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, tho