fibrine.	Starch.	Vegetable Albumen.	Gum.	Acids and Salts.	Water.
Red potatoes	7.0	15.0	1.4	4.1	5.1	75.0
Ditto germinated	6.8	12.2	1.3	3.7	..	73.0
Potato sprouts	2.8	0.4	0.4	3.3	..	93.0
Kidney potatoes	8.8	9.1	0.8	..	..	81.3
Large red potatoes	6.0	12.9	0.7	..	..	78.0
Sweet potatoes	8.2	15.1	0.8	..	..	74.3
Potato of Peru	5.2	15.0	1.9	1.9		76.0
Ditto of England	6.8	12.9	1.1	1.7		77.5
Onion potato	8.4	18.7	0.9	1.7		70.3
Voigtland	7.1	15.4	1.2	2.0		74.3
Cultivated in the environs of Paris	6.8	13.3	0.9	3.3	1.4	73.1

The first six varieties were analysed by Einhoff, the next four by Lamped, and the last named by Henry.

YAMS.

The different species of yams have a wide range. In the West Indies there are several varieties, having distinctive names, according to quality, color, &c., as the white yam, the red yam, the negro yam, the creole yam, the afoo yam, the buck yam (Dioscorea triphylla), which is found wild in Java and the East; the Guinea yam, the Portuguese yam, the water yam, and the Indian yam, &c. The last is considered the most farinaceous and delicate in its texture, resembling in size the potato; most of the other sorts are coarse, but still very nutritive and useful. The common yam (Dioscorea sativa) is indigenous to the Eastern Islands and West Indies. The Guinea yam (D. aculeata) is a native of the East. The Barbados or winged yam (D. alata?) has a widely extended range, being common to India, Java, Brazil, and Western Africa. The yam species are climbing plants, with handsome foliage, of the simplest culture, which succeed well in any light, rich, or sandy soil, and are readily increased by dividing the tuberous roots. The Indian, Barbados, and red yams are planted in the West Indies early in May, and dug early in the January following. If not bruised, they will keep well packed in ashes, the first nine, and the second and last twelvemonths. The Portuguese and Guinea yams are planted early in January and dug in September. Creole yams and Tanias are dug in January. Sweet potatoes from January to March. In most of our colonies large crops of the finest descriptions of yams, cocos, &c., could be obtained, but the planting of ground provisions is too much neglected by all classes. From the tubers of yams of all sorts, and particularly the buck yam, starch is easily prepared, and of excellent quality. Some varieties of the buck yam are purple-fleshed, often of a very deep tint, approaching to black, and although this is an objection, because it renders more washing necessary, yet even from these the starch is at last obtained perfectly white.

As an edible root the buck yam, especially when grown in a light soil, is equal to the potato, if not superior to it. It does not, however, keep for any length of time, and therefore could not be exported to Europe, unless the roots were sliced and dried.

Yams and sweet potatoes thrive well in the northern parts of Australia; indeed the former are indigenous there, and constitute the chief article of vegetable food used by the natives. The yam was introduced into Sweden, where it succeeded well, and bread, starch, and brandy were made from it, but it prefers a warmer climate.

Yams are occasionally brought to this country. When cooked, either by roasting or boiling, the root is even more nutritious than the potato, nor is it possessed of any unpalatable flavor, the pecularity being between that of rice and the potato. Dressed in milk, or mashed, they are absolutely a delicacy; and from the abundance in which they are cultivated in the West Indies and other parts, they promise to become a most economical and nutritious substitute for the potato.

The yam frequently grows to the enormous size of forty or fifty pounds weight, but in this large state it is coarse-flavored and fibrous.

An acre of land is capable of producing 4½ tons of yams, and the same quantity of sweet potatoes, within the twelve months, or nine tons per acre for both, being nearly as much as the return obtained at home in the cultivation of potatoes; and I have the authority of all analytical chemists for saying that in point of value, as an article of food, the superiority is as two to one in favor of the tropical roots.

The kidney-rooted yam (D. pentaphylla), is indigenous to the Polynesian islands, and is sometimes cultivated for its roots. It is called kawaii in the Feejee islands. D. bulbifera, a native of the East, is also abundantly naturalised in the Polynesian islands, but is not considered edible.

There are seven or eight kinds of yams grown in India. Two are of a remarkably fine flavor, one weighing as much as eighteen pounds, the other three pounds. These are found in the Tartar country.

COCOS OR EDDOES

Arum esculentum.—This root has not hitherto been considered of sufficient importance to demand particular care in its cultivation, except by those who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and derive their subsistence from the production of the soil. But though the cultivation of the root is almost unknown to the higher classes in society, and little regarded by planters in the colonies, it is a most valuable article of consumption. Amongst the laboring population it is the principal dependence for a supply of food. Long droughts may disappoint the hopes of the yam crop, storms and blight may destroy the plantain walks, but neither dry or wet weather materially injure the coco; it will always make some return, and though it may not afford a plentiful crop, it will yield a sufficiency until a supply can be had from other sources. For this reason the laborer in the West Indies always takes care to put in a good plant of cocos to his provision ground as a stand by, and knowing their value, is perhaps the only person who bestows any degree of care or attention upon them. Previous to their emancipation, whole families of negroes lived upon the produce of one provision ground, and the coco formed the main article of their support. Where the soil is congenial to the white and black Bourbon coco, the labor of one industrious person once a fortnight will raise a supply sufficient for the consumption of a family of six or seven persons. The coco begins to bear after the first year, and with common care and cultivation the same plant ought to give annually two or three returns for several years. In Jamaica, a disease something similar to that affecting the potato, has been found injurious to the coco root. This disease, which has baffled all inquiry as to its origin, affects the plants in and after the second year of their being planted. The first indication of it is the change in the leaves, which gradually turn to a yellow hue, have a sickly appearance, and at length drop off at the surface of the earth. The stock or “coco head,” as it is called, below ground, having become rotten, nothing but a soft pulpy mass remains. In some fields every third or fourth root is thus affected, in others much greater numbers are destroyed, so much so that the field requires to be almost entirely replanted, by which not only an expense is entailed, but a heavy loss sustained, from the field being thrown out of its regular bearing. The black coco seems to suffer less than the white.

Another species, the Taro (Arum Colocasia, Colocasia esculenta and macrorhizon), is an important esculent root in the Polynesian islands. In the dry method of culture practised on the mountains of Hawaii, the roots are protected by a covering of fern leaves. The cultivation of taro is hardly a process of multiplication, for the crown of the root is perpetually replanted. As the plant endures for a series of years, the tuberous roots serve at some of the rocky groups as a security against famine. It is also extensively cultivated in Madeira and Zanzibar, and has even withstood the climate of New Zealand. It is grown also in Egypt, Syria, and some of the adjacent countries, for its esculent roots. A species is cultivated in the Deccan, for the sake of the leaves, which form a substitute for spinach. Farina is obtained from the root of Arum Rumphii in Polynesia.

SWEET POTATOES.

The batatas, or camote of the Spanish colonies (Convolvulus batatas, Linn; Batatas edulis, of Choisy, and the Ipomæa Batatas of other botanists), belongs to a family of plants which has been split into several genera. It is a native of the East Indies, and of intertropical America, and was the “potato” of the old English writers in the early part of the fourteenth century. It was doubtless introduced into Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia soon after their settlement by the Europeans, being mentioned as one of the cultivated products of those colonies as early as the year 1648. It grows in excessive abundance throughout the Southern States of America, and as far north as New Jersey, and the southern part of Michigan. The varieties cultivated there are the purple, the red, the yellow, and the white, the former of which is confined to the South.

The amount of sweet potatoes exported from South Carolina in 1747-48, was 700 bushels; that of the common potato exported from the United States, 1820-21, 90,889,000 bushels; in 1830-31, 112,875,000 bushels; in 1840-41, 136,095,000 bushels; in 1850-51, 106,342,000 bushels.

The sweet potato is cultivated generally in all the intertropical regions, for the sake of its roots, and as a legume in temperate countries. In the Southern States of North America, the culture ceases in Carolina under latitude 36 degs.; in Portugal and Spain it reaches to latitude 40 and 42 deg.; and as a legume its cultivation is attempted to the vicinity of Paris. In India it is a very common crop; its tubers are very similar to the potato, but have a sweeter taste, whence the common name; but it must not be confounded with the topinambur (Helianthus tuberosus), a native of Brazil, which is less cultivated. The root contains much saccharine and amylaceous matter.

Several marked varieties of the sweet potato are raised in the Polynesian groups. In some islands it forms the principal object of cultivation.

It is grown in the Northern districts of New Zealand, at Zanzibar, Monomoisy, Bombay, and other parts of the East Indies. They are raised on the bare surface of the rock in some parts of the Hawaiian islands, and a sourish liquor is procured from them. It was early cultivated on the Western Coast of Africa, for the Portuguese Pilot (who set out on his voyages to the colony at St. Thomas, in the Gulf of Guinea) speaks of this plant, and states that it is called “batata” by the aboriginals of St. Domingo. They are abundant at Mocha and Muscat. Sweet potatoes form a principal and important crop in the Bermudas.

A valuable addition has lately been made to the votaries of the sweet potato in Alabama, supposed to be from Peru. A letter describing it says:—“It is altogether different and equally superior to any variety of this root hitherto known. It is productive, and attains a prodigious size, even upon the poorest sandy land, and the roots remain without change from the time of taking them out of the ground until the following May. The plant is singularly easy of cultivation, growing equally well from the slip or vine, the top or vine of the full-grown plant being remarkably small; the inside is as white as snow. It is dry and mealy, and the saccharine principle contained resembles in delicacy of flavor fine virgin honey.”

There is in general a great error in cultivating this root, as most people still plant in the old way, two or three sets in the hole, which is a great deal too close.

When a piece of land is to be planted in sweet potatoes, it should be top-dressed with some manure, to be dug or ploughed under a week or two before it is to be planted. Drills should be made two feet apart, and the potatoes placed in the drill about one foot asunder. From eight to twelve to the pound are the best size for planting. The “white upright” kind, when intended for sets, should be taken up early in March, and kept about a month, so as to be quite dry before planting. Abundant crops can rarely be raised from the stem of the “uprights;” the old potato, however, grows to a large size. I have planted a potato weighing about an ounce, and dug it up in August, weighing over two pounds. The drills can be made with a small plough to great advantage, when a person understands it.

The best manure for the sweet potato is anything green, such as fresh seaweed, green oats, bushes, or anything of the kind, put in in abundance.

Care should be taken to get early and good strong slips. A slip with about six joints is quite long enough; three or four joints to be put under ground, and the rest above. For slips, the land must be prepared as already described for the potatoes; this should be done before the slips are ready to cut.

The best way to plant slips is to drill, the same way as for the potatoes, only a little closer; then put the end of the slip in, leaving about two joints out of ground, placing them one foot apart. The drills can be made in dry weather, so as not to have any delay when it rains; by this means a great many can be planted in a day.

The best land for sweet potatoes is the light sandy kind; a rich friable black mould, or a rocky substratum; for hill sides, rocky ravines, and places which would be called barren and unprofitable for other crops, are found to yield a good return when planted with sweet potatoes. The best time to plant slips to get stock from, is the latter end of August or early in September, as the season may suit.

The sweet potato of Java, says Mr. Crawfurd, is the finest I ever met with. Some are frequently of several pounds weight, and now and then have been found of the enormous weight of 50 lbs. The sweetness is not disagreeable to the palate, though considerable, and they contain a large portion of farinaceous matter, being as mealy as the best of our own potatoes. In Java it is cultivated in ordinary upland arable, or in the dry season as a green crop in succession to rice.

A tuberous root (Ocymum tuberosum), an inhabitant of the hot plains, is frequently cultivated in Java. It is small, round, and much resembling in appearance the American potato, but has no great flavor. Its local name is kantang.

CASSAVA OR MANIOC.

Of this plant, which is a shrub about six feet high, extensively grown for its farinaceous root, there are several species, nearly all natives of America, principally of Brazil, whence it derives one of its common names of Manihot or Mandioc. Two species of Manihot have been found indigenous in South Australia. The varieties commonly cultivated for their roots, are the sweet and the bitter.

1. Sweet cassava (Janiphi (or Jatropha,) Loeflingii, Kunth; Manihot Aipi, of Pohl).—This species has a spindle-shaped root brown externally, about six or seven ounces or more in weight, which contains amylaceous matter, without any bitterness, and is used as food, after being rasped and washed, so as to cleanse it from the fibrous matter, in the same manner as arrowroot is prepared. It is distinguished from the bitter cassava by a tough ligneous fibre, which runs through the heart of the tuber. Manihot starch is sometimes imported into Europe under the name of Brazilian arrowroot. The cassava is known in Peru as yucca.

A dry mixed soil is best suited to its culture. So exhausting is this crop, that it cannot be raised more than two or three times successively on the same land. The roots arrive at maturity in eight or nine months after planting, but may be kept in the ground a much longer time without injury. Sweet cassava might be sliced, dried in the sun, and sent to Europe in that state. In dry weather the process succeeds remarkably well, and the dried slices keep for a considerable time. Dr. Shier ascertained that when these sliced and dried roots were first steeped and then boiled, they return to very nearly their original condition, and make an excellent substitute for the potato.

The plant thrives on even the poorest soil; the mode of planting is simple. It consists in laying cuttings a foot long in square pits a foot deep, and covering them with mould, leaving the upper ends open. From two to four pieces may be placed in each square. The planting ought to be in the rainy season. The cuttings must be made from the full-grown stem. A humid soil causes the root to decay, a dry soil is therefore more adapted for its cultivation. As blossoms are occasionally plucked from potato plants, so the manihot or cassava is deprived of its buds to increase the size of its roots. The raw root of the bitter species, when taken out of the ground, is poisonous—if exposed, however, to the sun for a short time, it is innocuous, and when boiled is quite wholesome.

The starch of the root of the manioc is prepared in the following manner, as described by Dr. Ure:—” The roots are washed and reduced to a pulp by means of a rasp or grater. The pulp is put into coarse strong canvas bags, and thus submitted to the action of a powerful press, by which it parts with most of its noxious juice. As the active principle of this juice is volatile, it is easily dissipated by baking the squeezed cakes of pulp upon a plate of hot iron. The pulp thus dried concretes into lumps, which become hard and friable as they cool. They are then broken into pieces, and laid out in the sun to dry. In this state they are a wholesome nutriment. These cakes constitute the only provisions laid in by the natives, in their voyages upon the Amazon. Boiled in water, with a little beef or mutton, they form a kind of soup similar to that of rice.

The cassava cakes sent to Europe are composed almost entirely of starch, along with a few fibres of the ligneous matter. It may be purified by diffusion in warm water, passing the milky mixture through a linen cloth, evaporating the straining liquid over the fire, with constant agitation. The starch, dissolved by the heat, thickens as the water evaporates, but on being stirred it becomes granulated, and must be finally dried in a proper stove.

2. Bitter cassava (Janipha Manihot, of Kunth; Jatropha Manihot, of Linnæus; and Manihot utilissima, Pohl).—This species has a knotty root, black externally, which is occasionally 30 lbs. in weight. In the root there is much starchy matter deposited, usually along with a poisonous narcotic substance, which is said to be hydrocyanic acid. The juice of the plant, when distilled, affords as a first product a liquor which, in the dose of thirty drops, will cause the death of a man in six minutes. It is doubted whether this acid pre-exists in the plant; some suppose it to be generated after it is grated down into a pulp. It can be driven off by roasting, and then the starch is used in the form of cassava bread. It is principally from the starch of the bitter cassava that tapioca is prepared by elutriation and granulating on hot plates. This serves to agglutinate it into the form of concretions, constituting the tapioca of commerce. This being starch very nearly pure, is often prescribed by physicians as an aliment of easy digestion. A tolerably good imitation of it is made by beating, stirring, and drying potato starch in a similar way.

The grated starch of the roots, floated in water, is spontaneously deposited, and when repeatedly washed and dried in the sun, forms cassava flour, called “Moussache” by the French.

The juice of the bitter cassava, mixed with molasses and fermented, has been made into an intoxicating liquor, which is much relished by the negroes and Indians.

The concentrated juice of the bitter cassava, under the name of cassareep, forms the basis of the West India dish, “pepper pot.” One of its most remarkable properties is its highly antiseptic power, preserving meat that has been boiled in it for a much longer period than can be done by any other culinary process. Cassareep was originally an Indian preparation.

The manioc or cassava is cultivated in America, on both sides of the equator, to about latitude 30 degrees north and south. Among the mountains of intertropical America, it reaches to an elevation of 3,200 feet. It is cultivated also in great abundance on the island of Zanzibar, and among the negro tribes of Eastern Africa to the Monomoesy, inclusive; on the west coast of Africa, in Congo and Guinea. It appears not to have been introduced into Asia. The farina of the manioc is almost the only kind of meal used in Brazil, at least in the north, near the equator. An acre of manioc is said to yield as much nutriment as six acres of wheat. Meyen states, “It is not possible sufficiently to praise the beautiful manioc plant.” The Indians find in this a compensation for the rice and other cerealia of the Old World. It has been carried from Brazil to the Mauritius and Madagascar.

The following quantities of Brazilian arrowroot, or tapioca, were imported in the undermentioned years:—

	Cwts.
1833	942
1834	888
1835	1,663
1836	3,735
1837	2,142
1838	462
1839	402
1840	983
1841	1,870
1843	2,325

St. Lucia grows a considerable quantity of manioc; it exported of cassava flour in—

	Barrels.
1827	8
1828	814
1829	279
1830	99
1831	59
1834	713

The cassava root grows abundantly in most of the West India islands and tropical America; the trouble of planting is inconsiderable, and the profit arising from its manufacture, even by the common process of hand-grating, is immense. I should be glad if I could induce the enterprising of our colonial settlers to give this a fair trial, as well as encourage the present growers to increase their crops and improve the quality of the article, so as to render it suitable for the English market. The manufacture of starch will one of these days become a productive source of colonial wealth. Since cassava was first grown in the West, its capabilities as a starch-producer have, to a certain extent, been known, and for that purpose it has been in limited use.

Mr. James Glen, of Haagsbosch plantation, Demerara, has recently tested its value as an article of export, and added it to the other industrial resources of that colony.

This gentleman, by erecting machinery on his plantation for grinding the root and preparing the starch of the bitter cassava, has already shipped the article in considerable quantities to Europe, and it has been sold at a price which puts the profit upon sugar cultivation completely to the blush. His agent in Glasgow writes, that any quantity (like that already shipped) can command a ready sale at 9d. per lb. Its use is co-extensive, or nearly so, with that of sugar. The productive capabilities of the soil are not perhaps generally known; nor is it necessary that, to pay the grower there, it should bring even half that price. A sample of a ton, which was prepared at Haagsbosch in 1841, was submitted for examination to Dr. Shier, at the colonial laboratory, Georgetown, who admitted it to be a beautiful specimen of starch, although it had undergone but one washing. The root from which it was made, was planted eight or nine months previously, upon an acre of soil, which had never undergone any preparation of ploughing, or been broken and turned up in any way. The plants were never weeded after they had begun to spring, nor were they tended or disturbed until they were ripe and pulled up. The expense of planting the acre was five dollars, and reaping this crop would, I suppose, amount to as much more, say £2 in all. The green cassava was never weighed, but the acre yielded fully a ton of starch—equal, at 9d. per lb., to £84.

The experimental researches of Dr. Shier have led him to believe that the green bitter cassava will give one-fifth its weight of starch. If this be the case the return per acre would, under favorable circumstances, when the land is properly worked, be enormous. On an estate at Essequibo, a short time ago, an acre of cassava, grown in fine permeable soil, was lifted and weighed; it yielded 25 tons of green cassava. Such a return as this per acre would enable our West India colonies to inundate Great Britain with food, and at a rate which would make flour to be considered a luxury. Dr. Shier is convinced that, in thorough drained land, where the roots could penetrate the soil, and where its permeability would permit of their indefinite expansion, a return of 25 tons an acre might uniformly be calculated upon. What a blessing, not only for those colonies, but for the world, would the introduction be of this cheap and nutritious substitute for the potato.

NEW TUBEROUS PLANTS RECOMMENDED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR THE POTATO.

In the present disturbed state of the grain markets of Europe, the advantage of cultivating plants which directly or indirectly can form a substitute for the potato, admits of no doubt. It appears to me, moreover, that when the way is once opened up, even under ordinary circumstances, the tropical colonies of Great Britain, without diminishing the quantity of sugar and coffee they produce, could advantageously supply the British market with the purest starches, and possibly also with various other articles of farinaceous food. Anything that will lead the planters to a more varied cultivation than the present uniform and persistent one, will be advantageous to our colonies; and the growth of farinaceous root crops for exportation, cannot fail to produce most beneficial effects on that class of the peasantry in the British possessions, who are owners of small lots of land, which at present they either totally neglect, or cultivate most imperfectly.

In 1846, Dr. A. Gesner, one of my correspondents, called attention, in my “Colonial Magazine,” to two indigenous roots of North America, which he thought deserving special attention. These were Apios tuberosa, and Claytonia acutiflora, or Virginiana.

1. A. tuberosa (Boerhave), or Glycine Apios.—This plant is common throughout the Northern and Southern States of America, and is also met with in the lower British North American Provinces. It is known under the native name of Saa-ga-ban by the Micmac Indians, by whom the pear-shaped roots are used as an article of food. Like the Arachis hypogæa, it belongs to the Leguminosæ family. The fruit and flower resemble those of the wood vetch. It is thus described in Professor Eaton’s “Manual of Botany for North America,” published in 1836:—“Color of corolla, blue and purple; time of flowering, July (and August in Nova Scotia), perennial; stem, twining; leaves, pinnate, with seven lance-ovate leaflets; racemes shorter than the leaves, axillary; root, tuberous. Root very nutritive; ought to be generally cultivated.”

The average size of the tubers is that of cherries, but a few are found of much larger dimensions. In their appearance they resemble the common potato, having apparently the peculiar indentations called eyes. The skin of the tuber is of a rusty or blackish brown color. The interior is very white, and the root has the taste and odor of the common potato. The Indians state that the roots, if kept either in a dry or moist state, will not suffer any decay for a lengthened period. They are very farinaceous, and contain a large per centage of starch, which resembles that of wheat; by being dried the tuber shrinks a little, but it immediately expands on being thrown into warm water. It contains much nutritive matter, is wholesome, and I have no doubt, if properly cultivated, it will prove to be very prolific. The tubers are situated a few inches below the surface of the soil, and are strung together like beads by a strong ligament.

A similar kind of earth-nut, or tuberous root, probably the Glycine subterranea of Linnæus, the Voandzou of Madagascar, is extensively cultivated in various parts of Africa.

2. Claytonia acutiflora or Virginiana, the Musquash of the Micmac Indians, is found throughout the Northern and Southern States of North America. It is thus described by Prof. Eaton, “Man. Bot. N.A.”—“Color of corolla, white and red; situation, alpine, perennial; leaves, linear, lance-ovate; petals, obovate, retuse; leaves of the calyx, somewhat acute; root, tuberous. It blossoms in May. The seed is ripe in June, when the plant disappears.”

These roots may be collected along the sea coasts and principal lakes and rivers of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward’s Island, although they are not plentiful, for they are greedily devoured by some of the wild animals, and wherever swine have been permitted to run at large they have been destroyed.

Dr. Gesner shipped several bushels of the saa-ga-ban to the principal agricultural societies in Great Britain, also to Halifax, and Nova Scotia. The ordinary potato of this country does not yield more than 14 per cent. of starch, and it contains 76 per cent. of water. From the best saa-ga-ban Dr. Gesner obtained 21 per cent. of starch, and the quantity of water is reduced to 50 per cent. It also contains vegetable albumen, gum, and sugar. From these facts it is evident that the saa-ga-ban is much more nutritive than the potato, and the weight of the tubers, in their wild state, compared with the weight of the slender vine in the best samples, is equal in proportion to the common cultivated potato in its ordinary growth. The starch is very white, and closely resembles that made from the arrowroot. It is not improbable that the quantity of water in the tuber will be increased by cultivation; yet the fibrous parenchyma will be reduced, and taken altogether, the nutritive properties will be increased; if the plant improve as much by cultivation as the potato and many others have done, its success is certain.

The North American Indians have several wild roots which they dig up for sustenance when other food is exhausted. Among these are—1st, the mendo, or wild sweet potato; 2nd, the tip-sin-ah, or wild prairie turnip; 3rd, the omen-e-chah, or wild bean. The first is found throughout the valleys of the Mississippi and St. Peter’s, about the basis of bluffs, in rather moist but soft and rich ground. The plant resembles the sweet potato, and the root is similar in taste and growth. It does not grow so large or long as the cultivated sweet potato, but I should have thought it the same, were it not that the wild potato is not affected by the frost. A woman will dig from a peck to half a bushel a day.

The Indians eat them, simply boiled in water, but prefer them cooked with fat meat.

The wild potato, of the north-west of America, is a general article of food; it is called by them wabessepin; it resembles the common potato, is mealy when boiled, and grows only in wet clay ground, about one and a half feet deep. The crane potato, called sitchauc-wabessepin, is of the same kind, but inferior in quality. The Indians use these for food as well as the memomine, and another long and slender root called watappinee. Probably it is the first of these that is referred to by Nicollet, as the prairie potato. “All the high prairies (he says) abound with the silver-leafed Psoralia, which is the prairie turnip of the Americans, the pomme des prairies of the Canadians, and furnishes an invaluable food to the Indians.” There are several species of Psoralia, viz., esculenta, argophylla, cuspidata, and lanceolata.

The prairie turnip grows on the high dry prairies, one or two together, in size from that of a small hen’s egg to that of a goose egg, and of the same form. They have a thick black or brown bark, but are nearly pure white inside, with very little moisture. They are met with four to eight inches below the surface, and are dug by the women with a long pointed stick, forced into the ground and used as a lever. They are eaten boiled and mashed like a turnip, or are split open and dried for future use. In this state they resemble pieces of chalk. It is said that when thus dried they may be ground into flour, and that they make a very palatable and nutritious bread. M. Lamare Picot, a French naturalist, has lately incurred a very considerable expense to obtain the seed, which he has carried to France, believing that it is capable of cultivation, and may form a substitute both for potato and wheat.

The wild bean is found in all parts of the valleys where the land is moist and rich. It is of the size of a large white bean, with a rich and very pleasant flavor. When used in a stew, I have thought it superior to any garden vegetable I had ever tasted. The Indians are very fond of them, and pigeons get fat on them in spring. The plant is a slender vine, from two to four feet in height, with small pods two to three inches long, containing three to five small beans. The pod dries and opens, the beans fall to the ground, and in spring take root and grow again. The beans on the ground are gathered by the Indians, who sometimes find a peck at once, gathered by mice for their winter store.

There are also several kinds of edible roots growing in the ponds or small lakes, which are gathered by the Indians for food.

The psui-cinh-chah, or swamp potato, is found in mud and water, about three feet deep. The leaf is as large as the cabbage leaf. The stem has but one leaf, which has, as it were, two horns or points. The root is obtained by the Indian women; they wade into the water and loosen the root with their feet, which then floats, and is picked up and thrown into a canoe. It is of an oblong shape, of a whitish yellow, with four black rings around it, of a slightly pungent taste, and not disagreeable when eaten with salt or meat.

The psui-chah, with a stem and leaf similar to the last, has a root about the size of a large hickory-nut. They grow in deep water, and being smaller are much more difficult to get, but the Indians prefer them; they have an agreeable taste, and are harder and firmer when cooked. Both these roots are found in large quantities in the musk-rat lodges, stored by them for winter use.

The ta-wah-pah, with a stem, leaf, and yellow flower, like the pond-lily, is found in the lakes, in water and mud, from four to five feet deep. The Indian women dive for them, and frequently obtain as many as they are able to carry. The root is from one to two feet in height, very porous; there are as many as six or eight cells running the whole length of the root. It is very difficult to describe the flavor. It is slightly sweet and glutinous, and is generally boiled with wild fowl, but is occasionally roasted.

In his exploring expedition into the interior of Guiana, in the region of the Upper Essequibo, Sir E. Schomburgk notices the discovery of a variety of Leguminosæ, whose tubers grow to an enormous size, fully equal to the largest yam. These roots were not, at the time he was there, in full perfection, but their taste was somewhat between the yam and the sweet potato. The Taruma Indians called them Cuyupa. The roots are considered fit for use when the herb above ground dies. Sir Robert brought a few of the seeds of the plant with him on his return to Demerara.

Two interesting productions have been recently introduced into the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, from the Ecuador, by M. Bourcier, formerly Consul-General of France in that country. One is the red and yellow ocas, which is of the form of a long potato, and has the taste of a chesnut; the other is the milloco, which has the taste and form of our best potatoes. These two roots, which are found in great abundance in the neighbourhood of Quito, grow readily in the poorest land. The oca is cultivated in the fields of Mexico, but only succeeds in the warmer districts. From the bulbous roots of the cacomite, a species of Tigridia, a good flour is also prepared there.

Stevenson (“Travels in South America,” vol. ii., p. 55) says, a root called the oca is cultivated in several of the colder provinces of Peru. “This plant,” he states, “is of a moderate size, in appearance somewhat like the acetous trefoil; the roots yellow, each about five or six inches long, and two in circumference. They have many eyes, and the roots, several of which are yielded by one plant, are somewhat curved. When boiled it is much sweeter than the camote or batata; indeed it appears to contain more saccharine matter than any root I ever tasted; if eaten raw it is very much like the chesnut. The roots may be kept for many months in a dry place. The transplanting of the oca (he adds) to England, where I am persuaded it would prosper, would add another agreeable and useful esculent to our tables.”

The Brussels paper, L’Emancipation, mentions that a root has been discovered by the Director of the Museum of Industry, in that place, destined to take the place of the potato. It is the Lathyrus tuberosus, called by the peasants the earth mouse, on account of its form, and the earth chesnut on account of its taste. This plant exists only in some localities of Lorraine and Burgundy. The Lathyrus has never been cultivated, and it is thought that it will attain, with cultivation, the size of the potato. The French peasants have a prejudice against cultivating it, because they say it walks under ground, and leaves the place it is planted in to go into the neighbouring field. The fact is, that it grows in a chaplet, of which the bulbs are arranged along a root running horizontally, of which the two extremities are very rarely found, so that on taking up the hinder tubercles it continues its growth in front, which gives rise to the saying that if the plant had only time enough, it would make the tour of the world.

The bulb of Gastrodia sesamoides (R. Brown), a curious herbaceous species of orchis, native of New Holland, is edible, and preferred by the aborigines to potatoes and other tuberous roots. Some of my accredited informants believe it might be turned to profitable account, but being a parasitic plant, it could scarcely be systematically cultivated. It flourishes in its wild state on loamy soil in low or sloping grounds. The first indication of its vegetation in the spring, is the appearance of a whitish bulb above the sward, of an hemispherical shape, and about the size of a small egg. The dusky white covering resembles a fine white net, and within it is a pellucid gelatinous substance. Again within this is a firm kernel, about as large as a Spanish nut, and from this a fine fibrous root descends into the soil. It is known in Van Diemen’s Land, and other parts of Australia, by the common name of native bread. Captain Hunter, in his Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson on the first settlement of the Convict Colony, speaks of finding large quantities of “wild yams,” on which the natives fed, but the roots were not bigger than a walnut; therefore it was probably this plant.

Arracacha esculenta, of Bancroft and Decandolle (Conium Arracacha).—This perennial herb is a native of South America, which, from its salubrious qualities, is extensively cultivated in the mountains of Venezuela and other parts of tropical and Southern America, for culinary purposes. It is propagated by planting pieces of the tuberous root, in each of which is an eye or shoot. The late Baron de Shack introduced it into Trinidad, from Caraccas, and it has thence been carried to the island of Grenada. It throve there remarkably well, but has been unaccountably neglected. He also sent roots of this valuable plant to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Although it bears cold better than the potato, it requires a warmer and more equal temperature than most of the countries of Europe afford. It would, however, make an excellent addition to the culinary vegetables of many tropical countries, uniting the taste of the potato and parsnip, but being superior to both.

The arracacha has been introduced into the South of Europe, not as a substitute for, but as a provision against a failure of the potato crop. It is highly recommended by the Rev. J.M. Wilson, in the “Rural Encyclopædia.”

Stevenson (“Travels in South America,” vol. ii., p. 383) says the yucas (cassava), camotes (sweet potatoes), and yams cultivated at Esmeraldas and that neighbourhood, were the finest he ever saw. “It is not uncommon for one of these roots to weigh upwards of twenty pounds. At one place I saw a few plants of the yuca that had stood upwards of twenty years, the owner having frequently bared the bottom of the plants and taken the ripe roots, after which, throwing up the earth again, and allowing a sufficient time for new roots to grow, a continual succession of this excellent nutritious food was procured.”

The Aipi grows in Brazil, and according to T. Ashe, may be eaten raw, and, when pressed, yields a pleasant juice for drink; or being inspissated by the heat of the sun, is kept either to be boiled and eaten, or dissolved and drank. The tapinambar grows in Chili, and is used by the Indians.

The tapioca, or bay rash, a plant which grows about the out-islands of the Bahamas group, was found of great use as a food plant to the inhabitants of Long Island, during a scarcity of food occasioned by the drought in 1843. This root grows in the form of a large beet, and is from twelve to sixteen inches in length. It is entirely farinaceous, and, when properly ground and prepared, makes good bread. It fetches there four to six cents a pound.

The root of the kooyah plant (Valeriana edulis) is much used by some of the North American Indians as food. The root is of a very bright yellow color, with a peculiar taste and odor, and hence is called “tobacco root.” It is deprived of its strong poisonous qualities by being baked in the ground for about two days. A variety of other roots and tubers furnish them with food. Among these are kamas root (Camassia esculenta), which is highly esteemed; the bulb has a sweet pleasant flavor, somewhat of the taste of preserved quince. It is a strikingly handsome bulbous plant, with large beautiful purple flowers. Yampah root (Anethum graveolens) is a common article of food with the Indians of the Rocky Mountains.

The roots of a thistle (Cersium virginianium, or Carduus virginianus), which are about the ordinary size of carrots, are also eaten by them. They are sweet and well flavored, but require a long preparation to fit them for use.

The people of Southern India and Ceylon have for many hundred years been in the habit of eating the bulb or root, which is the first shoot from the Palmyra nut, which forms the germ of the future tree, and is known locally as Pannam kilingoes. It is about the size of a common carrot, though nearly white. It forms a great article of food among the natives for several months in the year; but Europeans dislike it from its being very bitter. Recent experiments have proved that a farina superior to arrowroot can be obtained from it, prepared in the same way; and 100 roots, costing 2½d., yield one and a-half to two pounds of the flour.

From the boiled inner bark of the Russian larch, mixed with rye flour, and afterwards buried a few hours in the snow, the hardy Siberian hunters prepare a sort of leaven, with which they supply the place of common leaven when the latter is destroyed, as it frequently is by the intense cold. The bark is nearly as valuable as oak bark. From the inner bark the Russians manufacture fine white gloves, not inferior to those made of the most delicate chamois, while they are stronger, cooler, and more pleasant for wearing in the summer.

The fruit of the Cycas angulata forms the principal food of the Australian aborigines during a portion of the year. They cut it into thin slices, which are first dried, afterwards soaked in water, and finally packed up in sheets of tea-tree bark. In this condition it undergoes a species of fermentation; the deleterious properties of the fruit are destroyed, and a mealy substance with a musty flavor remains, which the blacks probably bake into cakes. They appear also to like the fruit of the Pandanus, of which large quantities were found by Dr. Leichardt in their camps, soaking in water, contained in vessels formed of stringy bark.

The flour obtained from the seeds of Spurry (Spergula sativa), when mixed with that of wheat or rye, produces wholesome bread, for which purpose it is often used in Norway and Gothland. In New Zealand, before the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern were largely consumed.

Many species of Bolitus are used as food by the natives in Western Australia, according to Drummond.

The thick tuberous roots of a climbing species of bean (Pachyrhizus angulatus, or Dolichos bulbosus) are cultivated and eaten in some parts of the Polynesian islands. The bulbous roots of some species of Orchideæ are eagerly sought after in New South Wales by the natives, being termed “boyams,” and highly esteemed as an article of food for the viscid mucilage which they contain. The root of the Berar (Caladium costatum) is eaten by the natives of the Pedir coast (Achin), after being well washed.

The pignons or edible seeds of Pinus Pinea are consumed occasionally in Italy. In Chili the cone or fruit of the pehuen, or pino de la tierra, are considered a great delicacy. The pinones are sometimes boiled, and afterwards, by grinding them on a stone, converted into a kind of paste, from which very delicate pastry is made. The pine is cultivated in different parts of this province on account of its valuable wood and the pinones. The seeds from the cones of the Auracanean pine, collected in autumn, furnish the Pawenches (from pawen pine) and Auracanians with a very nutritious food. When cooked, the flavor is not unlike that of the chesnut, and as they will keep for some time, they constitute, when the gathering season has been favorable, a great part of their diet.

The seeds of the cones of the nut pine (Pinus monophyllus), a new species described by Dr. Torrey, and alluded to by Col. Fremont in his exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, are largely used by the North American Indians. The nut is oily, of a most agreeable flavor, and must be very nutritious as it constitutes the principal subsistence of many of the native tribes.

The cone of another magnificent pine (Auracaria Bidwillii), indigenous to the Eastern coast of Australia, about the Moreton Bay district, is frequently met with twelve inches in diameter, and containing 150 edible seeds as large as a walnut. The aborigines roast these seeds, crack the husk between two stones, and eat them hot. They taste something like a yam or hard dry potato. The trees bear cones only once in four years, during a period of six months. This season is held as a great festival by the aborigines of that locality, called by them Bunga Bunga, and they congregate in greater numbers than is known in any other part of Australia, frequently coming from a distance of 300 miles. They grow sleek and fat upon this diet. An Act has been passed by the legislature of the colony, prohibiting, under heavy pains and penalties, the demolition of those trees, being the natural food of the natives.

The common people eat the seeds of the red sandal wood (Adenanthera Pavonina) in the South of India. The pulp of the fruit of the Adansonia digitata, or monkey bread, is also used as an article of food.

SINGHARA OR WATER NUTS.—The large seeds of Trapa bicornis, a native of China, and of T. bispinosa and natans, species indigenous to India, are sweet and eatable, and the aquatic plants which furnish them are hence an extensive article of cultivation. In Cashmere and other parts of the East they are common food, and known under the name of Singhara nuts. In Cashmere the government obtains from these nuts £12,000 of annual revenue. Mr. Moorcroft mentions that Runjeet Sing derived nearly the same sum. From 96,000 to 128,000 loads of this nut are yielded annually by the lake of Ooller alone. The nut abounds in fecula. In China the kernel is used as an article of food, being roasted or boiled like the potato. The seeds of various species of Nelumbium, natives of the East Indies, Jamaica, and the United States, also form articles of food. The fruit of N. speciosum is supposed to be the Egyptian bean of Pythagoras. The petioles and peduncles contain numerous spiral vessels, which have been used for wicks of candles. The fruit of Willughbeia edulis, a native of the East, as its name implies, is eatable. The kernel of the mango can be reduced to an excellent flour for making bread.

Not only from the Lichen tribe, but also from the Algæ, fungi, mosses and ferns man derives nutriment and valuable products. Some of the cryptogamic plants form considerable articles of commerce, particularly as food plants, affording gelatinous and amylaceous matter, and being useful in medicine and the arts.

Nostoe eduli is used in China as food; Gelidium corneum enters into the formation of the edible swallows’ nests of the Japanese islands. Agar-agar moss is shipped from Singapore to the extent of 13,000 tons a-year. Irish moss, Iceland moss, Ceylon moss, and some others, are also of some importance. Iodine and kelp are prepared to a considerable extent from sea weeds; one species (Fucus tenax) furnishes large supplies of glue to the Canton market, and the orchilla weed is of great importance to the dyer. It is principally as food that I have to speak of them in this section.

In some of the islands off the Scotch coasts, sea-wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) forms the chief support of horses and cattle in the winter months. F. serratus is similarly employed in Norway.

The Laminaria saccharina is interesting from the fact of its containing sugar. It is highly esteemed in Japan, where it is extensively used as an article of diet, being first washed in cold water and then boiled in milk or broth.

CARRAGEEN, or IRISH ROCK MOSS, Sphæroccus (Chondus) crispus, abounds on the Western Coast of Ireland, round the Orkneys, Hebrides, Scilly Islands, &c. It is purplish white, and nearly transparent, and is largely imported to feed cattle and pigs in Yorkshire. It is also used for dressing the warp of webs in the loom, and mixing with the pulp for sizing paper in the vat. It swells up like tragacanth in water; and, by long decoction, affords a considerable quantity of a light, nutritious, but nauseous jelly. It is sometimes sold as pearl moss, and is employed in the place of gelatine or isinglass for preparing blanc-manges, jellies, &c. It fetches about £7 the ton.

AGAR-AGAR, a sort of edible seaweed, or tripe de roche, is found growing on the rocks about the eastern islands that are covered by the tide. It is much used for making a kind of jelly, which is highly esteemed both by Europeans and natives for the delicacy of its flavor. The first quality is worth about 30s. the picul (133 lbs.). An inferior kind is collected on the submerged banks in the neighbourhood of Macassar (Celebes), by the Bajow Laut, or Sea Gipsies. It is also collected on the rocks about the settlement of Singapore, for export to China, where it is much used as a size for stiffening silks and for making jellies. It constitutes the bulk of the cargoes of the Chinese junks on their return voyage. The quantity shipped from Singapore is about 10,000 piculs (12,500 tons) annually.

ICELAND MOSS (Cetraria islandica) combines valuable alimentary and medicinal properties. It is imported in bags and barrels from Hamburg and Gothenburg, and is said to be the produce of Norway and Iceland. The quantity consumed varies; in 1836, 20,599 lbs. paid duty; in 1840, 6,462 lbs. In Carniola, swine, oxen, and horses, are fattened on it. Boiled in water or milk, and flavored to the palate with sugar, wine, and aromatics, it forms a very agreeable diet for invalids.

CEYLON MOSS (Gracelaria, or Gigartina, lichenoides), a small and delicate fucus, is well known for the amylaceous property it possesses, and the large proportion of true starch it furnishes. The fronds are filiform; the filaments much branched, and of a light purple color. It grows abundantly in the large lake or back-water which extends between Putlam and Calpentyr, Ceylon. It is collected by the natives principally during the south-west monsoon, when it becomes separated by the agitation of the water. The moss is spread on mats and dried in the sun for two or three days. It is then washed several times in fresh water, and again exposed to the sun, which bleaches it, after which it is collected in heaps for exportation.

Professor O’Shaughnessy has given the best analysis of this moss, which he described under the name of Fucus amylaceus; 100 grains weight yielded the following proportions:—

Vegetable jelly	54.50
True starch	15.00
Ligneous fibre	18.00
Sulphate and muriate of soda	6.50
Gum	4.00
Sulphate and phosphate of lime	1.00
Total	99.00
With a trace of wax and iron.

I observe among the imports into New Orleans, 911 bushels of Spanish moss in 1849, and 1,394 bushels in 1848. I do not know precisely its use, or from whence derived, but I believe it is chiefly used for stuffing cushions, mattresses, &c.

FERN.—The rhizome of Pteris esculenta is used as food in Australia, and that of Marattia alata in the Sandwich Islands. The trunks of the Alsophila, or tree fern, of the western side of Van Diemen’s Land, and of the common tree fern, Cibotium Billardieri (the Dicksonia antarctica, of Labillardiere), contain the edible pith or bread-fruit eaten by the natives. Many other species of ferns are esculent. Typha bread is prepared in Scinde from the pollen of the flowers of the Typha elephantina, and in New Zealand from another species of bulrush (Typha utilis).

“It must not be supposed, as some have believed, that the fern root, wherever it grows, is fit for food. On the contrary, it is only that found in rich loose soils which contains fecula in sufficient quantity for this purpose: in poorer ground the root contains proportionally more fibre. We were now encamped on an alluvial flat in the valley of the river, thirty or forty feet below the general level of the plain; and I observed that, even in this favourable spot, a great deal of discrimination was used in selecting the best roots, which was discoverable by their being crisp enough to break easily when bent: those which would not stand this test being thrown aside. Here a quantity sufficient for several days was procured, and was packed in baskets, to last till another spot equally favourable could be reached.

“The process of cooking fern root is very simple; for it is merely roasted on the fire, and afterwards bruised by means of a flat stone similar to a cobbler’s lap-stone, and a wooden pestle. The long fibres which run like wires through the root are then easily drawn out; and the remainder is pounded till it acquires the consistence of tough dough, in which state it is eaten, its taste being very like that of cassava bread. Sometimes it is sweetened with the juice of the ‘tutu.’

“The natives consider that there is no better food than this for a traveller, as it both appeases the cravings of hunger for a longer period than their other ordinary food, and renders the body less sensible to the fatigue of a long march. It is in this respect to the human frame, what oats or beans are to the horse. They have a song in praise of this root, which I have once or twice heard chanted on occasions of festivals, by a troop of young women who carry baskets of the food intended for the guests.”—(“Shortland’s New Zealand.”)

I ought not to omit noticing the Tuber cibarium, a plant of the mushroom family, growing under ground, which furnishes the famous truffle, so celebrated in the annals of cooking, of which immense quantities are imported, chiefly from the South of France. It is common also in Italy and Germany, and is often found in Northamptonshire, and some other of our own counties. The “kemmayes,” a desert plant of the truffle kind, is a great favorite with the Arabs.

In Terra del Fuego the only vegetable food of the natives, besides a few berries of a dwarf arbutus, is a species of globular bright yellow fungus (Cyttaria Darwinii), which grows in vast numbers on the beech trees. In its tough and mature state it is collected in large quantities by the women and children, and eaten uncooked. It has a slightly sweet mucilaginous taste, with a faint smell like that of a mushroom.