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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 60

1. Maranta arundinacea, (Arrowroot plant)

1. Maranta arundinacea, (Arrowroot plant).

The true arrowroot plant is probably a native of the West Indies, where it has been very largely cultivated. It seems not improbable that it could be grown well, and with profitable results, in the northern part of the Auckland District, and that it might be grown nearly as far south as Napier.

The best soil for the plant is a deep rich loam, which should be ploughed or dug in the same manner as for potatoes. The sets should he placed in rows about three feet apart, with two feet from set to set in each row. The sets should be four inches from the surface; a single tuber forms a set. The proper time for planting is from the middle of June to the end of August. The after cultivation is much like that of potatoes, the soil being hoed up to the plants twice during page 2 their earlier growth. About the end of May would be the best time to take up the tubers and to begin manufacturing the arrowroot; the work might be continued till August, but the tubers, if broken and left for any time, would deteriorate, and the produce would be greatly diminished. The smallest of the secondary tubers should be reserved for next season's crop. These should never be allowed to become dry, as that would injure their vitality; they should be kept covered with soil until they are planted out, or they should be planted out immediately after they are lifted.

The great importance of the arrowroot plant is due to the fact that its rhizomes, or underground stems, contain a nutritious starch in great abundance. The rhizomes are tuberous, white, and scaly, and are ripe for use immediately before the period of rest, when they contain about twenty-five per cent, of the starch; they should be taken up at the end of the first year.

In the preparation of arrowroot on a small scale the rhizomes are washed, peeled very carefully and completely, and beaten in a wooden mortar or ground in a hand-mill to a milky pulp. The pulp is diluted with water, and the liquid is strained through a sieve of coarse cloth or hair, the fibres being rejected. The albumen and salts remain in solution in the water, while the starch* page 3 is deposited as a powder, which, after repeated washings, is dried in the sun.

Arrowroot is very easily digested and therefore forms a most valuable food for invalids. As, however, it contains no nitrogen, it must, if used as an article of regular diet be supplemented by milk, eggs, meat, or other substances rich in nitrogen. It should not generally be given to young infants, as their organs are not suited to the digestion of starchy food.

Arrowroot should be stirred in cold water to form a tolerably firm paste, to which, while it is being stirred, boiling water should be added. A tablespoonful is sufficient to a pint of water or milk.