The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1879-05-28
This will grow in Elorida,)
The Sage Palm.

nous plant, or whether it was orlgi'
nally introduced and cultivated, is,
perhaps, question; but so abundant
is its natural growth, that so long as
it was required for native consump-
tion there was never any occasion
for its cultivation. The palm grew
wild and IN luxuriance, and trees
were cut down whenever required.
With the increasing demand by for
eign markets for sage flour, the in
habitants of the more accessible and
more populous districts have been in
duced to extend the existing area Of
the natural growth Of the palm, by
planting new ground with young
shoots. No further cultivation is re-
quired. Once planted, the young
shoot, in about seven years, becomes
tree of sufficient maturity for the
extraction of the medullary pith out
OF which the sage flour is made, and
already propagating itself by sending
out fresh shoots in all directions.
In the colony of Labuan the sage
traders have largely increased their
business, owing to the Sultan Of
Borneo having removed some of the
distinctions to the transit OF sage in
the neighboring rivers, and it is not
improbable that this island may yet
become the center Of the sage manu-
tactnre of the Eastern Archipelago.
In 1867 sago was imported into
Labuan rof the value of 99S11; in
the following year the trade increased
100 per cent, the value Of the inn
ported sago being e19,S41, and the
process of manufacture added 9S.764
more to the value of the sage.
In Cclebes, all the inhabitants feed
upon sage of very coarse quality,
which may be said to grow sponta-
neously. affording them abundance of
subsistence. The sage plantations
are situated IN the valleys between
the mountains, in swampy ground.
There are several kinds of sage tree,
some of which will not produce any
useful fecula or starch for the first 16
years. 1t is collected from trees of
8 years up to 80 or IS years of age,
after which the tree becomes perfect
ly hollow, and rots away from the
top downwards. A sage tree of 10
years growth will be about 81 feet
high, and from 5 to feet girth at
the bottom, and is continually yield
ing its crop. When the substance of
the edible sage is inches to inches
thick they cut it, and this will be in
two or three months, according to
the nature of the soil, and the often
er it is cut the faster it grows.
There were, in 1874, in the district
OF Tonsawang, Menado, 100000 sago
palms, and their produce was about
$500 piculs of sage; the price OF
the raw sa0o was halt a florin the
picuI, and of purified sage two and a
half florins the picul. There were in
Billion in The same year 20,630 sago |
trees. The produce Of sage in Riouw
is about $1,000 piculs.
There are four or five species of
palms which yield sago those most |
cultivated are, however, the Sog,ts
Ko'aigii and the SoguS lpUis. These
palms are found in every part of the
Malayan Archipelago and Philippines
as far as Mindanao, wherever there is
a genial soil for them. and this con-
sists Of marsh or bog, composed of |
decayed vegetables, near the sea.
They are most abundant in the east
em parts of the Malay Archipelago,
a the Moluccas and neighboring |
islands, with New Guinea and Bor-
neo, and IN the Philippines at Minda-
mao. In all these sago is more or |
less the bread of the inhabitants. |
These palms propagate themselves
by lateral shoots as we'll as by seed,
and they die after producing fruit.
From the first OF these properties it |
follows that sage plantation once |
formed is perpetual.
The sage tree, when cut down and |
the top severed from it, is a cylinder
about 20 inches in diameter, and |
from Is feet to 20 feet in height.
The contents would, therefore. be
nearly 20 bushels, and, allowing one.
half for woody fiber, there will re-
main ID bushels of starch, or saw
700 lbs
1t may give some idea of the enor- |
nous rate of this produce, if it be
considered that three trees Weld
more food matter than an acre of
wheat, and six times more than an
acre of potatoes. An acre of saro.
i cut down at one harvest, will yield