There are several species, all of which _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.

quality. A shrubby variety is common in South Australia, and other

parts of New Holland. _Ricinus lividus_ is a native of the Cape of

Good Hope. It is a hardy plant, of the easiest culture, and will

thrive in almost any soil, whether in the burning plains or the

coldest part of the mountains. The seed should be planted in the

tropics in September, singly, and at the distance of 10 or twelve feet

apart. They will bear the first season, and continue to yield for

years. When the seed-pods become brown, they are in a fit state to

pluck. It is often grown in the East intermixed with other crops. The

primitive mode of obtaining the oil is to separate the seeds from the

husks, and bruise them by tying them up in a grass mat. In this state

they are put into a boiler amongst water, and boiled until all the oil

is separated, which floats at the top, and the refuse sinks to the

bottom; it is then skimmed off, and put away for use. The purest oil

is obtained, as before-mentioned, by crushing the seeds (which are

sewed up in horsehair bags), by the action of heavy iron beaters. The

oil, as it oozes out, is caught in troughs, and conveyed to receivers,

whence it is bottled for use.

Castor oil is used for lamps in the East Indies, and the Chinese have

some mode of depriving it of its medicinal properties, so as to render

it suitable for culinary purposes.

That which we import from the East Indies comes from Bombay and

Calcutta, and is obtained at a very low price. It is exceedingly pure,

both in color and taste.

In the West Indies the shrub grows about six feet high. The stalks are

jointed, and the branches covered with leaves about eighteen inches in

circumference, forming eight or ten sharp-pointed divisions, of a

bluish green color, spreading out in different directions. The flowers

contain yellow stamina; the seed is enclosed in a triangular husk, of

a dark brown color, and covered with a light fur, of the same color as

the husk. When the capsule is thoroughly ripened by the sun, it

bursts, and expels the seeds, which are usually three in number.

In Jamaica this plant is of such speedy growth, that in one year it

arrives at maturity, and I have known it to attain to the height of

twenty feet. A gallon of the seed yields by expression about two

pounds of oil.

The wholesale price in Liverpool, in October, 1853, was 3d. to 5d. per

lb.

It is brought over from the East Indies in small tin cases, soldered

together and packed in boxes, weighing about 2 cwt. each.

In Ceylon castor oil is obtained from two varieties of the plant, the

white and the red.

The native mode of preparing the oil is by roasting the seed; this

imparts an acridity to the oil, which is objectionable. By attending

to the following directions, the oil may be prepared in the purest and

best form. The modes of preparation are--1. By boiling in water. 2. By

expression. 3. Extraction by alcohol. In the first the seeds are

slightly roasted to coagulate the albumen, cleaned of the integuments,

bruised in a mortar, and the paste boiled in pure water. The oil which

rises on the surface is removed, and treated with an additional

quantity of fresh water; 10,000 parts of clean seed give by this

process (in Jamaica) 3,250 of oil, of good quality, though

amber-colored. 2. Expression is the simplest and most usually adopted

process; the cleaned kernels are well bruised, placed in cloth bags,

and compressed in a powerful lever and screw press. A thick oil is

obtained, which must be filtered through cloth and paper to separate

the mucilage. In Bengal the manufacturers boil the oil water, which

coagulates some albumen, and they subsequently filter through cloth,

charcoal, and paper. 3. The extraction by alcohol is practised by some

druggists. Each pound of paste is triturated with four pounds of

alcohol, specific gravity 8.350, and the mixture subjected to

pressure. The oil dissolved by the alcohol escapes very freely: one

half is recovered by the distillation of the spirit, the residue of

the distillation is boiled in a large quantity of water. The oil

separates and is removed, and gently heated to expel any adherent

moisture; then filtered at the temperature of 90 deg. Fahrenheit;

1,000 parts of the paste have by this process given 625 of colorless

and exceedingly sweet oil.

The cultivation of the _Palma christi_, and the manufacture of castor

oil, is extensively carried on in some parts of the United States, and

continues on the increase. A single firm at St. Louis has worked up

18,500 bushels of beans in four months, producing 17,750 gallons of

oil, and it is stated that 800 barrels have been sold, at 50 dollars

per barrel. The oil may be prepared for burning, for machinery, soap,

&c., and is also convertible into stearine. It is more soluble in

alcohol than lard-oil.

American castor oil is imported for the most part from New York and

New Orleans, but some comes from our own possessions in North America.

In the United States, according to the "American Dispensatory," the

cleansed seeds are gently heated in a shallow iron reservoir, to

render the oil liquid for easy expression, and then compressed in a

powerful screw press, by which a whitish oily liquid is obtained,

which is boiled with water in clean iron boilers, and the impurities

skimmed off as they rise to the surface. The water dissolves the

mucilage and starch, and the heat coagulates the albumen, which forms

a whitish layer between the oil and water. The clear oil is now

removed, and boiled with a minute portion of water until aqueous

vapors cease to arise: by this process an acrid volatile matter is got

rid of. The oil is put into barrels, and in this way is sent into the

market. American oil has the reputation of being adulterated with

olive oil. Good seeds yield about 25 per cent. of oil. A large

proportion of the drug consumed in the eastern section of the Union is

derived by way of New Orleans from Illinois and the neighbouring

States, where it is so abundant that it is sometimes used for burning

in lamps.

In Jamaica the bruised seeds are boiled with water in an iron pot, and

the liquid kept constantly stirred. The oil which separates swims on

the top, mixed with a white froth, and is skimmed off. The skimmings

are heated in a small iron pot, and strained through a cloth. When

cold it is put in jars or bottles for use.

Castor oil imported. Retained.

lbs. lbs.

1826 263,382 453,072

1831 393,191 327,940

1836 981,585 809,559

1841 871,136 732,720

1846 1,477,168 --

1849 1,084,272 --

1850 3,495,632 --

The imports of castor oil come chiefly from the East India Company's

possessions, and were as follows, nearly all being retained for home

consumption:--

lbs.

1830 490,558

1831 343,373

1832 257,386

1833 316,779

1834 685,457

1835 1,107,115

1836 972,552

1837 957,164

1838 837,143

1839 916,370

1840 1,190,173

1841 869,947

1842 490,156

1843 717,696

In 1841, 12,406 Indian maunds of castor oil were shipped from Calcutta

alone, and 7,906 ditto in 1842.

In 1842, 8 cases were shipped from Ceylon, 10 in 1843, 24 in 1844, and

14 in 1845.

1,439 barrels were shipped from New Orleans in 1847. The quantity

brought down to that city from the interior was 1,394 barrels in 1848,

and 1,337 barrels in 1849.

Within the last year or two, an attempt has been made to introduce the

cake obtained in expressing the seeds of the castor oil plant as a

manure, which is deserving attention, both because it is in itself

likely to prove a serviceable addition to the list of fertilizers

which may be advantageously employed, and because it may lead to the

use of similar substances, which are at present neglected, or thrown

aside as refuse.

The castor oil seed resembles in chemical composition the other oily

seeds. It consists of a mixture of mucilaginous, albuminous, and oily

matters; and the former two of these are identical in constitution and

general properties with the substances found in linseed and rape cake,

while the oil is principally distinguished by its purgative

properties. The cake obtained is in the form of ordinary oil-cake, but

is at once distinguished from it by its color, and by the large

fragments of the husk of the seeds which it contains. It is also much,

softer, and may be easily broken down with the hand. I have analysed

two samples of castor cake, stated to have been obtained by different

processes; and though I have not been informed of the exact nature of

these processes, I infer, from the large quantity of oil, that one

must have been cold-drawn. The first of the following analyses is that

of the sample which I believe the cold-drawn. It is the most complete

of the two, and contains a determination of the amount of oil. In the

other analysis this was not done, but there was no doubt on my mind

that its quantity was much smaller.

No. 1. No. 2.

Water 8.32 16.31

Oil 24.32 --

Nitrogen 3.05 3.35

Ash 7.22 4.95

The ash contains--

Siliccous matters 1.96 --

Phosphates 3.36 2.27

Excess of phosphoric acid 0.64 --

In order to give a proper idea of the value of this substance as a

manure, I shall quote here, for comparison sake, the average

composition of rape cake, as deduced from the analyses contained in

the Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland:--

Water 10.68

Oil 11.10

Nitrogen 4.63

Ash 7.79

The ash contains--

Siliccous matters 1.18

Phosphates 3.87

Excess of phosphoric acid 0.39

It will be at once seen that there is a close general resemblance

between these two substances, although there is no doubt that the

castor cake is inferior to rape cake; still I believe that this

inferiority is fully counterbalanced by the difference in price, which

is such that, compared with rape cake, the castor cake is really a

cheap manure. There is only one of its constituents which it contains

in larger quantity, and that is the oil. No weight is, however, to be

attached to the quantity of oil in a manure. In a substance to be used

as food, it is of very high importance; but so far as we at present

know, its value as manure is extremely problematical. Whale, seal, and

other coarse oils have been used as manures, and by some few observers

benefits have been derived from their application, but the general

experience has not been favorable to their use, nor should we

chemically be induced to expect any beneficial effect from them. We

have every reason to believe that the oils which are found in plants

are produced there as the results of certain processes which are

proceeding within the plant, and there is no evidence to show that any

part of it is ever absorbed in the state of oil by the roots when they

are presented to them. On the other hand, the oils are extremely inert

substances, and undergo chemical changes very slowly; so that there is

no likelihood of their being converted into carbonic acid, or any

other substance which may be useful to the plant; and as they contain

no nitrogen, and consist only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, they

can yield only those elements of which the plant can easily obtain an

unlimited supply. I can conceive cases in which the oil might possibly

produce some mechanical effect on the soil, but none in which it could

act as a manure, in the proper sense of the term.

KANARI on.--Mr. Crawfurd, in his "History of the Indian Archipelago,"

speaks most favorably of an oil obtained from the "Kanari," a tree

which, he says, is a native of the same country as the sago palm, and

is not found to the westward, though it has been introduced to Celebes

and Java. I have not been able to distinguish its botanical name; but

Mr. Crawfurd describes it as a large handsome tree, and one of the

most useful productions of the Archipelago. It bears a nut of an

oblong shape, nearly the size of a walnut, the kernel of which is as

delicate as that of a filbert, and abounds with oil. The nuts are

either smoked and dried for use, or the oil is expressed from them in

their recent state. It is used for all culinary purposes, and is purer

and more palatable than that of the coco-nut. The kernels, mixed up

with a little sago meal, are made into cakes and eaten as bread.

THE COCO-NUT PALM.

This palm (_Cocos nucifera_) is one of the most useful of the

extensive family to which it belongs, supplying food, clothing,

materials for houses, utensils of various kinds, rope and oil; and

some of its products, particularly the two last, form important

articles of commerce. An old writer, in a curious discourse on palm

trees, read before the Royal Society, in 1688, says, "The coco nut

palm is alone sufficient to build, rig, and freight a ship with bread,

wine, water, oil, vinegar, sugar, and other commodities. I have sailed

(he adds) in vessels where the bottom and the whole cargo hath been

from the munificence of this palm tree. I will take upon me to make

good what I have asserted." And then he proceeds to describe and

enumerate each product. Another recent popular writer speaks in

eloquent terms of the estimation in which it is held, and the various

uses to which it is applied.

"Its very aspect is imposing. Asserting its supremacy by an erect and

lofty bearing, it may be said to compare with other trees, as man with

inferior creatures. The blessings it confers are incalculable. Year

after year the islander reposes beneath its shade, both eating and

drinking of its fruit; he thatches his hut with its boughs, and weaves

them into baskets to carry his food; he cools himself with a fan

plaited from the young leaflets, and shields his head from the sun by

a bonnet of the leaves; sometimes he clothes himself with the

cloth-like substance which wraps round the base of the stalks, whose

elastic rods, strung with filberts, are used as a taper. The larger

nuts, thinned and polished, furnish him with a beautiful goblet; the

smaller ones with bowls for his pipes; the dry husks kindle his fires;

their fibres are twisted into fishing-lines and cords for his canoes.

He heals his wounds with a balsam compounded from the juice of the

nut; and with the oil extracted from its pulp embalms the bodies of

the dead. The noble trunk itself is far from being valueless. Sawn

into posts, it upholds the islander's dwelling; converted into

charcoal, it cooks his food; and, supported on blocks of stones, rails

in his lands. He impels his canoe through the water with a paddle of

the wood, and goes to battle with clubs and spears of the same hard

material. In Pagan Tahiti, a coco-nut branch was the symbol of regal

authority. Laid upon the sacrifice in the temple, it made the offering

sacred; and with it the priests chastised and put to flight the evil

spirits which assailed them. The supreme majesty of Oro, the great god

of their mythology, was declared in the coco-nut log from which his

image was rudely carved. Upon one of the Tonga Islands there stands a

living tree, revered itself as a deity. Even upon the Sandwich Islands

the coco palm retains all its ancient reputation; the people there

having thought of adopting it as the national emblem."

Besides the foregoing and following uses, I am aware of several scents

and spirituous liquors being procured from the flowers and pulp of the

coco-nut.

This palm tree is one of the finest objects in nature. Its stem is

tall and slender, without a branch; and at the top are seen from ten

to two hundred coco-nuts, each as large as a man's head: over these

are the graceful plumes, with their green gloss, and beautiful fronds

of the nodding leaves. Nothing can exceed the graceful majesty of

these intertropical fruit trees, except the various useful purposes to

which the tree, the leaf, and the nut are applied by the natives.

1. The stem is used for--Bridges, posts, beams, rafters, paling,

ramparts, loop-holes, walking sticks, water butts, bags (the upper

cuticle), sieves in use for arrowroot.

2. The coco-nut is used for--milk, a delicious drink; meat from the

scraped nut, for various kinds of food; jelly, _kora_, pulp, nut, oil,

excellent and various food for man, beast, and fowl.

The shell for vessels to drink out of, water pitchers, lamps, funnels,

fuel, _panga_ (for a game).

The fibre for sinnet, various cordage, bed stuffing, thread for tying

combs, scrubbing-brushes, girdle (ornamental), whisk for flies,

medicines, various and useful.

3. The leaf is used for--Thatch for houses, lining for houses,

_takapau_ (mats), baskets (fancy and plain), fans, _palalafa_ (for

sham fights), combs (very various), bedding (white fibre), _tafi_

(brooms), _Kubatse_ (used in printing), _mama_ (candles), screen for

bedroom, waiter's tray.

Here are no less than forty-three uses of which we know something; and

the natives know of others to which they can apply this single

instance of the bounty of the God of nature. For house and clothes,

for food and medicine, the coco-nut palm is their sheet anchor, as

well as their ornament and amusement, who dwell in the torrid zone.

This fine palm, which always forms a prominent feature in tropical

scenery, is a native of Southern Asia. It is spread by cultivation

through almost all the intertropical regions of the Old and New

Worlds; but it is cultivated nowhere so abundantly as in the Island of

Ceylon, and those of Sumatra, Java, &c. On the shores of the Red Sea

it advances to Mokha, according to Niebuhr; but it does not succeed

in Egypt. It is cultivated in the lower and southern portions of the

Asiatic Continent, as on the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, and

around Calcutta. In the island of Ceylon, where the fruit of this tree

forms one of the principal aliments of the natives, the nuts are

produced in such quantities that in one year about three millions were

exported, besides the manufactured produce in oil, &c. According to

Marshall it requires a mean temperature of 72 deg. Its northern limit,

therefore, is nearly the same as the southern limit of our cereals.

Rumphius enumerates thirteen varieties of this palm, but many of these

have now been placed under other genera, and Lindley resolves them

into three species--_C. nucifera_, the most generally diffused

species, a native of the East Indies; and _C. flexuosa_ and _plumosa_,

natives of Brazil. The trunk, which is supported by numerous, small

fibrous roots, rises gracefully, with a slight inclination, from forty

to sixty feet in height; it is cylindrical, of middling size, marked

from the root upwards with unequal circles or rings, and is crowned by

a graceful head of large leaves. The terminal bud of this palm, as

well as that of the cabbage palm (_Euterpe montana_), is used as a

culinary vegetable. The wood of the tree is known by the name of

porcupine wood. It is light and spongy, and, therefore, cannot be

advantageously employed in the construction of ships or solid

edifices, though it is used in building huts; vessels made of it are

fragile and of little duration. Its fruit, at different seasons, is in

much request; when young, it is filled with a clear, somewhat sweet,

and cooling fluid, which is equally refreshing to the native and the

traveller. When the nut becomes old, or attains its full maturity, the

fluid disappears, and the hollow is filled by a sort of almond, which

is the germinating organ. This pulp or kernel, when cut in pieces and

dried in the sun, is called copperah, and is eaten by the Malays,

Coolies, and other natives, and from it a valuable species of oil is

expressed, which is in great demand for a variety of purposes. The

refuse oil cake is called Poonae, and forms an excellent manure.

A calcareous concretion is sometimes found in the centre of the nut,

to which peculiar virtues have been attributed.

Along the Gulf of Cariaco there are many large coco walks. In moist

and fertile ground it begins to bear abundantly the fourth year; but

in dry soils it does not produce fruit until the tenth. Its duration

does not generally exceed 80 or 100 years, at which period its mean

height is about 80 feet. Throughout this coast a coco tree supplies

annually about 100 nuts, which yield eight flascos of oil. The flasco

is sold for about 1s. 4d. A great quantity is made at Cumana, and

Humboldt frequently witnessed the arrival there of canoes containing

3,000 nuts.

Throughout the South Sea Islands, coco-nut palms abound, and oil may

be obtained in various places. Some of the uninhabited islands are

covered with dense groves, and the ungathered nuts, which have fallen

year after year, lie upon the ground in incredible quantities. Two or

three men, provided with the necessary apparatus for pressing out the

oil, will, in the course of a week or two, obtain enough to load one

of the large sea canoes. Coco nut oil is now manufactured in different

parts of the South Seas, and forms no small part of the traffic

carried on with trading vessels. A considerable quantity is annually

exported from the Society Islands to Sydney. They bottle it up in

large bamboos, six or eight feet long, and these form part of the

circulating medium of Tahiti. The natives use the bruised fronds of

_Polypodium crassifolium_ to perfume this oil. _Evodia triphylla_, a

favorite evergreen plant with the natives of the Polynesian Islands,

is also used for this purpose.

The most favorable situation for the growth of the coco palm is the

ground near the sea-coast, and if the roots reach the mud or salt

water, they thrive all the better for it. The coco-nut walks are the

real estates of India, as the vineyards and olive groves are of

Europe. I have seen these palms growing well in inland situations,

remote from the sea, but always on plains, never upon hills or very

exposed situations, where they do not arrive to maturity, wanting

shelter, and being shaken too violently by the wind. The stems being

tall and slight, and the whole weight of leaves and fruit at the head,

they may not unaptly be compared to the mast of a ship with round top

and topmast without shrouds to support it. Ashes and fish are good

manures for it.

The coco-nut is essentially a maritime plant, and is always one of the

first to make its appearance on coral and other new islands in

tropical seas, the nut being floated to them, and rather benefiting

than otherwise by its immersion in the salt water. Silex and soda are

the two principal salts which the coco-nut abstracts from the soil,

and hence, where these do not exist in great abundance, the tree does

not thrive well. I do not know myself what is the practice in Ceylon,

but in Brazil, Dr. Gardner tells me, salt is very generally applied to

the coco-nut when planted. Far in the interior, he states, he has seen

as much as half a bushel applied to a single tree, and that too when

it cost about 2s. a pound, from the great distance it had to be

brought. That the application, therefore, of salt, of seaweed, and

saline mud, does more than supply soda, must be very evident, if we

only recollect how difficult it is to dry any part of our dress that

has been soaked in salt water, and what effect damp weather has on

table salt, which, in a balance, has often been made use of as an

hydrometer. Moisture is always attracted by salt, and the more sea mud

and other such little matters that coco-nut planters can apply round

the roots of their trees, there will most assuredly be the less

occasion for watering them in the dry season. Sea weed contains but

very little fibrous matter, being chiefly composed of mucilage and

water; and the experiments of Sir J. Pringle and Mr. C. W. Johnson,

prove that salt in small quantities assists the decomposition of both

animal and vegetable substances. Decomposed poonac, or oil-cake, is

one of the best manures that can be applied, as it returns to the soil

the component parts of which it has beau deprived to form the fruit.

The primary direction of the planter's industry will be to the

establishment of a nursery of young plants. In Ceylon, for this

purpose, the nuts are placed in squares of 400, covered with one inch

of sand, or salt mud; are watered daily till the young shoots appear,

and are planted out after the rains in September. Sand and salt mud

are to be found on almost all the coasts where it would be desirable

to plant nuts, and if they are put into the ground at the commencement

of the rainy season, artificial watering will scarcely be necessary.

Any period, when there are showers, would answer for transplanting

them. I should say from the middle to the end of January would be

best, when they are placed in the nursery in October and November; and

in October when they are planted in June.

It is said that they should be allowed from 20 to 30 feet space apart,

but I will calculate their return when planted 27 feet apart every

way. This will give 58 coco-nut trees per acre. If manured, for the

first two years, with seaweed and salt mud, and supplied with water in

dry weather, there need be no loss, and the plants will thrive the

better. The land must be kept clear of weeds till the plants are

matured, in order to permit them abundance of air and light. In five

years, when well cared for, the flower may be expected, but the plants

will not be in full bearing before the seventh or eighth year. From 50

to 80 nuts are the annual crop of a tree; but I will calculate at the

lowest rate. One hundred nuts will yield, when the oil is properly

expressed, at least two gallons and a half. I shall not take into

account the making of jaggery sugar and toddy, or spirit from the sap,

as I do not consider that the manufacture would be remunerative; and

it must be attended with much trouble, besides requiring a great deal

of care and some skill.

Take the case now of a plantation of 100 acres in extent. This would

give us 5,800 trees, which, at 50 nuts per tree, 290,000 nuts, at 2½

gallons of oil per hundred, would yield 7,250 gallons of oil, the

value of which any person may calculate, but which, at the low rate of

3s. over charges, would furnish, as the gross plantation return in

oil, a sum of £1,087 10s. sterling. If the cultivator, instead of

making his produce into oil, were to sell it in its natural state, his

gross return in the West Indies would be nearly £600 sterling, at the

rate of ten dollars per thousand.

Either of these sums would be a handsome return from 100 acres of any

land, _requiring no cultivation or care whatever, after the fourth

year, and yielding_ the same amount for upwards of half a century! But

this is not all. An outlay of a few pounds will secure other

advantages, and ought to enable the owner of a coco-nut plantation to

turn his gross receipts for oil into nett profits. The coir made from

the husk of the nut is calculated to realise nearly one-fourth of the

proceeds of the oil, but if we put it down at one-fifth, we shall

have, in addition to the value of the oil, £217 10s., thus making a

total of £1,305 sterling. If we obtained 60 nuts from each tree, the

return would be £1,566 sterling, and if 75, £1,957 8s. sterling; and

this from 100 acres of sea side sand! But even _this_ does not exhibit

the whole return of this article of culture. Each nut may be

calculated to give a quarter of a pound of poonac, or oil-cake, being

the refuse after expression, fit for feeding all kinds of stock, which

may be estimated as worth £10 per ton. We must, therefore, add on this

account to our first calculation, the sum of say £325; to the second,

£390; and to the third, £485. This would give, in round numbers, the

entire returns of the 100 acres planted:--At 50 nuts per tree, £1,630;

at 60 ditto, £1,957; at 75, ditto, £2,446.

These are striking results, and may appear exaggerated; but I will, to

show how very moderate has been my calculation, give two returns, with

which I have been favored from Ceylon. These, it will be seen, differ

materially, but the latter I can rely on as a practical result, from a

plantation in Jaffna, the peninsula of the northern portion of the

island. After estimating the expense of establishing the plantation,

the first writer sets down his return thus:--

"The produce, calculating 90 trees to an acre, and 75 nuts to a tree,

sold at £2 per 1,000, would yield 675,000 nuts, worth £1,350; or if

converted into oil, calculating 30 to give one gallon, it would

produce 22,500 gallons, or about 90 tons from 100 acres."

From Jaffna, the following is an abridged estimate of return of 100

acres in full bearing:--"At 27 feet apart, 58 trees per acre, 5,800

trees, at 60 nuts per tree, 3,480 nuts per acre, 100 acres, 348,000

nuts, at 40 nuts per imperial gallon, 8,700 gallons of oil, at 2s. per

gallon, netted £8 14s. per acre. The poonac left will pay the expense

of making the oil. If shipped to England, at the present time (close

of 1848), the selling price there being 55s. per cwt., measuring 12

imperial gallons, say, 4s. 7d. per gallon, and the cost and charges of

sending it home and selling it being 23s., it would leave 3s. per

gallon, or £13 per acre." This sum is _nett proceeds_.

It will be seen by the above, that I have been extremely moderate in

my computation of the return which may be anticipated, for there is no

doubt that planters can, in favorable localities, on the coasts of

most of our colonies, cultivate this palm with as much success as

attends its culture in Ceylon. By the first of the calculations I have

cited from, that island, the gross return appears thus:--

22,500 gallons at 4s. 7d £5,156 5

Coir--one-fifth of value 1,031 4

Cake from 675,000 nuts, say ¼ lb. each, 75 tons at £10 750 0

-----------

Total gross return from 100 acres 6,937 9

According to the other calculation, the return will stand thus:--

8,700 gallons at 4s. 7d £1,993 15

Coir 398 15

Cake from 348,000 nuts, 34 tons 340 0

----------

Total gross return from 100 acres 2,732 10

It will be seen that in my calculation I have set down the return

lower than it is rendered in the less favorable statement from Ceylon

by a sum of upwards of £1,000 sterling. But even supposing _one-half_

of the amount of the lower Ceylon estimate could be realised, we

should have a return of £1,366 5s. sterling from 100 acres of sea side

sand.

I now proceed to point out the very small outlay required to obtain

these results. In places where the coco-nut would be grown, there is

generally no heavy woodland requiring great labor with axe and fire,

and consequently one able-bodied man should get through the felling

and clearing away bush, on an acre of the land to be prepared for the

plant, in a short period,--say, on an average, four days. I will

calculate, that for wages and rations, each hand employed will cost

sixteen dollars per month, an outside price. Let us then say that ten

laborers shall be at work. They fell two acres and a half per diem. In

one month there should be nearly 70 acres felled; but I will say that

the 100 acres will occupy them two months in felling and stacking the

wood. During this period our planter may be considered to have had the

aid of two more hands, engaged in the preparation, planting out, and

care of the nursery of young plants. Two more hands must also be

occupied in the construction of tanks and sheds, except where there is

a stream of fresh water. For grubbing up the roots, if not very large

size, the assistance of about a dozen cattle would be required, a

labor which would be performed by means of the common grubbing

machine, an implement in the form of a claw. We will consider that all

hands are occupied another month in this manner, and in removing and

re-stacking the wood, and turning up the land. The planting out would

require but little time and labor. At the end of three months then,

one-half of the hands, besides those engaged in the nursery and tanks,

might be discharged. We must make an allowance for provision for the

fodder of the cattle. Six thousand nuts would be required.

Let us now see what are the planter's expenses; making ample allowance

on account of each item:--

dollars.

6,000 picked nuts at 10 dollars per 1,000 60

Hire and rations of 12 hands, at 16 dollars for 3 months 676

Two hands at nursery, for same period 96

Purchase of 12 cattle at 20 dollars 240

Foddering cattle one month 32

Hire of two extra hands, making tanks and sheds 3 months 96

Hire of 6 hands for 9 months 864

Tools (including plough) 100

-----

Total 2,064

About £415 sterling for expenses for the first year.

Where fencing is required, we must add for making about three miles of

fence, say £30 sterling. Two carts would also have to be provided,

which will cost, say £20 more. In all we may compute the first year's

expenditure at £460 sterling.

Second year's expenditure: ploughing land, or hoeing it twice,

watering plants, manuring, repairing fences, and supplying plants,

say hire of eight men for six months, about £150 sterling. The same

for the third.

Fourth year's expenditure: hire of six hands for three months,

cleaning land, and manuring plants, about £60 sterling, and the like,

at the cultivator's option, for the fifth year.

SUMMARY OF EXPENSES.

First year 460

Second year 150

Third year 150

Fourth year 60

Fifth year 60

---

Total expenditure 880

Add for buildings 80

And we have a grand total of £960 sterling expended; for what purpose?

To secure a net income of _at least_ £1,200 sterling per annum for at

least 50 years!

In the first year's expenses many items might be cut down, but I leave

the calculation as one to be considered by a party with small capital,

intending to establish a coco-nut plantation. I have allowed nothing

for the cost of land, as it is impossible to compute that. In general

it would cost next to the nothing mentioned. I have, by careful

calculation, arrived at the conclusion that by combining the

cultivation of provisions with the gradual but steadily progressive

establishment of a coco-nut plantation, any man of energy and

perseverance may, with the aid of but four hands, clear, fence, and

plant, in a favorable locality, 50 acres of coco-nuts within the year,

yet have a balance in his pocket at its close. Such a person would,

ere doing anything beyond putting in his nursery plants, establish a

provision ground, of considerable extent, for the purpose of supplying

himself and his laborers with bread kind, and vegetables, and of

enabling him, by the disposal of the surplus produce in the market, to

raise a sufficient sum of money to furnish the wages and rations of

the men. I need not enter into a calculation to show how this could be

done, as every one must be aware of an easy method of following out so

simple a suggestion. Of course he would have to bear in mind that the

provision ground is of secondary importance, and limit his exertions

in that line accordingly; devoting to the coco-nut plantation the

strictest daily attention.

The cultivation of this tree deserves much more attention than has

hitherto been paid to it, particularly in the East, where it not only

forms part of the daily food of all classes of the community, but is

an exportable article to neighbouring regions, the oil which it yields

having of late years become in great demand in England, for the

manufacture of composite candles and soap, and there is no doubt of

its continually extended application to such purposes. Supposing,

nevertheless, the result of an increased cultivation of the coco-nut

should be such as to cause a fall in price, and sink the nett return

in England to 2s. per gallon; this being clear profit, would make this

kind of plantation a safe and sure investment for both capital and

labor in the Colonies.

A kind of sugar made from the sap is called "jaggery," and the sap

when fermented forms an intoxicating beverage known as toddy. The

fibrous outer covering, or husk of the nut, when macerated and

prepared, is termed "coir," and is spun into yarn and rope. It is

extensively shipped from Ceylon, in coils of rope, bundles of yarn,

and pieces of junk.

The coco-nut is usually planted as follows:--Selecting a suitable

place, you drop into the ground a fully ripe nut, and leave it. In a

few days a thin lance-like shoot forces itself through a minute hole

in the shell, pierces the husk, and soon unfolds three pale green

leaves in the air; while, originating in the same soft white sponge

which now completely fills the nut, a pair of fibrous roots pushing

away the stoppers which close two holes in an opposite direction,

penetrate the shell, and strike vertically into the ground. A day or

two more, and the shell and husk, which in the last and germinating

stage of the nut are so hard that a knife will scarcely make any

impression, spontaneously burst by some force within; and, henceforth,

the hardy young plant thrives apace, and needing no culture, pruning,

or attention of any sort, rapidly arrives at maturity. In four or five

years it bears; in twice as many more it begins to lift its head among

the groves, where, waxing strong, it flourishes for near a century.

Thus, as some voyager has said, the man who but drops one of these

nuts into the ground, may be said to confer a greater and more certain

benefit upon himself and posterity, than many a life's toil in less

genial climes. The fruitfulness of the tree is remarkable. As long as

it lives it bears, and without intermission. Two hundred nuts, besides

innumerable white blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at one time;

and though a whole year is required to bring any one of them to the

germinating point, no two, perhaps, are at one time in precisely the

same stage of growth.

Coco-nuts form a considerable article of export from many of the

British colonies: 375,770 were exported from Honduras in 1844, and

254,000 in 1845; 105,107 were shipped from Demerara, in 1845;

3,500,000 from Ceylon in 1847.

They are very abundant on the Maldive Islands, Siam, and on several

parts of the coast of Brazil. Humboldt states, that on the south

shores of the Gulf of Cariaco, nothing is to be seen but plantations

of coco-nut trees, some of them containing nine or ten thousand trees.

Ceylon is one of the localities where the greatest progress has been

made in this species of culture.

In 1832 several Europeans settled at Batticaloa, expressly for the

purpose of cultivating this palm to a large extent. They planted

cotton bushes between the young trees, which were found to ripen well,

and nurse and shade them.

There are now an immense number of coco-nut topes, or walks, on the

coasts of the island, and about 20,000 acres of land are under

cultivation with this tree.

The value of this product to Ceylon, may be estimated by the following

return of its exports in 1847, besides the local consumption:--

Declared value of nuts 5,485

Ditto of Coir 10,318

Kernels, or Copperah 6,503

Shells 210

Oil 19,142

Arrack 11,657

-------

Total £53,315

The annually increasing consumption of the nuts holds out a great

inducement to the native proprietors to reclaim all their hitherto

unproductive land. The fruit commands a high price in the island,

(ranging from ¾d. to 3d. per nut), owing to the constant demand for it

as an article of food, by both Singhalese and Malabars; there is not

so much, therefore, now converted into copperah for oil making. In the

maritime provinces of the island, it has been estimated that the

quantity of nuts used in each family, say of five persons, amounts to

100 nuts per month, or 1,000 per annum. It needs only a reduction in

the cost of transit, to extend the consumption in the interior of the

island to an almost unlimited extent.

In 1842, Ceylon exported but 550 nuts, while in 1847 she shipped off

to other quarters three millions and a half of nuts, valued at £5,500.

The average value of the nuts exported may be set down at £7,000.

In Cochin China the cultivation of the coco-nut tree is much attended

to, and they export a large quantity of oil. At Malacca and Pinang it

shares attention with the more profitable spices. Since the palm has

been acclimatised in Bourbon, about 20,000 kilogrammes of oil have

been produced annually. About 8,000 piculs of oil are exported

annually from Java.

A correspondent, under date December, 1849, has furnished me with the

following particulars of coco-nut planting in Jaffna, the northern

district of Ceylon, in which the culture has only recently been

carried on; the facts and figures are interesting:--

The Karandhai estate, the property of the late Mr. J. Byles, was

sold last month for £2,400, part of it bearing. It consisted of 303

acres, of which 228 are planted with coco nuts--about half the trees

six years old.

The Victoria estate, in extent 170 acres, planted and part in

bearing, and about seventy acres of jungle, was also sold for

£1,500. Mr. G. Dalrymple was the purchaser of the latter, and Mr.

Davidson of the former. Both lots were cheap. The properties are

among the best in the district, the latter, especially, is a

beautiful estate.

About two-thirds of the estates planted are looking well, and the

remainder but indifferently, in fact, ought never to have been

planted, and I believe will never give any return. About 7,000 acres

are now under cultivation here, and clearing is still going on.

Estates can now be put in for about one half what they cost

formerly, viz., about £4 or £5 per acre, and can be kept in order,

inclusive of all charges, for about 15s. to 20s. per acre for the

first two years, and about half that afterwards. Estates, in some

instances, have been put in for about £3 per acre.

Elephants have almost disappeared; now and then a stray one comes.

Figs are still a great nuisance, but the greatest anxiety among

planters is regarding beetles. You will be sorry to hear that the

first year the trees showed fruit or flower, one-tenth of them were

destroyed by the beetle; the insects still go on destroying, and

hardly a tree attacked ever recovers.

This is a very serious evil, and upon which the fortunes of all

those involved in coco-nut planting depend. The trees come into

bearing but very slowly, and I consider no estate will give any

return over its current expenses under twelve years. It takes twelve

months from the formation of the flower, till the fruit ripens. On

an estate, perhaps one of the oldest and best in this district, out

of 120 acres, part seven and eight years old, about 12 per cent, are

in flower or in bearing, and give a return of about twenty-four nuts

per tree, on an average, yearly. On the next oldest, the return is

not near so great. But few of the estates here will, I think, pay

interest on the money laid out, and many will never pay anything

over the expense of keeping them up, even after coming into bearing.

I doubt if any estate in this district, however economically

managed, will ever give a net return of more than £2, or perhaps of

£2 10s. per acre, at least without there is a great increase in the

consumption of oil in Europe. The consumption of this oil, in

Europe, is under 5,000 tons. If the beetles do not destroy half the

trees, the estates here when in bearing, if they yield anything,

will give half that quantity; and it must be borne in mind that

coco-nut oil is not a strong oil, like palm oil, and that soap

boilers will never use it to any extent, for it will allow but

little admixture of rosin, &c.; its use in Europe will be

principally for candles and fancy soaps; but as by refining and

compression they can now purify tallow, and make of it candles fully

equal to those made from coco-nut oil, the consumption of the latter

is not likely to increase. The consumption of candles is always

limited on the continent of Europe, liquid oil being preferred, and

in many instances gas is now being used where candles formerly were.

The return of land planted with coco-nut trees in Ceylon, in 1851, was

22,500 acres; but this refers only to regular estates recently opened

and cultivated chiefly by Europeans. Let us suppose that the natives

possess besides, twenty millions of trees; Butollac in his time

estimated the number at thirteen millions. At 100 trees to the acre,

twenty millions of trees give 100,000 acres, so that the total amount

of land planted with coco-nut trees would be 122,500 acres.

An hydraulic press, for the manufacture of coco-nut oil, 1,200 horse

power and weighing twenty-three tons, was cast at the Ceylon Iron

Works, in 1850, by Messrs. Nelson and Son.

In the island of Singapore there are now many extensive plantations in

a very flourishing condition, holding out favorable prospects to the

proprietors. Hitherto the island has been supplied almost wholly from

abroad with nuts and oil for its consumption, which will, before long,

be obtained exclusively from its own soil. In 1846 there were 10,000

coco-nut trees in bearing in Singapore.

I have omitted to notice, in the foregoing observations, a very

mistaken notion which prevails in many quarters, that it is best to

let the trees drop their fruit, and not to pick the nuts when ripe.

Nature directs differently. As soon as the husk of the nut is more

brown than green it should be picked. It then makes better oil and

better coir, than when left to shrivel up and fall from the tree.

Colonel Low, in his "Dissertation on Pinang," gives some interesting

details and statistics on coco-nut planting:--

On a rough estimate--for an actual enumeration has not been lately

taken--the total number of _bearing trees_ in Pinang may be stated

at 50,000, and those in Province Wellesley at 20,000; but very large

accessions to these numbers have of late years been made. The tree

is partial to a sandy soil in the vicinity of the sea, and Province

Wellesley offers, therefore, greater facilities, perhaps, for its

cultivation than Pinang does, as its line of clear beach is longer,

and has many narrow slips of light or sandy land lying betwixt the

alluvial flats inland. There are several kinds of this tree known

here; one has a yellowish color, observable both on the branches and

unripe fruit; its branches do not droop much. A second has green

spreading branches, more drooping than the former, the fruit being

green colored until ripe; this is, perhaps, the most prolific; it

also bears the soonest, if we except the dwarf coco-nut, which

fruits at the second or third year, before the stem has got above

one foot high. This last kind was brought from Malacca; it attains

in time to the height of the common sort. Its fruit is small and

round, and of course less valuable than the other sorts. There is

also a coco-nut so saturated with green, that the oil expressed from

its kernel partakes of that color.

It is a mistaken supposition that the coco-nut tree will flourish

without care being taken of it. The idea has been induced by the

luxuriant state of trees in close proximity to houses and villages,

and in small cove's where its roots are washed by the sea. In such

circumstances, a tree, from being kept clear about the roots, from

being shaded, and from occasional stimuli, advances rapidly to

perfection; but in an extended plantation, a regular and not

inexpensive system of culture must be followed to ensure success.

The nuts being selected, when perfectly ripe, from middle-aged trees

of the best sorts, are to be laid on the ground under shades, and

after the roots and middle shoots, with two branches, have appeared,

the sooner they are planted the better. Out of 100 nuts, only

two-thirds, on an average, will be found to vegetate. The plants are

then to be set out at intervals of thirty or forty feet--the latter

if ground can be spared--and the depth will be regulated by the

nature of the soil, and the nut must not be covered with earth. The

plants require, in exposed situations, to be shaded for one and even

two years, and no lalang grass must be permitted to encroach on

their roots. A nursery must be always held in readiness to supply

the numerous vacancies which will occur from deaths and accidents.

The following may be considered the average cost of a plantation,

until it comes into bearing:--

FIRST COST--100 ORLONGS OF LAND.

Spanish dollars.

Purchase money of land, ready for planting 1,000

7,000 nuts at 1½ dollars, per 100 105

Houses of coolies, carts, buffaloes, &c., &c. 100

-----

Spanish dollars 1,205

YEARLY COST OF SEVEN YEARS.

First year, 10 laborers at 3 dollars per month, including

carts, &c. 360

Wear and tear of buildings, carts, and implements 50

Overseer, at 7 dollars per month 84

Quit rent, average 50

Nursery and contingencies 50

-----

Total per annum 594

Seven years at the rate will be 4,158

-----

Total, Spanish dollars 4,752

To this sum interest will have to be added, making, perhaps, a sum

total of 6,000 Spanish dollars, and this estimate will make each

tree, up to its coming into bearing, cost one Spanish dollar at the

lowest. The young tree requires manure, such as putrid fish and

stimulating compounds, containing a portion of salt. On the

Coromandel coast, the natives put a handful of salt below each nut

on planting it.

The cultivators of Kiddah adopt a very slovenly expedient for

collecting the fruit. Instead of climbing the tree in the manner

practised by the natives on the Coromandel coast, by help of a hoop

passing round the tree and the body of the climber--and a ligature

so connecting the feet as will enable him to clasp the tree with

them--the Malays cut deep notches or steps in the trunk, in a

zig-zag manner, sufficient to support the toes or the side of the

foot, and thus ascend with the extra, aid only of their arms. This

mode is also a dangerous one, as a false step, when near the top of

a high tree, generally precipitates the climber to the ground. This

notching cannot prove otherwise than injurious to the tree. But the

besetting sin of the planter of coco-nuts, and other productive

trees, is that of crowding. Coco-nut trees, whose roots occupy, when

full grown, circles of forty to fifty feet in diameter, may often be

found planted within eight or ten feet of each other; and in the

native campongs all sorts of indigenous fruit trees are jumbled

together, with so little space to spread in, that they mostly assume

the aspect of forest trees, and yield but sparing crops.

The common kinds of the coco-nut, under very favorable

circumstances, begin to bear at six years of age; but little produce

can be expected until the middle or end of the seventh year. The

yearly produce, one tree with another, may be averaged at 80 nuts

the tree; where the plantation is a flourishing one--assuming the

number of trees, in one hundred orlongs, to be 5,000--the annual

produce will be 400,000 nuts, the minimum local market value of

which will be 4,000 Spanish dollars, and the maximum 8,000 dollars.

From either of these sums 6 per cent. must be deducted for the cost

of collecting, and carriage, &c. The quantity of oil which can be

manufactured from the above number of nuts will be, as nearly as

possible, 834 piculs of 133-1/3 lbs.

The average price of this quantity, at 7 dollars per picul 5,838

Deduct cost of manufacturing, averaged at one-fourth, and

collecting, watching, &c 2,059

-----

Profit, Spanish dollars 3,779

The Chinese, who are the principal manufacturers of the oil, readily

give a picul of it in exchange for 710 ripe nuts, being about 563

piculs of oil out of the total produce of the plantation of 100

orlongs. The price of coco-nut oil has been so high in the London

market as £35 per tun, or about an average of ten dollars per picul.

It is said that English casks have not been found tight enough for

the conveyance of this oil to Europe, but if the article is really

in great demand, a method will no doubt be discovered to obviate

this inconvenience.

So long, however, as the cultivator can obtain a dollar and a half,

or even one dollar for 100 nuts, he will not find it profitable to

make oil, unless its price greatly rises.

Soap is manufactured at Pondicherry from this oil, but it is not

seemingly in repute; the attempt has not been made in Pinang with a

view to a market.

There is scarcely any coir rope manufactured at this island, so that

the profit which might (were labor cheaper) arise from this

application of the coco-nut fibre, is lost. The shell makes good

charcoal; the leaves are scarcely put to any purpose, the nipah or

attap being a superior material for thatching.

The coco-nut tree is extremely apt to be struck by lightning, and in

such cases it is generally destroyed. It is a dangerous tree,

therefore, to have close to a house. If the trees are widely

planted, coffee may be cultivated under their shade. It is generally

believed that the extracting of toddy from this tree hastens its

decline. The Nicobar and Lancavi Islands used partly to supply the

Pinang market with this indispensable article; but their

depopulation has greatly reduced the quantity.

On the whole it may be said that there is no cultivation which

insures the return of produce with so much certainty as that of the

coco-nut tree; and as Rangoon, the Tenasserim coast, and Singapore

will, probably, always remain good markets for the raw nut, there

appears to be every chance of the value of the produce affording

ample remuneration to the planter.

_Coco-nut beetle._--The chief natural enemy of this tree is a

destructive species of elephant-beetle (_Oryctes Rhinoceros_), which

begins by nibbling the leaves into the shape of a fan; it then

perforates the central pithy fibre, so that the leaf snaps off; and

lastly, it descends into the folds of the upper shoot, where it bores

itself a nest, and if not speedily extracted or killed, will soon

destroy the tree. At Singapore, on account of the depredations of this

beetle, the difficulties have been considerable.

In Pinang and Province Wellesley it has only been observed within the

last two years, and it is believed to have come from Keddah. A similar

kind of beetle is, however, found on the Coromandel coast. The natives

of Keddah say that this insect appears at intervals of two, three, or

more years.

Its larvæ, which are also very formidable insects or grubs, about

three inches long, with large reddish heads, are found in decaying

vegetable matter. It is when the tree has made considerable progress,

however, that the parent insect does most mischief. When they are from

one to two years old, throwing out their graceful branches in quick

succession with the greatest vigor, and promising in three or four

years more to yield their ruddy fruit, this destructive enemy begins

to exercise his boring propensities; and, making his horn act as an

auger, he soon penetrates the soft and yielding fibre of the young

tree, and if not discovered in time, destroys the leading shoot or

branch. The only remedy which has been adopted in Ceylon, is the

following:--Several intelligent boys are provided each with an iron

needle or probe, of about a foot long, with a sharp double barbed

point, like a fish-hook, and a ring handle; they go through the

plantation looking narrowly about the trees, and when they perceive

the hole in the trunk, which indicates that the enemy is at work, they

thrust in the barbed instrument and pull him out. Sometimes he may

only have just commenced, when his capture is more easily effected,

but even should he have penetrated to the very heart of the tree, the

deadly needle does not fail in its errand, but brings the culprit out,

impaled and writhing on its point. This is the only known way of

checking the ravages of this beetle, except destroying its larvæ. Some

cultivators, however, think pouring salt water or brine on the top of

the tree, so as to descend among the folds of the upper shoots, a good

plan to get rid of the larvæ.

Nearly two million coco-nuts are shipped annually from Bahia.

From Ceylon, 114,600 coco-nuts were shipped in 1851, and 70,185 in

1852.

Coco-nut oil; 98,159 gallons were shipped from Ceylon in 1852; 359,233

gallons in 1851.

The prices of Ceylon oil have ranged from £31 to £33 10s. per tun; of

Cochin oil, £34 to £35, within the last two years. The price per

leaguer in Colombo, without casks, has been £8 10s. to £9.

_Copperah_ is the name, given by the natives to the kernel of the ripe

nut after it has been exposed to the sun on mats, until it has become

rancid and dissolved. It has recently been shipped to England in this

state for the purpose of converting into oil. The exports of copperah

from Ceylon were, in 1842, 115 cwts.; in 1843, 2,194; in 1844, 2,397;

and in 1852, 39,174 cwts.

The returned value of the copperah or kernels exported from Ceylon, as

entered in the Custom House books, is--

1840 2,508

1841 1,460

1842 3,022

1843 5,795

1844 6,194

1845 3,282

1846 5,517

1847 6,503

1848 12,639

1849 7,819

1850 4,166

1851 9,678

1852 13,325

632 cwts. of poonac (being the refuse or cake, after expressing the

oil) were exported from Ceylon in 1842. It is worth there about £10

the ton.

The oil from the nut is obtained for culinary purposes by boiling the

fresh pulp, and skimming it as it rises. That for exportation is

usually obtained by pressing the copperah in a simple press turned by

bullocks. Recently, however, steam power has been applied in Colombo,

with great advantage. About 2½ gallons of oil per 100 nuts, are

usually obtained. It is requisite that care should be taken not to

apply too great and sudden a pressure at once, but by degrees an

increasing force, so as not to choke the conducting channels of the

oil in the press.

In many of the colonies the oil is expressed by the slow and laborious

hand process of grating the pulp.

The quantity shipped from Ceylon was 2,250 tuns, in 1842; 3,985 in

1843; 2,331 in 1844; 1,797 in 1845. The quantity in gallons shipped

since, was 101,553 in 1846; 197,850 in 1847; 300,146 in 1848; 867,326

in 1849; 407,960 in 1850; 442,700 in 1851; and 749,028 in 1852.

The duty on importation is of and from British possessions, 7d. and

7/8ths. per cwt.; if the produce of foreign possessions, 1s. 3¾ d, per

cwt. In the close of 1852, the price of coco-nut oil in the London

market was, for Ceylon, £32, £33, to £33 10s. per ton; Cochin,

middling to fine, £34 to £35.

The following return shows the Custom House valuation of the oil

shipped from Ceylon for a series of years, and which is of course much

below its real value:--

1839 £26,597

1840 32,483

1841 24,052

1842 34,242

1843 43,874

1844 24,067

1845 15,945

1846 7,939

1847 19,142

1848 24,839

1849 34,831

1850 35,035

1851 31,444

1852 58,045

Among the coco-nut oil exported from Ceylon, in 1849, there were

47,427½ gallons, valued at £3,595, the whole of which, I believe, was

Cochin oil; the raw material of this kind not being, like the copperah

generally in Ceylon, subjected to the action of fire, the product is

finer, and fetches a better price in the London market.

Amongst the imports from British possessions in Asia, were 2,600

cwts., of copperah (dried coco-nut kernels, from which oil is

expressed), valued at £1,100; amongst the imports re-exported to Great

Britain, we find 870 cwts. of the same article, valued at £300. Of the

oil exported a quantity of 11,000 gallons was shipped for the United

States. About 600,000 piculs of coco-nut oil are annually exported

from Siam.

A large quantity of oil is made in Trinidad, chiefly on the east

coast, where, in one locality, there is an uninterrupted belt of

coco-nut palms fourteen miles in extent. They usually bear when five

years old.

The cultivation of the coco-nut in a proper soil presents a very

profitable speculation for small capitalists. Whether sold at the rate

of a dollar per hundred in their natural state, to captains of ships,

who freely purchase them, or manufactured into oil, they are a very

remunerative product. Each tree in the West Indies is calculated to

produce nuts to the value of one dollar yearly. There is one thing to

which we would draw the attention of chemists and other scientific

men.

For twenty-four or even forty-eight hours after its manufacture this

oil is as free from any unpleasant taste as olive oil, and can be used

in lieu of it for all culinary purposes, but after that time it

acquires such a rancid taste as to be wholly unpalateable. If any

means could be discovered of preventing this deterioration in quality,

and preserving it fresh and sweet, it could compete with olive oil,

and the price and consumption would be largely raised.

COCO-NUT OIL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Imports. Retained for home consumption.

cwts. cwts.

1835 19,838 14,015

1836 26,058 26,062

1837 41,218 28,641

1838 -- 38,669

1839 -- 15,153

1840 -- 37,269

1841 -- 26,528

1842 -- 26,225

1843 -- 29,928

1844 -- 42,480

1848 85,453 54,783

1849 64,451 14,622

1850 98,040 46,494

1851 55,995 2,333

1852 101,863 27,112

A London coco-nut oil soap was found, on analysis by Dr. Ure, to

consist of:--

Soda 4.5

Coco-nut lard 22.0

Water 73.5

-----

100.0

This remarkable soap was sufficiently solid; but it dissolved in hot

water with extreme facility. It is called marine soap, because it

washes linen with sea water.

Of the six principal vegetable oils, namely--palm, coco-nut castor,

olive, linseed, and rape, the first four are imported in the state of

oil only; the two last chiefly as seed. The proportion in which they

were imported is shown in the following tables; and if to these

quantities are added about a million and a half cwt. of tallow, and

nearly twenty thousand tuns of whale oil and spermaceti, they will

nearly represent the total quantity of oil imported into Great

Britain.

IMPORTS IN 1846.

Palm oil. Olive oil. Castor oil.

cwts. tuns. cwts.

Western Africa 475,364 1 --

United States 13,349 -- 290

Naples and Sicily 14 9,661 --

East Indies -- -- 6,315

Canary Islands 3,719 -- --

Malta -- 2,237 --

Turkish Empire -- 1,712 --

Tuscany -- 832 --

Spain -- 753 --

Brazil 525 -- --

Ionian Islands -- 506 --

Morocco -- 368 --

Madeira 353 -- --

Sardinia -- 333 11

Miscellaneous 7 471 65

------- ------- -------

Total 493,331 16,864 9,681

IMPORTS IN 1850

Linseed. Rape seed.

quarters. quarters.

Russia 482,813 3,235

Sweden 870 --

Norway 268 --

Denmark 37 3,092

Russia 87,273 645

Hanse Towns 1,153 2,872

Holland 7,734 201

Naples 1,476 --

Austrian Territories 40 2,580

Greece -- 1,637

Wallachia and Moldavia 910 1,280

Egypt 17,517 --

East Indian Empire 26,142 13,126

Miscellaneous 262 922

-------- ------

Total 626,495 29,495

OIL-CAKE.--It has been observed by Evelyn that one bushel of walnuts

will yield fifteen pounds of peeled kernels, and these will produce

half that weight of oil, which the sooner it is drawn is the more in

quantity, though the drier the nut the better its quality. The cake or

marc of the pressing is excellent for fattening hogs and for manure.

Oats contain, as a maximum, about seven per cent. of oil, and Indian

corn nine per cent. The cake of the gold of pleasure contains twelve

per cent. Indeed the most valuable oil-cakes are those of the

_Camelina sativa_, poppies and walnuts, which are nearly equal; next

to these are the cakes of hemp, cotton, and beech-mast. In France the

extraction and purification of oil from the cotton seed is a recent

branch of labor, the refuse of which is likely to prove useful in

agriculture; its value as a manure being nearly ten times greater than

that of common dung. Oil is obtained from maize or Indian corn in the

process of making whiskey. It rises in the mash tubs and is found in

the scum at the surface, being separated either by the fermentation or

the action of heat. It is then skimmed off, and put away in a cask to

deposit its impurities; after which it is drawn off in a pure state,

fit for immediate use. The oil is limpid, has a slight tinge of the

yellow color of the corn, and is inoffensive to the taste and smell.

It is not a drying oil, and therefore cannot be used for paint, but

burns freely in lamps and is useful for oiling machinery.

Among the various seeds used in the manufacture of oil-cake, flour of

linseed is the most important. Rape seed is also employed, but is

considered heating. In Lubeck, a marc, called dodder cake, is made

from the _Camelina sativa_. Inferior oil-cake is made from the poppy

in India. Cotton-seed cake has lately been recommended on account of

its cheapness, being usually thrown away as refuse by the cotton

manufacturers. It is extensively used as a cattle food, in an

unprepared state, in various parts of the tropical world, and to a

limited extent in this country.

The cost of seed, freight included, was 2d. per lb. from Charlestown

to Port Glasgow. Cotton oil-cake is now ordered at the same price as

linseed cake. The produce of oil-cake and oil from cotton seed, is two

gallons of oil to one cwt. of seed, leaving about 96 lbs of cake; 8

lbs. is the daily allowance for cattle in England.

Cotton seed oil, very pure, is manufactured to a considerable extent

at Marseilles, by De Gimezney, from Egyptian seed; and he received a

prize medal at the Great Exhibition.

Account of the export of linseed and rapeseed cakes from Stettin,

principally to England, in--

cwts.

1834 33,518

1835 27,038

1836 56,581

1837 70,643

1838 119,540

1839 115,416

1840 162,457

1841 143,816

1842 119,814

The quantity of oil-seed cakes imported into the United Kingdom was

in--

tons.

1849 59,462

1850 65,055

1851 55,076

1852 53,616

Cargoes of oil-cake, to the value of £22,207, were exported from the

port of Shanghae, in China, in 1849.

2,467 tons of oil-cake were brought down to New Orleans from the

interior in 1848, and 1,032 tons in 1849.

Seven samples of American oil-cake gave the following results:--

Oil 11.41

Water 7.60

Nitrogen 4.74

Ash 6.35

From the above figures, the scientific farmer will see that the manure

formed by 100 lbs. of oil-cake is more than that derived from 300 lbs.

of Indian corn. 300 lbs. of corn contain about l¼ lbs. phosphoric

acid; 100 lbs. oil-cake contain about 2½ lbs.

VOLATILE OR ESSENTIAL OILS occur in the stems, leaves, flowers and

fruit of many odoriferous plants, and are procured by distillation

along with water. They are called "essences," and contain the

concentrated odor of the plant. They usually exist ready-formed, but

occasionally they are obtained by a kind of fermentation, as oil of

bitter almonds and oil of mustard. Some of them consist of carbon and

hydrogen only, as oil of turpentine, from _Juniperus communis;_ oil of

savin, from _Juniperus Sabina;_ oil of lemons and oranges, from the

rind of the fruit; and oil of nerole, from orange flowers. A second

set contain oxygen in addition, as oil of cinnamon, from _Cinnamonum

verum;_ otto or attar of roses, from various species of rose,

especially _Rosa centifolia;_ oil of cloves, from _Caryophyllus

aromaticus_.

Those principally obtained from tropical shrubs and plants are

citronella, oil of oranges and lemons, from the rind of the fruit oil

of cinnamon and cloves, croton oil, &c.

The oil of Sandal or Sanders wood _(Santalum album_), grown on the

Malabar coast, is much esteemed as a perfume. Keora oil, from

_Pandanus odoratissimus_, in Bengal. Oil of spikenard, so highly

prized, on account of its perfume, by the ancients, may be procured in

Sagur, Nepaul, and the mountains of the Himalaya.

956 lbs. of essential oils were imported into Hull in 1850. There were

exported from Ceylon in 1842, 902 cases; in 1843, 138; in 1844, 20; in

1845, 25 cases of essential oils, and in the last two years as

follows:--

1852. 1851.

cases. cases.

Cinnamon oil 17 23

Citronella oil 110 87

Essential oil 72 35

Of chemical, essential, and perfumed oils imported from France, the

quantity is about 35,000 lbs. annually, worth £10,000. The duty is 1s.

per lb. We also imported from France, in 1851, 9,596 cwt. of oil or

spirit of turpentine, worth £14,197, on which a duty of 5s. 3d. per

cwt. is levied.

From Western Australia some distilled oil of the Liptospermum was

shown at the Exhibition, which it is stated may be obtained in any

quantity, and a similar oil produced, by distillation, from the

_Eucalyptus piperita_, a powerful solvent of caoutchouc, evidently

very similar, if not altogether identical, with the oil of cajeput.

The characters of these two oils are much alike and without some care

it is difficult to distinguish them from one another by the odor; the

liptospermum oil has a slight tinge of yellow, its specific gravity is

0.9035; the eucalyptus oil is colorless, and has a density of 0.9145.

It is probable that these oils might be used with great advantage in

the manufacture of varnish, they readily dissolve copal, and when its

solution is spread over any surface the oil soon evaporates, and

leaves a hard, brilliant and uniform coating of the resin. These oils,

according to Prof. Solly, are specially worthy of attention.

Dr. Bennett, in his "Wanderings in New South Wales," states that a

large quantity of camphorated oil, which closely resembles the

cajeputi, is produced from the foliage of several species of

_Eucalyptus_. Some of the leaves, which are of a bluish green, contain

it in such abundance as to cover the hand with oil when one of the

leaves is gently rubbed against it.

From the odorous leaves of the _Arbor alba_ is extracted a portion of

the aromatic cajeput oil. This celebrated medicinal oil is principally

made in the island of Borneo, one of the Moluccas.

The leaf of the _Melaleuca minor_ yields, by distillation, the

volatile oil of cajeputi, well known as a powerful sudorific, and a

useful external application in chronic rheumatism. It is an evergreen

shrub, with white flowers like a myrtle, native of the East Indies,

principally flourishing on the sea coasts of the Moluccas and other

Indian islands. Two sacks full of the leaves yield scarcely three

drachms of the oil, which is limpid, pellucid, and of a green color.

Oil of cinnamon and oil of cassia, according to Mulder, have the same

composition. When fresh they are pale yellow, but become brown on

exposure to the air. On exposure they rapidly absorb cinnamic acid,

two resins and water.

More than 22,000 lbs. of essence of bergamot was imported in 1848. It

is obtained by distillation or pressure from the rind of the fragrant

citron.

_Andropogon calamus aromaticus_, of Royle, _A. nardoides_, of Nees v.

Esenb., according to some yields the grass oil of Namur.

The fruits of _Carum carui_, a hardy biennial British plant, popularly

known as caraway seeds, supply a volatile oil, which is carminitive

and aromatic. Oils of a similar kind are obtained from _Coriandrum

sativum_, from anise (_Pimpinella Anisum_), and cumin (_Cuminum

Cyminum_), a native of Egypt.

The production of cinnamon, clove, and cassia oils, have already been

noticed in speaking of those spices.

In Malabar, a greenish sweet-smelling oil is obtained, by

distillation, from the roots of _Unona Narum_, an evergreen climber,

which is used medicinally as a Stimulant.

OIL OF PEPPERMINT.--Mr. De Witt C. Van Slyck, of Alloway, Wayne

county, New York, furnished me with the following particulars on the

cultivation of peppermint, in December, 1849, which may appropriately

be introduced in this place:--

"As an agricultural production, the culture of peppermint in the

United States is limited to few localities; this county and the

adjoining ones, Seneca and Ontario, comprise the largest bed. In the

year 1846 about 40,000 lbs. of oil were produced. In Lewis county,

in this state, it is grown, though to a less extent; the amount of

oil produced there in 1846 was estimated at 4,500 lbs. In Michigan

about 10,000 lbs. are annually produced; Ohio furnishes about 3,000

lbs. and Indiana 700 lbs. per annum. The entire crop in the United

States, in the year 1846, is estimated in round numbers at 58,000

lbs.

The above comprises all the localities of any importance in the

United States, and the above estimates of the annual product of oil

were made from correct data for the year 1846, since which time the

cultivation of mint has rapidly decreased in consequence of a

speculative movement by a New York company, who in the spring of

1847 purchased nearly all the mint then growing in this State, and

stipulated with the growers not to raise it for two years

thereafter, which condition was generally observed on the part of

the growers. The present year (1849), on account of the drought, has

not realised the expectations of those engaged in its culture,

although the amount of oil produced is much larger than the product

of the two preceding years. In this mint district, 8,000 lbs. have

been raised; Lewis county furnishes 1,000 lbs.; Michigan, 8.000

lbs.; Ohio, 1,000 lbs., and Indiana 500 lbs. So that the entire crop

of 1849 will not materially vary from 18,500 lbs.

I have consulted several of the principal dealers in mint oil, whose

opportunities have been ample to form a tolerably correct estimate

of the amount of oil annually consumed, and their opinion fixes the

total consumption, for the various purposes for which it is used in

the United States and in Europe, at from 20,000 to 30,000 lbs.

annually.

The price of mint oil is extremely fluctuating. Like other unstaple

commodities, the value of which depends upon their scarcity or

abundance, it never has assumed a constant and standing value, but

its price has generally been deranged by speculation and monopoly.

It has happened that the amount of oil produced was for several

years greater than the annual consumption, producing an accumulation

in the market, and reducing the price to the very low rate of 75

cents per pound; on the other hand, when the article was scarce, it

readily sold for 5 dollars 25 cents per pound. The average price for

fifteen vears has been about 2 dollars 50 cents, per pound. This

year (1849) it readily sells for 1 dollar 50 cents., (6s. 6d.).

Peppermint began to be cultivated in this vicinity as an

agricultural product about the year 1816, but for several years the

want of a proper knowledge of its culture, and the expense and

difficulty of extracting the oil, prevented its extension beyond a

few growers, who, however, realised fortunes out of the enterprise.

Almost any kind of soil that will successfully rear wheat and maize

is adapted to the growth of mint. Rich alluvions, however, seem to

be most natural, as would be inferred from the fact that the wild

herb is almost uniformly found growing upon the tertiary formations

on the margins of streams. The rich bottom lands along our rivers

and the boundless prairies of the West are eminently adapted for its

successful culture. It is believed by those best acquainted with the

subject, that its cultivation must be ultimately confined to the

western prairies, where it will grow spontaneously, and where the

absence of noxious weeds and grasses, incident to all older settled

lands, renders the expense of cultivation comparatively light, and

where the low price of land will be an important item in the amount

of capital employed, the expense of marketing being slight in

comparison to that of the more bulky products of agricultural

industry.

The method of cultivation is nearly uniform. The mode of propagation

is by transplanting the roots, which may be done in autumn or

spring, though generally the latter, and as the herb is perennial,

it does not require replanting till the fourth year. To ensure a

good crop and obviate the necessity of extra attendance the first

season, the ground intended for planting should be fallowed the

preceding summer, though this is not necessary if the land is

ordinarily clean. The ground should be prepared as for maize, as

soon as possible in the spring furrowed, and roots planted in drills

twenty inches apart, and covered with loose earth, two inches deep,

the planter walking upon the drill and treading it firmly. The

proper time to procure roots is when the herb is a year old, when

from six to eight square rods of ordinary mint will yield a

sufficient quantity of roots to plant an acre, and the crop from

which the roots are taken will not be deteriorated, but rather

benefited by their extraction. As soon as the herb makes its

appearance it requires a light dressing with a hoe, care being taken

not to disturb the young shoots, many of which have scarcely made

their appearance above the ground. In the course of a week or two

the crop requires a more thorough dressing, and at this stage of

growth the cultivator may be used with advantage, followed by the

hoe, carefully eradicating weeds and grass from the drills, and

giving the herb a light dressing of earth. Another dressing a week

or two later is all the crop requires.

The two following years no labor is bestowed upon the crop, though

it is sometimes benefited by ploughing over the whole surface, very

shallow, in the autumn of the second year, and harrowing lightly the

following spring, which frequently renews the vigor of the plant and

increases the product.

The mint should be cut as soon as it is in full bloom, and the lower

leaves become sere; the first crop will not be fit to cut as early

as the two succeeding ones. It is then to be hayed and put in cock,

and is then ready for distillation.

I have consulted many mint growers, who have cultivated it for a

series of years, in regard to the average yield per acre, and have

arrived at the following estimate, which I think is low, provided

the land is suitable, and is properly cultivated. I estimate the

average yield per acre for the first year at 18 lbs.; the second

year at 14 lbs.; and the third year at 8 lbs.--making the product

for three years 40 lbs., which I think will not materially vary from

the actual result, though growers aver they have raised from 30 to

40 lbs. per acre the first season.

Several years since, the only method of extracting the oil then

known was by distilling the herb in a copper kettle, or boiler, and

condensing in the usual manner; a slow and tedious process, by which

about 12 or 15 pounds of oil could be separated in a day. But

recently steam, that powerful agent, which has wrought such immense

changes in our social and national economy, has been applied to this

subject with its usual attendant success. The present method

consists in the use of a common steam-boiler, of the capacity of

from 100 to 150 gallons, from which the steam is conveyed by

conductors into large wooden air-tight tubs, of 200 gallons

capacity, containing the dried herb; from which it is conveyed,

charged with the volatile principle of the plant, into a water-vat,

containing the condenser. The water collected at the extremity of

the condenser, although it does not readily commingle with the oil,

is highly tinctured with it, and is used to feed the boiler. Two

tubs are necessary, in order that when the "charge" is being worked

off in one, the other can be refilled. The oil is then to be

filtered, and is ready for market. The expense of a distillery is

estimated at 150 dollars, which, with the labor of two men, and a

cord of dry wood, will run 40 lbs. of oil per day. The usual price

for distilling is 25 cents per pound.

The cost of production is of course greatly modified by

circumstances. If grown on rich bottom lands, or prairie, unusually

free from weeds and grass, the labor required will be comparatively

trifling. From information derived from the principal mint growers

in this vicinity, I have prepared the following estimate of the cost

of production of an acre of mint for three years:--

FIRST YEAR.

Dollars.

Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00

One day plough and drag, one hand and team 2.00

Half day furrowing, digging roots, one hand and horse 1.00

Three days planting, at 75 cents 2.25

Two days dressing with hoe, at 75 cents 1.50

Two days with cultivator and hoe, 1.00 2.00

Two days with cultivator and hoe (third dressing) 1.50

One and a-half days cutting new mint, at 75 cents 1.13

Curing and drawing to distillery 1.50

Distilling 18 lbs. oil, at 25 cents 4.50

Can for oil 25

-----

25.63

SECOND YEAR.

Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00

Cutting one acre of old mint 75

Curing and hauling to distillery 1.50

Distilling 14 lbs. oil, at 25 cents 3.50

Can for oil 25

-----

14.00

THIRD YEAR.

Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00

Cutting, curing, &c. 2.25

Distilling 8 lbs. of oil, at 25 cents, and can 2.25

-----

12.50

-----

Total expenses for three years 52.13

Forty pounds of oil, at dollars 1.37½ per pound 55.00

Deduct expenses 52.13

-----

Net profit 2.87

In the above estimate I have omitted the expense of roots, for the

reason that the crop will yield as many as are required for

planting. The price of roots is about 50 cents per square rod, and

if they are in demand, the profit of the crop will be greatly

enhanced by selling them at that, or even a lower price.

It will be readily perceived that the culture of peppermint promises

no great return of profit in sections of country where land is

valuable, and where the expense of production is nearly double what

it is in newly-settled districts. It is a fact that in Michigan, and

other Western States, the actual expense of production is about

one-half less than the above estimate, and the yield is a fourth

greater; the greater distance from market, which is usually New York

city, not being taken into account, the freight on oil being

comparatively trifling. Another consideration in favor of prairie

cultivation is, that the mint will endure for years by simply

ploughing over the surface every second year, which seems to

invigorate the herb, and obviates the necessity of replanting every

second or third year, as must be done in older settled localities."

In India the perfumed oils are obtained in the following manner:--The

layers of the jasmine, or other flowers, four inches thick and two

inches square, are laid on the ground and covered with layers of

sesamum or any other oil yielding seed. These are laid about the same

thickness as the flowers, over which a second layer of flowers like

the fruit is placed. The seed is wetted with water, and the whole mass

covered with a sheet, held down at the end and sides by weights, and

allowed to remain for eighteen hours in this form. It is now fit for

the mill, unless the perfume is desired to be very strong, when the

faded flowers are removed and fresh ones put in their place. The seed

thus impregnated is ground in the usual way in the mill and the oil

expressed, having the scent of the flower. At Ghazipoor the jasmine

and bela are chiefly employed; the oil is kept in the dubbers, and

sold for about 4s. a seer.

The newest oils afford the finest perfume. In Europe a fixed oil,

usually that of the bean or morerja nut, is employed. Cotton is soaked

in this, and laid over layers of flowers, the oil being squeezed out

so soon as impregnated with perfume. Dr. Johnson thus describes the

culture and manufacture:--

_Cultivation of Roses_.--Around the station of Ghazipoor, there are

about 300 biggahs (or about 150 acres) of ground laid out in small

detached fields as rose gardens, most carefully protected on all

sides by high mud walls and prickly pear fences, to keep out the

cattle. These lands, which belong to Zemindars, are planted with

rose trees, and are annually let out at so much per biggah for the

ground, and so much additional for the rose plants--generally five

rupees per biggah, and twenty-five rupees for the rose trees, of

which there are 1,000 in each biggah. The additional expense for

cultivation would be about eight rupees eight annas; so that for

thirty-eight rupees eight annas you have for the season one biggah

of 1,000 rose trees.

If the season is good, this biggah of 1,000 rose trees should yield

one lac of roses. Purchases for roses are always made at so much per

lac. The price of course varies according to the year, and will

average from 40 to 70 rupees.

_Manufacture of Rose-water_.--The rose trees come into flower at the

beginning of March, and continue so through April. Early in the

morning the flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and

children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting

parties for distillation. The cultivators themselves very rarely

manufacture.

The native apparatus for distilling the rose-water is of the

simplest construction; it consists of a large copper or iron boiler

well tinned, capable of holding from eight to twelve gallons, having

a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about eight

inches in diameter; on the top of this is fixed an old dekchee, or

cooking vessel, with a hole in the centre to receive the tube or

worm.

This tube is composed of two pieces of bamboo, fastened at an acute

angle, and it is covered the whole length with a strong binding of

corded string, over which is a luting of earth to prevent the vapour

from escaping. The small end, about two feet long, is fixed into the

hole in the centre of the head, where it is well luted with flower

and water. The lower arm or end of the tube is carried down into a

long-necked vessel or receiver, called a bhulka. This is placed in a

handee of water, which, as it gets hot, is changed. The head of the

still is luted on to the body, and the long arm of the tube in the

bhulka is also well provided with a cushion of cloth, so as to keep

in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the

whole is ready for operation. There is such a variety of rose-water

manufactured in the bazar, and so much that bears the name, which is

nothing more than a mixture of sandal oil, that it is impossible to

lay down the plan which is adopted. The best rose-water, however, in

the bazar, may be computed as bearing the proportion of one thousand

roses to a seer of water; this, perhaps, may be considered as the

best procurable.

From one thousand roses most generally a seer and a half of

rose-water is distilled, and perhaps from this even the attar has

been removed. The boiler of the still will hold from eight to twelve

or sixteen thousand roses. On eight thousand roses from ten to

eleven seers of water will be placed, and eight seers of rose-water

will be distilled. This after distillation is placed in a carboy of

glass, and is exposed to the sun for several days to become pucka

(ripe); it is then stopped with cotton, and has a covering of moist

clay put over it; this becoming hard, effectually prevents the scent

from escaping. The price of this will be from twelve to sixteen

rupees. This is the best that can be procured.

_Attar of Roses_.--To procure the attar, the roses are put into the

still, and the water passes over gradually, as in the case of the

rose-water process; after the whole has come over, the rose-water is

placed in a large metal basin, which is covered with wetted muslin,

tied over to prevent insects or dust getting into it; this vessel is

let into the ground about two feet, which has been previously wetted

with water, and it is allowed to remain quiet during the whole

night. The attar is always made at the beginning of the season, when

the nights are cool; in the morning the little film of attar which

is formed upon the surface of the rose-water during the night is

removed by means of a feather, and it is then carefully placed in a

small phial; and, day after day, as the collection is made, it is

placed for a short period in the sun, and after a sufficient

quantity has been procured, it is poured off clear, and of the color

of amber, into small phials. Pure attar, when it has been removed

only three or four days, has a pale greenish hue; by keeping it

loses this, and in a few weeks' time it becomes of a pale yellow.

The first few days distillation does not produce such fine attar as

comes off afterwards, in consequence of the dust or little particles

of dirt in the still and the tube being mixed with it. This is

readily separated, from its sinking to the bottom of the attar,

which melts at a temperature of 84 degrees. From one lac of roses it

is generally calculated that 180 grains, or one tolah, of attar can

be procured; more than this can be obtained if the roses are

full-sized, and the nights cold to allow of the congelation. The

attar purchased in the bazar is generally adulterated, mixed with

sandal oil, or sweet oil; not even the richest native will give the

price at which the purest attar alone can be obtained, and the

purest attar that is made is sold only to Europeans. During the past

year it has been selling from 80 to 90 rupees the tolah; the year

before it might have been purchased for 50 rupees.

_General Remarks_.--Native stills are let out at so much per day or

week, and it frequently occurs that the residents prepare some

rose-water for their own use as a present to their friends, to

secure their being provided with that which is the best. The natives

never remove the calices of the rose-flowers, but place the whole

into the still as it comes from the garden.

The best plan appears to be to have these removed, as by this means

the rose-water may be preserved a longer time, and is not spoiled by

the acid smell occasionally met with in the native rose-water. It is

usual to calculate 100 bottles to one lac of roses. The rose-water

should always be twice distilled; over ten thousand roses water may

be put to allow of sixteen or twenty bottles coming out; the

following day these twenty bottles are placed over eight thousand

more roses, and about eighteen bottles of rose-water are distilled.

This may be considered the best to be met with. The attar is so much

lighter than the rose-water, that, previous to use, it is better to

expose the rose-water to the sun for a few days, to allow of its

being well mixed; and rose-water that has been kept six months is

always better than that which has recently been made.

At the commencement of the rose season, people from all parts come

to make their purchases, and very large quantities are prepared and

sold. There are about thirty-six places in the city of Ghazeepore

where rose-water is distilled. These people generally put a large

quantity of sandal oil into the receiver, the oil is afterwards

carefully removed and sold as sandal attar, and the water put into

carboys and disposed of as rose-water. At the time of sale a few

drops of sandal oil are placed on the neck of the carboy to give it

fresh scent, and to many of the natives it appears perfectly

immaterial whether the scent arises solely from the sandal oil or

from the roses. Large quantities of sandal oil are every year

brought up from the south and expended in this way.

6. The chief use the natives appear to make of the rose water, or

the sandal attar as they term it, is at the period of their

festivals and weddings. It is then distributed largely to the guests

as they arrive, and sprinkled with profusion in the apartments. A

large quantity of rose water is sold at Benares, and many of the

native Rajahs send over to Ghazipoor for its purchase. Most of the

rose water, as soon as distilled, is taken away, and after six

months from the termination of the manufacture there are not more

than four or five places where it is to be met with.

I should consider that the value of the roses sold for the

manufacture of rose water may be estimated at 15,000 to 20,000

rupees a year; and from the usual price asked for the rose water,

and for which it is sold, I should consider there is a profit of

40,000 rupees. The natives are very fond of using the rose water as

medicine, or as a vehicle for other mixtures, and they consume a

good deal of the petals for the conserve of roses, or goolcond as

they call it.

The roses of Ghazipoor, on the river Ganges, are cultivated in

enormous fields of hundreds of acres. The delightful odor from these

fields can be scented at seven miles distance on the river. The

valuable article of commerce known as attar of roses is made here in

the following manner:--On 40 pounds of roses are poured 60 pounds of

water, and they are then distilled over a slow fire, and 30 pounds

of rose water obtained. This rose water is then poured over 40

pounds of fresh roses, and from that is distilled at most 20 pounds

of rose water; this is then exposed to the cold night air, and in

the morning a small quantity of oil is found on the surface. From 80

pounds of roses, about 200,000, at the utmost an ounce and a-half of

oil is obtained; and even at Ghazipoor it costs 40 rupees (4_l._) an

ounce.

Five guineas have been often paid for one ounce of attar of roses.

The most approved mode of ascertaining its quality is to drop it on

a piece of paper; its strength is ascertained by the quickness with

which it evaporates, and its worth by its leaving no stains on the

paper. The best otto is manufactured at Constantinople.

A volatile oil, erroneously called oil of spikenard, is met with in

the shops, which is obtained from a plant which has been named by Dr.

Royle, the _Andropogon Calamus aromaticus._

The true spikenard of the ancients is supposed to have been obtained

from the _Nardostachys Jatamansi_, a plant of the Valerian family. Dr.

Stenhouse describes rather minutely ("Journal Pharm. Soc." vol. iv. p.

276) a species of East India grass oil, said to be the produce of

_Andropogon Ivaracusa_, which he believes to be what is usually called

the oil of Namur. It has a very fragrant aromatic odor, slightly

resembling that of otto of roses, but not nearly so rich. Its taste is

sharp and agreeable, approaching that of oil of lemons. It has a deep

yellow color, and contains a good deal of resinous matter.

LEMON GRASS (_Andropogon schoenanthus_).--This fragrant grass, which is

now cultivated very generally throughout the West Indies, in the

gardens of the planters, as an elegant and powerful diaphoratic, was

doubtless introduced from the East. The active principle of the leaves

seems to reside in the essential oil which they contain. Lemon grass

oil forms an important article of export from Ceylon, amounting in

value to nearly £7,000 annually.

The _Andropogon schoenanthus_, which may be seen covering all the

Kandian hills, is the best possible pasture for cattle--at least as

long as it is young. This species of grass is very hard, and grows to

the height of seven feet, and sometimes higher, and has a strong but

extremely pleasant acid taste. It derives its name from having, when

crushed, an odor like that of the lemon, so strong, that after a time

it becomes quite heavy and sickening, although grateful and refreshing

at first. It covers the hills in patches--those, at least, that are

not overgrown with jungle and underwood--and it is to be found nowhere

but in the Kandian district. Spontaneous ignition frequently takes

place, and the appearance of the burning grass is described as most

magnificent. A few days after, from the midst of this parched,

blackened, and apparently dead ground, lovely young green shoots begin

to arise--for the roots of this extraordinary grass have not even

been injured, far less destroyed, by the fire; and in a very short

time the whole brow of the mountain is again overspread with tufts of

beautiful green waving grass.--("Journal of Agriculture.")

Otto of khuskhus or scented grass, from another species, _A.

digitalis_, obtained at Ulwar in the States of Rajpootanah, was shown

at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and Newar oil (from _A. maritima_)

from Agra.

CITRONELLA OIL.--In the Southern province of Ceylon some half dozen

estates about Galle are cultivated with citronella grass. The exports

of this oil from Ceylon in the last three years have been as

follows:--1850, 86,048 oz., valued at £3,344; 1851, 114,959 oz.,

valued at £3,742; in 1852, 131,780 oz., valued at £2,806.

PATCHOULY.--Under this name are imported into this country the dried

foliaceous tops of a strongly odoriferous labiate plant, growing three

feet high in India and China, called in Bengalee and Hindu, _pucha

pat_. About 46 cases, of from 50 to 110 lbs. each, were imported from

China, by the way of New York, in 1844. The price asked was 6s. per

pound. Very little is known of the plant yielding it. Mr. George

Porter, late of the island of Pinang, stated that it grows wild there

and on the opposite shores of the Malay peninsula. Dr. Wallich says,

that it obviously belongs to the family Labiatæ. Viney, in the "French

Journal of Pharmacy," suggests that it is the _Plectranthus

graveolens_ of R. Brown. It forms a shrub of two or three feet in

height. It is the _Pogostemon patchouly_. The odor of the dried plant

is strong and peculiar, and to some persons not agreeable. The dried

tops imported into England are a foot or more in length. In India it

is used as an ingredient in tobacco for smoking, and for scenting the

hair of women. In Europe it is principally used for perfumery

purposes, it being a favorite with the French, who import it largely

from Bourbon. The Arabs use and export it more than any other nation.

Their annual pilgrimship takes up an immense quantity of the leaf.

They use it principally for stuffing mattrasses and pillows, and

assert that it is very efficacious in preventing contagion and

prolonging life. It requires no sort of preparation, being simply

gathered and dried in the sun; too much drying, however, is hurtful,

inasmuch as it renders the leaf liable to crumble to dust in packing

and stowing on board. The characteristic smell of Chinese or Indian

ink is owing to an admixture of this plant in its manufacture. M. de

Hugel found the plant growing wild near Canton. By distillation it

yields a volatile oil, on which the odor and remarkable properties

depend. This oil is in common use in India for imparting the peculiar

fragrance of the leaf to clothes among the superior classes of

natives. The origin of its use is this:--A few years ago, real Indian

shawls bore an extravagant price, and purchasers could always

distinguish them by their odor; in fact, they were perfumed with

Patchouly; the French manufacturers at length discovered this secret,

and used to import the plant to perfume articles of their make, and

thus palm off homespun shawls as real India! Some people put the dry

leaves in a muslin bag, and thus use it as we do lavender, scenting

drawers in which linen is kept; this is the best way to use it, as

this odor, like musk, is most agreeable when very

dilute.--("Gardeners' Chronicle.")

The root of some parasitical plant, under the name of kritz, is used

in Cashmere to wash the celebrated shawls, soap is used only for white

shawls.

From the flowers of the Bengal quince (_Ægle marmemolos_) a fragant

liquid is distilled in Ceylon known as marmala water, which is much

used as a perfume for sprinkling by the natives.

Jasmine oil is distilled from _Jasminum sambac_ and _grandiflora_.

SAPONACEOUS PLANTS.--Many plants furnish abroad useful substitutes for

common soap. The aril which surrounds the seed and the roots of

_Sapindus Saponaria_, an evergreen tree, I have seen used as soap in

South America and the West Indies under the name of soap berries. The

seed vessels are very acrid, they lather freely in water and will

cleanse more linen than thirty times their weight of soap, but in time

they corrode or burn the linen. Humboldt says that proceeding along

the river Carenicuar, in the Gulf of Cariaco, he saw the Indian women

washing their linen with the fruit of this tree, there called the

parapara. Some other species of _Sapindus_ and of _Gypsophila_ have

similar properties. The bruised leaves and roots of _Saponaria

officinalis_, a British species, form a lather which much resembles

that of soap, and is similarly efficacious in removing grease spots.

The bark of many species of Quillaia, as _Q. saponaria_, when beaten

between stones, makes a lather which can be used as a substitute for

soap, in washing woollens and silk clothes, and to clean colors in

dyeing, in Chili and Brazil, but it turns linen yellow. The fruit of

_Bromelia Pinguin_ is equally useful. A vegetable soap was prepared

some years ago in Jamaica from the leaves of the American aloe (_Agave

Americana_) which was found as detergent as Castile soap for washing

linen, and had the superior quality of mixing and forming a lather

with salt water as well as fresh. Dr. Robinson, the naturalist, thus

describes the process he adopted in 1767, and for which he was awarded

a grant by the House of Assembly:--"The lower leaves of the Curaca or

Coratoe (_Agave karatu_) were passed between heavy rollers to express

the juice, which, after being strained through a hair cloth, was

merely inspissated by the action of the sun, or a slow fire, and cast

into balls or casks. The only precaution necessary was to allow no

mixture of any unctuous materials, which destroyed the efficacy of the

soap. A vegetable soap, which has been found excellent for washing

silk, &c, may be thus obtained. To one part of the skin of the Ackee

add one and a half part of the _Agave karatu_, macerated in one part

of boiling water for twenty-four hours, and with the extract from this

decoction mix four per cent. of rosin. In Brazil, soap is made from

the ashes of the bassura or broom plant (_Sidu lanceolata_) which

abounds with alkali. There are also some soap barks and pods of

native plants used in China. Several other plants have been employed

in different countries as a substitute for soap. The bark of _Quillaia

saponaria_ renders water frothy and is used as a detergent by wool

dyers. _Saponaria vaccana_ is common in India. The pericarp of

_Sapindus emarginatus_ mixed with water froths like soap. Saponaceous

berries are found in Java.

The soap-worts to which the genus Sapindus belongs are tropical

plants. The fruit of many species of _Sapindus_ is used as a

substitute for soap, as _Sapindus acuminata_, _Laurifolius

emarginatus_ and _detergens_, all East Indian plants.

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. · 第 17 / 20 章

There are several species, all of which yield oil of an equally good