The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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Oil is obtained in South America from the sand box tree _(Hura
crepitans_), and from the _Carapa guianensis_.

A fatty oil is obtained in Demerara from the seeds of the butter tree,
_Pekea_ (?) _Bassia butyrosa_, and also from the Saouari (_P.
tuberculosa_).

The fleshy seeds contained in the woody capsules of the Monkey pot
(_Lecythis Tabucajo_), which derive their generic name from their
similarity to an oil jar, are common in the West India Islands and
South America, and yield a considerable quantity of oil.

The seeds of the plants of the cucumber family frequently supply a
bland oil, which is used in the East as a lamp oil and for cooking.
Among the vegetable oils imported into Ningpo, and other Chinese
ports, from Shantong, Leatong, and Teisin, are oil of teuss, obtained
from green and dried peas; black oil of the fruit of the tree _kin_
(?) and oil from the pea of suchau.

The seeds of _Spergula saliva_, a large, smooth-seeded variety of the
common cow spurrey, which is cultivated in Flanders as a pasture grass
and green crop, afford, on expression, a good lamp oil.

A pale brownish yellow oil is obtained from the seeds of _Carthamus
tinctorius_, in Bombay; the seeds contain about 28 per cent. of oil.

Excellent oil is expressed in various parts of India from the seeds of
different species of _Sinapis_, especially from the black mustard
seed. _S. glauca, S. dichotorna_, and _S. juncea_ are extensively
cultivated in the East for their oil. The _Erysimum perfoliatum_ is
cultivated in Japan for its oil-seeds.

A beautiful pale yellow oil is procured from the seeds of the
angular-leaved physic nut, _Jatropha curcas_, a shrub which is often
employed in the tropics as a fence for enclosures. It is used by the
natives in medicine and as a lamp oil. About 700 tons of this oil was
imported into Liverpool in 1850 from Lisbon, for the purpose of
dressing cloth, burning, &c.

A rich yellow oil, perfectly clear and transparent, is obtained from
the seeds of _Bergera koenigii_.

RAPE OIL.--The imports of rape oil, from _Brassica napus_, into
Liverpool, are about 15 to 20 tuns annually.

Rape oil has been found to be better suited than any other oil for the
lubrication of machinery, when properly purified from the mucilage,
&c., which it contains in the raw state. Rape oil is now used
extensively for locomotives, for marine engines, and also for burning
in lamps. It is stated that a locomotive consumes between 90 and 100
gallons of oil yearly; and the annual consumption of oil by the London
and North-Western Railway, for this purpose alone, is more than 40,000
gallons. The oil obtained from good English rape seed is purer and of
superior quality to that from foreign or colonial seed; and as an acre
of land yields nearly five quarters of seed, which is worth at present
50s. per quarter, it is a profitable crop.

Rape seed is now largely imported for expressing oil. The imports,
which in 1847 were but 87,662 quarters, weighing 17,532 tons, had
reached, in 1851, 107,029 quarters, weighing 21,606 tons. The price of
new seed is L25 to L27 the last of ten quarters. The oil is L34 per
tun.

The refuse cake, after the seed is crushed for oil, is in demand as
food for cattle, being worth L4 the ton.

We imported in 1851, from Trance, 289 tuns of rapeseed oil, worth
about L17,000, on which there was no duty levied.

There are exported annually from Hesse Darmstadt, 34,660 cwts. of
poppy and rape oils.

The oil of the colza is much used in Europe, and highly prized. In
France it has been adopted for all the purposes of lighthouses. In
this country it has lately come into extensive domestic use, for
burning in the French moderateur lamps, being retailed at from 3s. 4d.
to 4s. the gallon.

DOMBA OIL.--The Poonay or Palang tree (_Calophyllum Inophyllum_), the
Alexandrian laurel, is a beautiful evergreen, native of the East
Indies, which flourishes luxuriantly on poor sandy soils, in fact
where scarcely anything else will grow. The seeds or berries contain
nearly 60 per cent. of a fragrant, fixed oil, which is used for
burning as well as for medicinal purposes, being considered a cure for
the itch. As commonly prepared it has a dark green color. It is
perfectly fluid at common temperatures, but begins to gelatinise when
cooled below 50 degrees.

THE EARTH-NUT (_Arachis hypogaea, or hypocarpogea_).--This very
singular plant has frequently been confounded with others, partly
through the carelessness of travellers, and by the improper use of
names, which tended to mislead and confuse. Its common appellative,
the earth-nut, has led to the conclusion that it was a species of nut,
such as is known in England under the name of "pig nut," "hawk nut,"
and "ground nut." This, as well as the "earth chesnut," belongs to a
totally different genera. On the Continent and in the East Indies a
similar confusion had long existed by the appellation of "ground
pistachio," which caused the fruit to be confounded with the nut of
the tree _Pistacia vera_. Some resemblance, on the other hand,
existing between these--as well as from their being eaten by different
nations, and used as an article of food, and also for producing
oil--rendered the true description still more difficult. Botanists
are, however, no longer at a loss, having well established the nature
and character of all these plants. The Arachis "nut" partakes of the
nature of the pea or bean of our own country, and is a low annual
plant of the order _Diadelphia decandria_ of Linn.; originally from
Africa, but now extensively cultivated in every quarter of the globe.
It has been naturalised in Europe, and with the climate of the South
of France it may be turned to good account.

It has been said to be indigenous in Florida, Peru, Brazil, and
Surinam; but the plant may be grown on a light sandy soil, under a
moderate heat, equal to that of Italy or the South of France. The
class to which it belongs approaches to the pea tribe; but its
remarkable difference to this, as to the pulse we know as a bean, is
the circumstance of its introducing its fruit or pod--if we may so
call it--into the earth, for the purpose of ripening its seed. The
Arachis, or earth nut, has obtained its name from this operation. The
flowers, leaves, and stems are produced in the ordinary manner we see
in the pea tribe. When the yellow flower has withered and the seed
fertilised, there is nothing left but the bare stem which had
supported it. This stem, in which is the germ of the future fruit and
pod, now grows rapidly in a curved manner, with a tendency to arrive
shortly on the surface of the ground, into which it penetrates this
now naked stem, and sinks into the earth several inches. It is in this
obscure position that the fruit takes its ripened form, and is either
gathered from its hiding place or left to the future season, when its
time of rising into new existence calls it from what was thought its
unnatural position.

When mature, it is of a pale yellow color, wrinkled, and forms an
oblong pod, sometimes contracted in the middle; it contains generally
two seeds. The nuts or peas are a valuable article of food in the
tropical parts of Africa, America, and Asia. They are sweetish and
almond-like, and yield an oil, when pressed, not inferior in use and
quality to that obtained from the olive. The leaf resembles that of
clover, and, like it, affords excellent food for cattle. The cake,
after the oil is expressed, forms an excellent manure.

The Arachis is usually sown in dry, warm weather, from May to June,
and are placed at the distance of eighteen inches from each other.
Insects are fond of them; and if the season is cold and unfavorable to
them, or the growth retarded, they become musty and bad, or are eaten
by insects.

The mode of obtaining the oil is nearly the same as for other pulse or
seeds; and under favorable circumstances the Arachis will produce half
its weight of oil. When heated and pressed the quantity is very
considerably increased. This oil is good for every purpose for which
olive or almond oil is used. For domestic purposes it is esteemed, and
it does not become rancid so quickly as other oils. Experiments have
been made on its inflammable properties, and it is proved that the
brilliancy of light was superior to that of olive oil, and its
durability was likewise proved to be seven minutes per hour beyond the
combustion of the best olive oil, with the additional advantage of
scarcely any smoke. In Cochin-China and India it is used for lamps. It
is known as Bhoe Moong or Moong Phullee in Bengal, and as Japan or
Chinese pulse in Java.

From China this plant was probably introduced into the continent of
India, Ceylon, and the Malayan Archipelago, where it is generally
cultivated.

In South Carolina the seed is roasted and used as chocolate. The
leaves are used medicinally.

It is grown in Jamaica, and there called Pindar nut.

That the culture of the Arachis in warm climates, or even in a
temperate one, under favorable circumstances, should be encouraged,
there can be but one opinion. And when it is considered that its
qualities are able to supersede that of the olive and the almond,
which are but precarious in their crops--to which may be added, that
as a plant it is greedily devoured in the green state by cattle--how
much may it not serve to assist the new settler in regions of the
world which have a climate suited to it.

It is known by various local names--such as _mani manoti_ by the
Spaniards, and has obtained also that of _cacahuete_ in some
countries. It has the additional term _hypogea_ attached to it, which
literally signifies subterranean. This is apt to mislead; for the
plant grows above ground as other pulse, whereas only its seed and
pericarp are inserted, after blooming, into the earth. Hence the
better term _hypocarpogea_.

It appears to form an important article of cultivation along the whole
of the west coast of Africa, and probably on the east coast, on
several parts of which it was found by Loureiro ("Flor. Cochin," p.
430). It was doubtless carried from Africa to various parts of
equinoctial America, for it is noticed in some of the early accounts
of Peru and Brazil. 800 quarters of this nut were imported into
Liverpool from the West Coast of Africa, in 1849, for expressing oil,
and about half that quantity in 1850.

Eighty to 90 tuns of the expressed oil are now annually imported. The
seeds contain about 44 per cent. of a clear pale yellow oil, which is
largely used in India as food, and for lamps, particularly at Malwa
and Bombay, &c. Two varieties are grown in Malacca, the white seed and
the brown seed, and also in Java, in the vicinity of sugar
plantations; the oil cake being used as manure. It is there known as
katjang oil.

This plant, which seems to be a native of many parts of Asia, has
within the last ten years been much cultivated about Calcutta. The
seeds contain abundance of fixed oil, have a faint odor, and very mild
agreeable taste; 1,950 parts of seed, separated from their coverings
and blanched, give 1,405 of kernels, from which, by cold pressure,
703 parts of oil are procured. The seeds are consumed as a cheap
popular luxury, being half roasted, and then eaten with salt. The oil
is calculated to serve as an efficient and very cheap substitute for
olive oil, for pharmaceutical purposes. It burns with little smoke,
with a clear flame, and affords a very full bright light, answering
perfectly in Argand lamps.

The oil cake affords, also, an excellent food for cattle.

The ground nut has of late become of considerable importance as an
article of exportation, by English houses; yet more so by French
houses at Ghent, Rouen, and Bordeaux; some of whom have contracted
with the merchants of the African colonies for large quantities,
sending shipping for the cargoes. One house alone contracted for
60,000 bushels in the years 1844 and 1845. This nut oil is so very
useful to machinery that the naval steam cruisers on the coast have
adopted it. A ground-nut oil factory exists in the colony of Sierra
Leone; but from the want of steam power and proper machinery, and from
bad management, together with the inferior attainments of the African
artisan, when compared with the European mechanic, and their
facilities in quantity or quality, there is abundant scope for
improvement. The price in the colony is 4s. 6d. per gallon. It is
capable of being refined so as to answer the purpose of a salad oil;
the nut is prolific, and eaten by the natives and Europeans, boiled,
roasted, or in its raw state; and frequently introduced at the table
as we do the Spanish Barcelona nut at dessert. It grows in the rainy
season, and is collected in the dry, and sold in the colony for one
shilling to eighteen-pence per bushel, in goods and cash. Form of the
nut, long, light shell, contains two kernels covered with a brown
rind, when shelled white in appearance.

It is a low creeping plant, with yellow flowers; after they drop off,
and the pods begin to form, they bury themselves in the earth, where
they come to maturity. The pod is woody and dry, containing from one
to three peas, or nuts, as they are called, hence the common names,
ground-nut or pea-nut. They require to be parched in an oven before
they are eaten, and form a chief article of food in many parts of
Africa.

From a narrow strip of land, extending about 40 miles northerly from
Wilmington (North Carolina), comes nearly the entire quantity of earth
nuts (known as pea-nuts) grown in the United States for market. From
that tract and immediate vicinity, 80,000 bushels have been carried to
Wilmington market in one year.

The plant has somewhat the appearance of the dwarf garden-pea, though
more bushy. It is cultivated in hills. The pea grows on tendrils,
which put out from the plant and take root in the earth, where the nut
is produced and ripened. The fruit is picked from the root by hand,
and the vines are a favorite food for horses, mules, and cattle. From
30 to 80 bushels are produced on an acre. There are some planters who
raise from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels a year.--("Hunt's Merchant's
Magazine," vol. xv., p. 426.)

The ground-nut is exceedingly prolific, and requires but little care
and attention to its culture, while the oil extracted from it is quite
equal to that yielded by the olive. Almost any kind of soil being
adapted for it, nothing can be more simple than its management. All
that is required is the soil to be turned over and the seed sown in
drills like potatoes; after it begins to shoot it may be earthed with
a hoe or plough. In many parts of Western Australia they are now grown
in gardens for feeding pigs, the rich oil they are capable of yielding
being entirely overlooked. In regard to their marketable value at
home, I will give a copy of a letter of a friend of mine, received
from some London brokers, largely engaged in the African trade:--

"Wilson and Rose present compliments to Mr. N., and beg to inform
him the price of African ground nuts is as under:--Say for River
Gambia, L11 per ton here. Say for Sierra Leone, L10 per ton here.
For ground nuts free on board at the former port, L8 per ton is
demanded; these are the finest description of nut, the freight would
be about L4 per ton; the weight per bushel imperial measure, and in
the shell, is about 25 lbs."

The following, also, is an extract from a letter written in 1842, by
Mr. Forster (the present M.P. for Berwick), an eminent African
merchant. Speaking of the staple of Africa, he says:--

"I have lately been attempting to obtain other oils from the coast,
and it was only yesterday I received from the hands of the oil
presser the result of my most recent experiment on the ground nut,
which I am happy to say is encouraging. I send you a sample of the
oil extracted from them. They are from the Gambia. It is a pure
golden colored oil, with a pleasant flavor, free from the frequent
rancidity of olive oil."

Since then the cultivation has gone on, and the exportation largely
increased. The French also have entered into the trade, and several
vessels are exclusively employed in exporting this product from the
river Gambia, conveying it to oil factors on the continent, who
extract its oil. Seeing, then, the many advantages the cultivation of
such a product bestows, and its adaptation to the soil and climate of
Australia, I cannot refrain from expressing a hope that some of the
influential landowners in the cultivated districts will give the
matter their consideration.

I am informed by an American merchant that he cleared 12,000 dollars
in one year, on the single article of ground or pea nuts obtained from
Africa. Strange as it may appear, nearly all these nuts are
transhipped to France, where they command a ready sale; are there
converted into oil, and thence find their way over the world in the
shape of olive oil; the skill of the French chemists enabling them to
imitate the real Lucca and Florence oil, so as to deceive the nicest
judges. Indeed, the oil from the pea nuts possesses a sweetness and
delicacy that cannot be surpassed.

Advices from the West Coast of Africa to the 16th August, 1853, report
that the ground nut season had closed; the quantity shipped during the
season having exceeded 900,000 bushels. The yield has increased 20 per
cent, each year for the last three years, and it is expected the
increase will be still greater in the forthcoming season.

TEUSS OIL.--The Chinese use what is called teuss or tea oil, for food
and other purposes. I have alluded to it under the head of pulse, at
page 312. It is obtained, however, from a species of the ground nut,
and is sold in Hong Kong, at 2s. 6d. the gallon, being imported from
the main land. By a local ordinance it is imperative on every
householder at Victoria, Hong-Kong, to have a lamp burning over his
door at night. When burning, this oil affords a clear, bright light,
and is not so offensive to the smell as train and other common lamp
oils.

TOBACCO SEED OIL.--A discovery, which may prove of some commercial
importance, appears to have been made by a British resident in Russia,
namely, that the seed of the tobacco plant contains about fifteen per
cent. of an oil possessing peculiar drying properties, calculated to
render it a superior medium, especially for paints and varnishes. The
process employed for the extraction of the oil is to reduce the seed
to powder, and knead it into a stiff paste with _quantum sufficit_ of
hot water, and then submit it to the action of strong fires. The oil
thus obtained is exposed to a moderate heat, which, by coagulating the
vegetable albumen of the seed, causes all impurities contained in the
oil to form a cake at the bottom of the vessel employed, leaving the
oil perfectly limpid and clear.

POPPY OIL.--About 80 cwt. of poppy seed is imported annually into
Hull, and small quantities come into other ports to be crushed into
oil. The seeds of the poppy yield, by expression, 56 per cent. of a
bland and very valuable oil, of a pale golden color, fluid to within
ten degrees of the freezing point of water. It dries easily, is
inodorous, and of an agreeable flavor like olive oil.

Dr. J.V.C. Smith, writing from Switzerland, to the editor of the
"Boston Medical Journal," says:--

"Immense crops are raised here of articles wholly unknown to the
American farmers, and perhaps the kinds best fitted to particular
localities where grain and potatoes yield poorly under the best
efforts. One of these is poppies. Thousands of acres are at this
moment ready for market--which the traveller takes for granted, as
he hurries by, are to be manufactured into opium. They are not,
however, intended for medical use at all, but for a widely different
purpose. From the poppy seed a beautiful transparent oil is made,
which is extensively used in house painting. It is almost as
colorless as water, and possesses so many advantages over the flax
seed oil that it may ultimately supersede that article. Where flax
cannot be grown poppies often can be, in poor sandy soil. Linseed
oil is becoming dearer, and the demand for paint is increasing. With
white lead, poppy oil leaves a beautiful surface, which does not
afterwards change, by the action of light, into a dirty yellow.
Another season some one should make a beginning at home in this
important branch of industry. The oil may be used for other
purposes, and even put in the cruet for salads."

TALLICOONAH or KUNDAH OIL, is obtained from the seeds of the _Carapa
Touloucouna_ (of the Flore de Senegambie). The tree grows to the
height of 40 feet; the fruit is a large, somewhat globular five-celled
capsule. The seeds (of which there are from 18 to 30 in each capsule),
vary in size from that of a chesnut to a hen's egg. They are
three-cornered, of a brownish or blackish red color. It is found
abundantly in the Timneh country, and over the colony of Sierra Leone.
It is manufactured in the following manner:--The nuts having been well
dried in the sun, are hung up in wicker racks or hurdles, and exposed
to the smoke of the huts, after which they are roasted and subjected
to trituration in large wooden mortars, until reduced to a pulp. The
mass is then boiled, when the supernatant oil is removed by skimming.
The natives principally prepare the oil to afford light; the leaves
are used by the Kroomen as a thatch. It is held in high estimation as
an anthelmintic. The oil is sold in Sierra Leone at 2s. a gallon, and
could be procured in abundance from the coast as an article of
commerce.

CARAP or CRAB OIL (_Carapa guianensis_).--This is a sort of vegetable
butter, being sometimes solid and sometimes half fluid, which is
obtained from the seed of a large tree abundant in the forests of
Guiana, and also found in Trinidad. It is said to turn rancid very
soon when exposed to the air, but this is probably caused by the
presence of impurities, arising from the crude and imperfect way in
which it is prepared by the natives, who boil the kernels, leave them
in a heap for a few days, then skim them, and lastly reduce them into
a paste in a wooden mortar, which is then spread on an inclined board,
and exposed to the heat of the sun, so that the oil may melt and
gradually trickle down into a vessel placed below to receive it. A
prize medal was awarded for this oil at the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Carap oil in Trinidad is highly esteemed as an unguent for the hair,
and also for applying to the wounds of animals, for destroying ticks
and other insects which infest cattle--also for the cure of
rheumatism. An oil called Carap oil is also obtained in the East, from
the almonds of _Xylocarpus granatum_, or _Carapa Molluccensis_, of
Lanark, which is used by the natives to dress the hair and anoint the
skin, so as to keep off insects.

Cacao fat, the butter-like substance obtained from the seeds of
_Theobroma cacao_, is esteemed as an emollient.

The nuts of the Great Macaw tree (_Acrocomia fusiformis_), a majestic
species of palm, furnishes much oil. This tree is the _Cocos
fusiformis_, of Jacquin, and other intertropical botanists. It is a
native of Trinidad and Jamaica, and is found also very commonly in
South America.

The method of extracting the oil is as follows:--The nut or kernel is
slightly roasted and cleaned, then ground to a paste, first in a mill,
and then on a livigating stone. This paste, gently heated and mixed
with 3-10ths of its weight of boiling water, is put into a bag, and
the oil expressed between two heated plates of iron; it yields about
7-10ths or 8-10ths of oil. If discolored it can be purified, when
melted, by filtration. It is then of the consistence of butter, of a
golden yellow hue, the odor that of violets, and the taste sweetish.
If well preserved it will keep several years without spoiling, which
is known to have taken place by the loss of its golden hue and
delightful aroma.

It is frequently sold in the shops as palm oil, and of late has
entered largely into the composition of toilet soaps. As an emollient
it is said to be useful in some painful affections of the joints; the
negroes deem it a sovereign remedy in "bone ache." The nut itself is
sometimes fancifully carved by the negroes, and is highly ornamental,
being of a shining jet black, and susceptible of a very high polish.
This tree may be increased from suckers.

_A. sclerocarpa_ is the Macahuba palm of Brazil.

THE AGAITI, as it is called by the Portuguese, or napoota by the
natives and Arabs (_Didynamia Gymosperma?_), much cultivated in all
Eastern Africa for its oil, which is considered equal to that of
olives, and fetches as high a price in the Indian market. The plant,
which is as tall and rank as hemp, and equally productive, having
numerous pods throughout the stems, is found everywhere in a wild as
well as cultivated state.

The "Cape Shipping Gazette," of August, 1850, says:--

"The attention of the George Agricultural and Horticultural Society
having been drawn to the fact that an excellent oil, equal to the
olive oil of Italy, can be extracted from the kernel of the fruit
known by the name of "T Kou Pijte" and "Pruim Besje," they have
offered a reward of L10 for the best sample, not less than a half
aum of this oil--and L15 if it shall be adjudged equal to the best
oil of Italy. This fact is deserving of notice, as an instance of
the advantages which are likely to result from the attention now
being devoted to the natural productions of the colony."