428 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. XII, No. 2, 



good sound seed. Many of the seeds were light. Compared 

 with the original Japanese seed, Ohio grown seed is fully 19% 

 lighter in weight per equal volume. 



According to Lewkowitsch (Oils, Vol. 3, p. 38), Perilla oil 

 occurs to the extent of 36% in the nutlets of Perilla ocimoides. 

 In our own sample of Japanese perilla, we found, by extraction 

 with benzol, 45% oil. Ohio grown perilla from same seed, by the 

 same method, gave 41% oil. Ohio grow perilla oil is much darker 

 and thinner than oil of Japanese origin, and when first extracted 

 retains the strong odor of the growing plant. 



Perilla oil when exposed to warm air, drys rapidly to a film. 

 In Japan, the boiled hot oil is applied by means of bnish or cloth, 

 to the common paper sun shades and the treated articles exposed 

 to the sun for five hours. 



The drying qualities of perilla oil is said by authorities to be 

 inferior on account of the tendency of the oil to gather in drops 

 during the spreading operation. We do not find this to be the 

 case. Japanese perilla oil and linseed oil agree very closely in 

 their spreading qualities. In their drying qualities they differ, 

 linseed oil drying much faster. Perilla oil, however, gives a smooth 

 film. Films are equal in toughness and strength. 



With paper, duplication of Japanese umbrella test, linseed 

 shows to the l^etter in giving a perfectly dry coating in much 

 shorter time than perilla. Quality of coatings practically the 

 same. In the same test, Japanese oil gave better results than the 

 Ohio oil. This poor showing ma}^ be due to the newness of the 

 seed. Old flaxseed oil or tanked linseed oil dries much better than 

 new oil. Ohio oil, however, is much more fluid than oil of Japanese 

 origin. This, also, may be due to the presence of the natural 

 stearoj^tencor perilla camphor found in the fresh plant. 



Compared with flax, the crop with which it will compete, we 

 get this data: An acre of flax yields 9 bushels or 504 pounds of 

 seed containing 176. 4 pounds (22.6 gallons) of oil, making, at 90c 

 per gallon, an oil value of .'ii>20.34 per acre. To this must be added 

 the returns from two valuable by-products, oil-cake and fibre. 



An acre of perilla will give 400 pounds of seed containing 164 

 potmds (21.3 gallons) oil, making, at 70c per gallon, an oil value 

 of SI 5. 61 per acre. Perilla stems arc worthless for fibre or fodder, 

 and the value of the press cake for cattle food or fertilizer is 

 unknown. It is possible that the cake residue could be directed 

 towards a supply of bread stuft" and that the essential oil or camphor 

 could be obtained on the same lines as the peppermint oil industry. 

 Assuming that the cost of production is the same, and that other 

 conditions are equal, facing a loss of $4.73 per acre, it is hardly 

 probable that this new crop will supplant flax as an Ohio crop. On 

 the other hand, the argument presented points to the substitution 

 of flax for perilla in Japanese agriculture and in the old opium 

 fields of the new Chinese Republic. 



Akron, Ohio. 



