The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom / Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

by P. L. Simmonds

The high prices commanded by grain and breadstuffs in Europe, renders the present a remarkably favorable time to ascertain what can be done in this branch of tropical agriculture; for should the potato disease return, or this root be less extensively planted than hitherto, starch must maintain a high price, and it will be worth ascertaining whether some of the superior starch-producing plants of the tropics might not be cultivated to such an extent as to supply the English market, and thus be at once profitable to the colonies and advantageous to the mother country.

Before entering on such a cultivation, however, various points require investigation. We ought to be able to answer such questions as the following:—

1. What differences exist between the characters of starch produced by different plants?

2. What are the qualities or properties that lead manufacturers—calico printers for example—to prefer one variety to another?

3. For culinary purposes, and as an article of diet, what qualities or characters obtain a preference?

4. Can the starches from different plants be distinguished from one another by distinct and well marked characters, so that the substitution of a less esteemed variety for a more esteemed one, or the adulteration of a high priced variety with a cheaper one, could be readily detected?

5. What plants produce the most esteemed varieties?

6. What plants produce it in the largest quantity?

7. What plants produce the largest yield per acre?

8. From what plants is it most easily manufactured?