New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-27

potatoes, ard Indian corn Az TO these two lsHsr
articles, after all the talk about two or thres
crops yesr-the tropical product Of peitser win
equal that TO be obtained from equsl quantities Of
lind in the United States. Rice msy slsO be cal.
tivsted in tto'e tropca, districts il which irri-
CATION is possible, but Only at that risk to the
health ofth cullivatOrs which avery where attend.
this operation.
The yam, (dioscorea,) Of which there are various
species. il tbs tuberous root Of trailing vine
These roots sometimes obtain the size Of q mans
leg. They keep we'll aud, boiled or roasted afford
palstable and nutritious food. The maniOc isa
shrub not unlike our currant bush producing tn.
berous roots Of the size, shspe and consistency OF
large carrots. The sweet manioc is roasted, aud
so eaten is not Inferior to the yam. The bitter.
mspoc is grated, then pressed to separate the
Juice, which is bitter sDd poisonous, ani the re.
naming pulp, slightly cooked by being stirred
in an iron pan over the fire, affords farioa
which will keep for an indefinite period; or
the same pulp, thinly spread out on al iron
plate over the fire, unites together in cakes
the famous casava bresj-of about the sire
and thickness of sea-biscaits. It is eaten soft
ened in water or some sauce, and is the favor
Ire food of the native Indian population Of tropical
America They employ it a'so in the manufacture
of an intoxicating drink The old women of the
tribe meet together to chew aud msstcate this
casava bread, which, thus prepared is mixed
with due proportion of water, and 5000 ferments
and becoues intoxicating-a metscd which We
mention here for the benefit Of any of the emi
grants whose supply of grog may run short aud
who may be tempted to try the native article.
But of all the vegetable productions of the
tropics, rene has obtained such celebrity, at least
in the temperate regions, and Of zone have such
marvellous stories been told apparently upon very
Trustworthy authority as of the plaintsin aud by
reducing these marvellous stories TO the standard OF
truth and fact, we shall enable all the proposed
emigra anita to judge of the probability Of eating
in the tropics without being obliged TO work.
The delUsiye statements 80 often repested, as to
the pIoductiveness Of the plaintsin, seem to have
origDsted with the illustriOus Humboldt, who, as
to this matter, suffered himself to b. egregously
misled but they owe their propagation aud cur
rency chiefly to the efforts of the British West In
dian planters who hoped to stave of the abolition
of Slavery, by srguiDg-citing Humboldt to
prove it-thst one days labor in week, or even
in month, devoted to the cultivation of the plain
tain, would suffice to keep family 10 food, so
that. in addition to hunger the stimulus Of the
la.h would be needed TO mske the negroes work
The planteD (musa of the bOtansts,) though
often called tree, is an annual plant sending up
shoots from OF roots or stool as it is tech
nic,lly called, which shoots attain hight OF from
ten 70 twenty feet giving of toward the top droop.
ing leaves nearly two feet broad and ten feet long.
of delicate texture and beautiful light green color
From the top proceeds long spike, which bends
over and droops toward the ground with this
weight of the fruit ii produces This fruit 10 size
and shape something like good-sized cucumber.
CROWS together in clusters of FIVE or six, called
hands, and arranged in succession along ana
around tbe spike. As soon as the fruit is matured
the plant dies to make way for new shoots which
spring up from the stool. There ars two principal
.peoies, each with many Varieties cultivated IN
tropical Americs, one called by the English the
plo ntain the other the banana. The French, on.
the other hand call the pantain the banana, and
the banana the fig, snd this confusion OF names
has given occasion to confusion of ideas, from
which Humboldt himself has not entirely escaped.
The banana or fig is eaten only in ripe state,
commonly raw, aud is no more regular article
of food than apples or pears are with US. The
plantain is chiefly u,ed as food after it has attained
it's full size but before the starch, of which it is
then chiefly composed begins, BY the proce"
of ripening to be changed into sugar. In this IN
ripe state it eaten roasted or boiled and is nu-
ti!ious and palat,be food. Sometimes the billed
plantsins are pounded into tenacious mush--
called foo foo in the English colonies--and this, with
little soup or sauce TO moisten it, is the fayorite
diet Of the Creole women ard childrn Sometimes
the plantan is cut into strips and dried in the sun
after which it is pounded into -four, from which
various messes are made. So much for the article
itself aid row for its productiveness. Humooidt
represents the produce of the psntsin to the acre
compared wi h potatoes as ,O6O to "a, whichis4
times as great and compared with wheat it's Voo
to or 1873 times as great and, according to him.
one acre of plsntains will feed family OF 40 per-
cons the year round. He makes il out in this way;
He proposes to allow to each plan.ain tree sps's
of some 80 square feet, or about l,5O0 to tho
acre, ard to gather from each stool four bdnches
year, and reckoning the bunche, to weigh from
&C to Ss pounds each, he calculates on crop Oh
Us, 900 pounds Of nutriment annually.
The fscts-as ascertaned by several years care
ful observation in country where plantains were
largely cultivated, and with soil and climate pa''
ticularly favorable to their grOwth-are these;
Only three hundred stools are planted to an scre'
and one bunch a year is as much as can be ex-
pected from a stool. The average weight Of
bunch is thirty five pounds. This gives lo'ooV