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

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Castor oil seed is thrown into the mill like other seeds, as already
described; when removed it requires to be boiled for an hour, and then
strained through a cloth to free it from the fragments of the seed.

It is a curious fact, and illustrative of the imperfect manner in
which the oil is separated from the seeds, that while the common
pressman only obtained some 261/4 per cent., Boussingault, in his
laboratory, from the same seeds, actually procured 41 per cent. When
the oil cakes are meant for feeding stock, this loss is of little
consequence, inasmuch as the oil serves a very good purpose, but when
the cake is only intended to be used as a manure, it is a great loss,
inasmuch as the oil is of little or no use in adding any food for
crops to the soil.

The chief oil made on the sea board of India, is that yielded by the
coco-nut palm. The nut having been stripped of the husk or coir, the
shell is broken, and the fatty lining enclosing the milk is taken out.
This is called cobri, copra, or copperah in different localities.
Three maunds, or ninety pounds of copperah, are thrown into the mill
with about three gallons of water, and from this is produced three
maunds, or seven and three-quarter gallons of oil. The copperah in its
unprepared state is sold, slightly dried in the market. It is burned
in iron cribs or grates, on the top of poles as torches, in
processions, and as means of illumination for work performed in the
open air at night. No press or other contrivance is made use of by the
natives in India for squeezing out or expressing the oil from the
cake, and a large amount of waste, in consequence of this, necessarily
ensues.--_Bombay Times_, June 5, 1850.

Oil, of the finest kind, is made in India by expression from the
kernels of the apricot. It is clear, of a pale yellow color, and
smells strongly of hydrocyanic acid, of which it contains, usually,
about 4 per cent.

"On inquiring into the use made of the sunflower, we were given to
understand that it is here (in Tartary) raised chiefly for the oil
expressed from it. But it is also of use for many other purposes. In
the market places of the larger towns we often found the people eating
the seeds, which, when boiled in water, taste not unlike the boiled
Indian corn eaten by the Turks. In some districts of Russia the seeds
are employed with great success in fattening poultry; they are also
said to increase the number of eggs more than any other kind of grain.
Pheasants and partridges eat them with great avidity, and find the
same effects from them as other birds. The dried leaves are given to
cattle in place of straw; and the withered stalks are said to produce
a considerable quantity of alkali."--_Bremner's Interior of Russia._

658 barrels linseed oil were brought down to New Orleans from the
interior in 1849, and 1009 in 1848.

During the period of the Great Exhibition special enquiry was made by
many manufacturers as to the different oils of Southern India,
suitable for supplying the place of animal fat in the manufacture of
candles, and generally adapted for various other purposes. Enquiries
should be directed to the specific gravity, the boiling point, the per
centage of pure oil in the seeds, and the means of obtaining a regular
supply. The demand for vegetable oils in European commerce has been
steadily on the increase for several years past, and the quantities
consumed are now so large that the oleaginous products of India and
the colonies must sooner or later have a considerable commercial
importance, from the value which they are likely to acquire. Indeed
some have already established a footing in the home market, and Drs.
Hunter, Cleghorn, and others in India, have specially directed the
attention of the natives and merchants to the subject.

MARGOSE, OR NEEM OIL.--From the pericarp or fleshy part of the fruit
of the _Melia Azederachta_, the well known Margosa oil is prepared;
which is cheap and easily procurable in Ceylon. Dr. Maxwell, garrison
surgeon of Trichinopoly, states that he has found this oil equally
efficacious to cod-liver oil in cases of consumption and scrofula. He
began with half-ounce doses, morning and evening, which were gradually
reduced.

ILLEPE OIL.--The seeds of three species of Bassia, indigenous to
India, yield solid oils, and are remarkable for the fact, that they
supply at the same time saccharine matter, spirit, and oil, fit for
both food and burning in lamps. The Illepe( _B. longifolia_) is a tree
abundant in the Madras Presidency, the southern parts of Hindostan
generally, and the northern province of Ceylon. In Ceylon the
inhabitants use the oil in cooking and for lamps. The oil cake is
rubbed on the body as soap, and seems admirably adapted for removing
the unctuosity of the skin caused by excessive perspiration, and for
rendering it soft, pliable, and glossy, which is so conducive to
health in a tropical climate. The oil is white and solid at common
temperatures, fusing at from 70 to 80 degrees. It may be
advantageously employed in the manufacture of both candles and soap;
in Ceylon and some parts of India this oil forms the chief ingredient
in the manufacture of soap.

Mahower (_B. latifolia_) is common in most parts of the Bengal
Presidency. The oil a good deal resembles that last described,
obtained from the Illepe seeds; and may be used for similar purposes.
It is solid at common temperatures, and begins to melt at about 70
degrees.

Vegetable butter is obtained from the Choorie (_B. butyracea_). This
tree, though far less generally abundant than the other two species,
is common in certain of the hilly districts, especially in the eastern
parts of Kumaon; in the province of Dotee it is so abundant that the
oil is cheaper than ghee, or fluid butter, and is used to adulterate
it. It is likewise commonly burnt in lamps, for which purpose it is
preferred to coco-nut oil. It is a white solid fat, fusible at about
120 degrees, and exhibits very little tendency to become rancid when
kept.

Shea, or galam butter, is obtained in Western Africa from the _Bassia
Parkii_, or _Pentadisma butyracea_, a tree closely resembling the _B.
latifolia_, and other species indigenous to Hindostan. According to
Park, the tree is abundant in Bambara, the oil is solid, of a
greyish-white color, and fuses at 97 degrees. Its product is used for
a variety of purposes--for cooking, burning in lamps, &c.

This tree has much of the character of the laurel, but grows to the
height of eighteen or twenty feet. Its leaf is somewhat longer than
the laurel, and is a little broader at the point; the edges of the
leaf are gently curved, and are of a dark sap green color. The nut is
of the form and size of a pigeon's egg, and the kernel completely
fills the shell. When fresh it is of a white drab color, but, if long
kept, becomes the color of chocolate. The kernel, when new, is nearly
all butter, which is extracted in the following manner:--The shell is
removed from the kernel, which is also crushed, and then a quantity is
put into an earthen pot or pan, placed over the fire with a portion of
water and the nut kernels. After boiling slowly about half an hour the
whole is strained through a grass mat into a clean vessel, when it is
allowed to cool. Then, after removing the fibrous part from it, it is
put into a grass bag and pressed so as to obtain all the oil. This is
poured into the vessel along with the first-mentioned portion, and
when cold is about the consistence of butter.

The nuts hang in bunches from the different boughs, but each nut has
its own fibre, about seven or eight inches long, and about the
thickness and color of whip-cord. The nut is attached to the fibre in
a very singular manner. The end of the fibre is concealed by a thin
membrane, about half an inch wide and three-quarters of an inch long.
This membrane is attached to the side of the nut, and, when ripe,
relinquishes its hold, and the nut falls to the ground, when it is
gathered for use. A good-sized healthy tree yields about a bushel of
nuts, but the greater number are not so prolific. The trees close to
the stream present a more healthy appearance, probably on account of
being better watered, and the fire being less powerful close to the
stream.

THE CANDLE NUT TREE (_Aleurites triloba_, of Foster) grows in the
Polynesian Islands, and is also met with in some parts of Jamaica and
the East Indies. In the latter quarter it is known as the Indian
Akhrowt. A very superior kind of paint oil is produced from the nut,
and the cake, after the expression of the oil, forms an excellent food
for cattle, and a useful manure. 311/2 gallons of the nut yield ten
gallons of oil, which bears a good price in the home markets.

The yearly produce of this oil in the Sandwich Isles, where it is
called kukui oil, is about 10,000 gallons. It has been shipped to the
markets of Chili, New South Wales, and London, but not as yet with
much profit. It realized about L20 per imperial ton in the port of
London. In 1843, about 8,620 gallons were shipped from Honolulu,
valued at 1s. 8d. per gallon.

In Ceylon the oil is known as kekune oil, and a good deal of it might
be obtained there from the district of Badulla. From the trials made
it appears that it cannot be used as a drying oil, but will probably
answer best as a substitute for rape oil. Samples have been sent to
several clothiers, and the nature and quality of the oil renders it
most applicable to their purposes.

COLZA (_Brassica oleracea_), a variety of the common cabbage, is much
grown in the South of Europe and other parts, for the oil obtained by
pressure from its seeds, and which is used for lamps and other
purposes. The plant will not thrive on sand or clay, but requires a
rich light soil. After the ground has been well ploughed and manured,
the seed should be sown in July, in furrows eight or ten inches
asunder. The plants are transplanted about October. When ripe the
stalks are reaped with a sickle, and the seeds threshed out with a
flail. The cake, after the oil is expressed, is an excellent food for
cattle.

Like all the oleaginous plants cultivated for their seed, colza
greatly impoverishes the soil.

In Peru the caoutchouc is used as a substitute for candles. A roll of
it (which is generally about a yard long and three inches in diameter)
is cut lengthways into four parts, but before it is lighted the piece
is rolled up in a green plantain leaf, to prevent it from melting or
taking fire down the sides. The natives of Peru also bruize the beans
of a species of wild cacao after they have been well dried, and use
the substance instead of tallow in their lamps.

Mr. Dearman, writing from Dacca, to Dr. Spry, Secretary to the
Agricultural and Horticultural Societies of India, in 1839, says--"I
will send you some seeds from a tree, which resemble chestnuts. One of
these seeds, after taking off the shell, being stuck on the point of
a penknife, and lighted at a candle flame, will burn without the least
odor for four or five minutes, giving a light equal to two or three
candles. From the flower of the tree (he adds), I am told, is
distilled a delightful scent." [I presume this must be the candle-nut
tree.]

At the Feejee and Hawaian islands, the seeds of the castor oil plant
and of the candle-nut tree (_Aleurites triloba_) are strung together
and used for candles. Species of torches are also made from the candle
wood in Demerara.

THE CANDLEBERRY MYRTLE (_Myrica cerifera_) abounds in the Bahama
Islands. The shrub produces a small green berry, which, like the hog
plum, puts out from the trunk and larger limbs. Much patient labor is
required in gathering these berries, and from them is obtained a
beautiful green wax, which burns very nearly, if not fully, as well as
the spermaceti, or composition candles imported from abroad. Not long
since Mr. Thos. B. Musgrove, of St. Salvador (or Cat Island), obtained
about 80 lbs. of this wax, and made some excellent candles of it. The
method of procuring this wax is by boiling the berries in a copper or
brass vessel for some time. Iron pots are found to darken and cloud
the wax. The vessel after a sufficient time is taken from the fire,
and when cool the hardened wax, floating on the top of the water, is
skimmed off.

MYRTLE WAX.--According to the experiments of M. Cadet and Dr. Bostock,
myrtle wax differs in many respects from bees' wax, Specimens of it
assume shades of a yellowish green color. Its smell is also different;
myrtle wax, when fresh, emitting a fragrant balsamic odor. It has in
part the unctuosity of bees' wax, and somewhat of the brittleness of
resin. Its specific gravity is greater, insomuch that it sinks in
water, whereas bees' wax floats upon it; and it is not so easily
bleached to form white wax. The wax tree of Louisiana contains immense
quantities of wax.

Mr. Moodie ("Ten Tears in South Africa") says,--

"I occasionally employed my people, at spare times, in gathering wax
berries that grow in great abundance upon small bushes in the sand
hills, near the sea, and yield a substance partaking of the nature
of wax and tallow, which is mixed with common tallow, and used by
the colonists for making candles. The berry is about the size of a
pea, and covered with a bluish powder. They are gathered by
spreading a skin on the sand, and beating the bush with a stick.
When a sufficient quantity of the berries are collected, they are
boiled in a great quantity of water, and the wax is skimmed off as
fast as it rises; the wax is then poured into flat vessels and
allowed to cool, when it becomes hard and brittle, and has a
metallic sound when struck. The cakes thus formed are of a deep
green color, and are sold at the same price as tallow. The wild pigs
devour these berries when they come in their way, and seem very fond
of them."

A good specimen of myrtle, or candleberry wax, accompanied by candles
made from it in the crude unbleached state in New Brunswick, was shown
at the Great Exhibition.

Vegetable wax was also sent from Shanghae, in China; from St. Domingo,
in the northern parts of which the plant is indigenous; and a
remarkable specimen from Japan. This substance, from its high melting
point and other physical characteristics, has of late attracted a good
deal of attention; it is admirably suited as a material for the
manufacture of candles.

At a meeting of the Central Board, at Cape Town, in March, 1853, the
members voted about L300, to employ some 20 or 30 men, in gathering
berries from the Downs, and making wax during the winter months, that
is, from the beginning of May to the end of September. The wax fetches
a good price in the Cape market.

In the annual report of the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society,
in May, 1853, a very fine sample of myrtle, or terry wax, grown on
the Cape Flats, was exhibited by Mr. Feeny, Superintendent of the
Road Plantation, by direction of the Commissioners of the Central
Road Board, in different stages of purification, from green to
white, as also some candles; and it being conceived by the meeting
that this article might ultimately become one of considerable
importance for purposes of export, a letter of thanks was addressed
to Mr. Feeny; and Nathaniel Day, the constable who assisted him, was
presented with the sum of L5, as a remuneration for his trouble in
assisting to purify and prepare the wax. On reference to the juror's
report on the Great Exhibition, it will be gratifying to find that
the berry wax, forwarded by this Society, had attracted peculiar
notice, and a prize medal been awarded for it; the following
reference is therein made to it: "some fine specimens of myrtle or
berry wax, from the Cape of Good Hope, are exhibited by J.
Lindenberg, of Worcester. This is an excellent material for the
manufacture of candles, when employed in conjunction with other
solid fats. The jury awarded a prize medal for these specimens."

Your Committee would suggest every possible attention being drawn to
this subject, in which they are gratified to state, the
Commissioners of the Central Road Board have evinced a readiness to
co-operate, by offering to place at the Society's disposal the sum
of L10 10s., "to be given as a premium for the best information
respecting the wax berry plant, the soils and situations in which it
is found to grow most luxuriantly: the best mode of propagating and
cultivating it, of collecting the berries, and extracting and
preparing the wax, &c." And from a letter received from the
Secretary to the Central Road Board, it appears that the Board had
authorised the shipment to England of 2,561 lbs. of the wax, by the
_Queen of the South_ in November last, which, from the account sales
lately received from Messrs. J.R. Thomson & Co., realised as
follows, viz.:--

4 cases weighing nett 856 lbs. a 8d. L28 10 8
4 " 1040 lbs. a 9d. 39 0 0
3 " 745 lbs. a 11d. 34 2 11
3 " 6 lbs. a 11d. 0 5 6
---------------
L101 19 1
Discount 21/2 per cent. 2 11 0
---------------
L99 8 1

CHARGES.
Warehouse Entry 3s. 6d. Fire Insurance
2s., Ports 2s. 6d L0 8 0
Freight 7 3 3
Primage 0 14 4
Dock Charges 3 9 6
Sale Expenses 0 9 0
Brokerage 1 0 6
---------------
L13 4 7

Commission at 21/2 per cent 2 11 0
---------------
Carried forward L16 15 7

Brought forward L15 15 7
---------
L83 12 6
Deduct Bills of Lading, &c. 0 19 6
---------
L82 13 0
Deduct the Board's expenses for gathering and
preparing, &c 28 8 7
---------
Leaving a clear profit of L54 4 5

This statement shows that from a plant, which is indigenous to the
colony, and might he cultivated to almost any extent, and mostly on
soils unavailable for other purposes, an article of great export
could be derived at a comparatively small expense; it is with that
view that I desire to direct public attention more prominently to
it.

In the Museum of the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, wax is shown as
scraped from the trunk of the wax palm (_Ceroxylon andicola_), and
candles made from it, as also some made of acorns and closely
resembling common tallow. Concrete milk and butter made from the Shea
butter tree, and others growing in Para, are also exhibited.

Wax candles have been made from the seeds of _Myrica macrocarpa_ in
Colombia, and also from vegetable wax in Java. Some of these are to be
seen in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of London.

CASTOR OIL PLANT.

Castor oil is expressed from the seeds of _Ricinus communis (Palma
Christi)_, a plant with petale-palmate leaves, which is found native
in Greece, Africa, the South of Spain, and the East Indies, and is
cultivated in the West Indies, as well as in North and South America.
In the temperate and northern parts of Europe, the plant is an
herbaceous annual, of from three to eight feet high; in the more
southern parts it becomes scrubby and even attains an height of twenty
feet; while in India it is often a tree thirty to forty feet high. The
best oil is obtained by expression from the seeds without heat, and is
hence called "cold drawn oil." A large quantity of oil may be produced
by boiling the seeds, but it is less sweet and more apt to become
rancid than that procured by expression.

The _Palma Christi_ grows continuously for about four years, and
becomes a large tree in constant bearing, ripening its rich clusters
of beans in such profusion, that 100 bushels may be obtained annually
from an acre, and their product of oil two gallons per bushel.

There are several species, all of which yield oil of an equally good
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.