To some extent this is likely to become a profitable crop. Medium
lands will yield, on an average, fifty bushels; while first-rate lands
will yield from seventy to a hundred bushels.
MODE OF CULTIVATION.—The ground is prepared in all respects as for a
corn crop, and the seed sown in drills four feet apart—one plant to
every eighteen inches in the drill. It is to be plowed and tended in
all respects like a crop of corn.
HARVESTING.—As the heads ripen, they are gathered, laid on a barn
floor and threshed with a flail. The seed shells very easily.
USE.—The seed may be employed in fattening hogs, feeding poultry,
etc., and for this last purpose it is better than grain. But the seed
is more valuable at the _oil-mill_ than elsewhere. It will yield a
gallon to the bushel without trouble; and by careful working, more
than this. Hemp yields one and a fourth gallons to the bushel, and
flax-seed one and a half by ordinary pressure; but two gallons under
the hydraulic press.
The oil has, as yet, no established market price. It will range from
seventy cents to a dollar, according as its value shall be established
as an article for lamps and for painters’ use. But at seventy cents a
gallon for oil, the seed would command fifty-five cents a bushel,
which is a much higher price than can be had for corn.
It is stated, but upon how sufficient proof we know not, that
sun-flower oil is excellent for burning in lamps. It has also been
tried by our painters to some extent; and for _inside_ work, it is
said to be as good as linseed oil. Mr. Hannaman, who has kindly put us
in possession of these facts, says, that the oil resembles an
_animal_, rather than a vegetable oil; that it has not the _varnish_
properties of the linseed oil. We suppose by varnish is meant, the
albumen and mucilage which are found in vegetable oils. The following
analysis of _hemp-seed_, and _flax-seed_, or as it is called in
England lint or linseed, will show the proportions of various
ingredients in one hundred parts.
Hemp-seed. Linseed.
(Bucholz.) (Leo Meier.)
Oil, 19.1 11.3
Husk, etc. 38.3 44.4
Woody fibre and starch, 5.0 1.5
Sugar, etc. 1.6 10.8
Gum, 9.0 7.1
Soluble albumen (Casein?) 24.7 15.1
Insoluble do — 3.7
Wax and resin, 1.6 3.1
Loss, 0.7 3.0
---- ----
100 100
The existence of impurities in oil, such as mucilage, albumen, gum,
etc., which increase its value to the painter, diminishes its value
for the _lamp_, since these substances crust or cloy the wick, and
prevent a clear flame. All oils may, therefore, the less excellent
they are for painting, be regarded as the more valuable for burning.
_Rape-seed_ is extensively raised in Europe, chiefly in Flanders, for
its oil, and is much used for burning. Ten quarts may be extracted
from a bushel of seed. We append a table representing the richness of
various seeds, etc., in oil.
Oil per cent.
Linseed (flax) 11 to 22
Hemp-seed, 14 to 25
Rape-seed, 40 to 70
Poppy-seed, 36 to 33
White mustard-seed, 36 to 48
Black mustard-seed, 15
Swedish turnip-seed, 34
Sun-flower seed, 15
Walnut kernels 40 to 70
Hazel-nut kernels, 60
Beech-nut kernels, 15 to 17
Plum-stone do. 33
Sweet almond kernels, 40 to 54
Bitter do. do. 28 to 46