The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 51

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 quant.i.ty: 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 4d.

per lb.

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

Retained for home Imports 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 orchideoe. 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 princ.i.p.ally natives of the East Indies and the South Sea Islands.

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

Salep consists chiefly of ba.s.sorin, 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 coa.r.s.e 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, sc.r.a.ping off their outer skin, and then reducing them to a pulp by friction, on a kind of rasp, made by winding coa.r.s.e 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 b.a.l.l.s, 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 quant.i.ties 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 a.s.serts, 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 princ.i.p.al are the common potato, yam, cocoes or eddoes, sweet potatoes, taro, tacca, arrowroot, ca.s.sava, or manioc, and the Apios (_Arracacha esculenta_). There are others of less importance, which may be incidentally mentioned. The roots of _Tropaeolum tuberosum_ are eaten in Peru, those of _Ocymum tuberosum_ in Java. In Kamschatka they use the root of the _Lilium Pomponium_ as a subst.i.tute for the potato. In Brazil the _Helianthus tuberosus_. The rhizomae and seed vessels of the Lotus form the princ.i.p.al 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 ill.u.s.trated by an engraving. From Spain it appears to have found its way into Italy, where it a.s.sumed 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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ty 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 Boeuf, 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 princ.i.p.al object of culture, vary from 1 to 10 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 7 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 5 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 princ.i.p.al 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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ties 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 a.s.sertion of Mr. Bollman, one of the professors in the Russian Agricultural Inst.i.tution, at Gorigoretsky.

In a very interesting pamphlet[47] by this gentleman, it is a.s.serted, 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 circ.u.mstance 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 quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty 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.