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

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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.
L. s. d.
To the ploughman, harrowing and planting the
arrowroot 1 0 0
Arrowroot plants 16 0
Digging it up L1 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 L5 14s. clear profit on the 20 rods, is at the rate of L45
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
L. 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 L90 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 L10 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, 71/2 feet by 41/2 feet,
and tinned inside. Each pan is supported on a carriage having iron
axles, with _lignum vitae_ 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 (_Nymphaea 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 L1,405, 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.