The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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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 Abyssinica_is 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 31/2 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 epicarp, 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 L25 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
hypogaea_), 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.