Berger's process does not differ widely from the preceding. But in addition he has a plan of fermenting the steeped and ground rice for such a period as to permit the removal of the gluten by washing it out. Colman adopts somewhat the same principle, hastening the fermentation by the addition of about 15 per cent. of the sour residue from the wheat-starch manufacture. Ransford follows Jones' method pretty much up to a certain point, but keeps the grain and alkaline lye in motion, either by allowing the lye to run ont at the top of the tank and pumpiug it hack through the bottom, or by forcing it into an airtight tank at 20 lb. pressure. A part of the liquor is drained off, and the process is repeated with fresh lye. The completely sattuuted rice is freed from gluten by pressure through bags, and il3 then ground and treated for the production of the starch. The American plan differs from all the preceding. The rice ie steeped with constant stirring for 18 hours in a caustic soda lye marking 1.75° B.(1 • 023 sp. gr.), when the dirty yellowish lye is with drawn, and pawed over long inclined tables, to separate the starch-yielding mucus from the lye. The grain, thus softened 80 as to be easily bruised between the fingers, is repeatedly washed, and then ground to a paste under a stream of very dilute caustic soda lye. Transferred to a vat, it is mechanically agitated for 6 hours, then left to settle for 12 hours, the lye which separates being siphoned off. The thick paste is rotated for f hour in a perforated centrifugal apparatus. The starch-granulee arrange themselves here according to their specific gravities ; the drained-off liquor may be used again for steeping fresh quantities of rice. The raw starch gathered from the centri fugal ia elevated to the highest floor of the building, there stirred up with weak lye to make a " milk," which is passed through cylinder-sieves to washing-out vats on a lower floor, and thence flows to the depositing-vats on the ground floor, where it settles till firm, requiriug 24-36 hours. After the clear liquor has been drawn off, the starch is stirred up with water, and pa•std through the centrifugals. These last should have closed sides, and it is even then doubtful whether their use is advantageous. The starch is rendered almost perfectly dry, but the piecee acquire a rough surface when broken up, and their form renders them unsuitable for making crystal etareh.
Sago.—Sago is the anaylaceoue matter extracted from the pith of several palms; the most important are Matronlon Sagu and MI Rumplai; the former is abundant in Sumatra, and grows wild also in Java, Borneo, Celebes, and Malacca ; in the Moluccas, it ie probably only cultivated ; end it does nut reach so far east ns New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. M. Rumphii, which differs from M. Sagu in the leafstalk being armed with numerous straight brown spinee 1 in. lung, has a more eastern range, being abundant in the W. parts of New Guinea, the Moluccas, Mindanao, Gilolo, Ceram, end Amboyna ; but is not known to occur in Timor, or westward of Celebes, and is thus absent from Sumatra and Java. Other palms yielding sago in leas commercial quantity are Phcenix farinifera in Singapore, Corypha Gebanga in Java, Caryota urens in Mysore, Borassus flabelltformis and Arenga[S iguerus] sacchar,fera in other parte of India. In Malabar, a sort of sago
is prepared from tho seeds of Cyeas eircinalis, and in Japan from C. resoluta ; but these do not enter into English commerce. Metroxylon Sagu grows in swamps, or in wet hollows on the rocky slopea of mountains ; while M. Bumphii is a littoral species, forming dense impenetrable belts on tho shores of islands. The former is readily propagated from offsets, but seed is generally un productive. The advance in the price of and demand for the article is causing, the Malays to greatly extend the plantations. For making sago, a full.grown tree ia selected just before it is going to flower, whioh it only does when 10-15 years old, and then immediately dies.
In Ceram, it le cut down olose to the ground, the leaves nnd leafstalks ale cleared away, and a broad etiip of the bark is removed from the upper eitle of the trunk as it lies upon the ground. This expoees the pithy rnatter, which is of a rusty colour near the bottom of the tree, but pure white highor up ; it is about se hard as a dry apple, but with woody fibres running through it about f in. apart. This pith is cut or broken down into a coarse powder by means of a tool constructed for the purpose—a club of hard and heavy wood, haviug a piece of sharp quartz rock firmly iinhedded in ite blunt end, and projecting about f in. By successive blows of thie, narrow strips of the pith are out away, wad fall into the cylinder formed by the bark. The whole trunk is thus progressively cleared out, leaving a skin not more than i in. in thickness. This material is carried away (in baskets made of the sheathing bases of the leaves) to the nearest water, where a washing-machine is put up, which ie cornposed almost entirely of the sago tree itself. The large sheathing bases of the leaves form the troughs, and the fibrous covering (eoir) from the leafstalks of the young coco-nut (see p. 939), the straioer. Water is poured ou the mass of pitb, which is kneaded and pressed against the strainer till the starch is all set free and has passed through, when the fibrous refuse is thrown away, and a fresh basketful is put in its place. The water charged with sago-starch passes OD to a trough, with a depression in the centre, where the sediment is deposited, the surplus water trickling off by a shallow outlet. When the trough is nearly full, the mass of starch, which has a slight reddish tinge, is made into cylinders of about 30 lb. weight, covered with sago leaves, and in this state is sold as raw sago. Rifled with water, this forms a thick glutinous mass, with a rather astriogent taste, and is eaten with salt, limes, and chillies. Sago-bread is made iu large quantities, by baking it into cakes in a small clay oven. According to Crawford and Blume, 500-800 lb. of sago are derived from a single tree.
In Sumatra, the felled stems are cut into pieces 3-5 ft. long, from which the outer bark is removed. After lying some days in the shade, they are taken indoors, aud rasped into coarse meal with huge graters. The meal le then placed on a cloth stretched over a tub, water is poured on, and the mass is kneaded. The starch passes through with the water, collects in a receptacle, and is removed and dried, forming sago-meal.