54 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



February 19, 1910. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenhohne and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date January 31, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



A good business has been done in West Indian Sea 

 Island cotton ."since our last report, and about 330 bags have 

 Vieen sold. 



The .sales are chiefly comprised of Montserrat and Nevis 

 18id. to 19(7., St. Kitts'lStf. to 20</., St. Vincent ■20<l. to 

 2ld., Anguiila If^ld , with a few Barbados at 19rf. to 20<7. 



Trices are fairl}- steady, but we notice that Carolina 

 cotton is offering at rather easier races from Charlestown, 

 Fully Fine being now cjuoted at 17 Id. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending January 29, is as follows: — 



There was some demand throughout the week, on a basis 

 of Fine 32c., and Fully Fine to Fine, off in preparation, at 

 30c., resulting in the above sales. The buying was partly 

 for e.xport, but principally on account of the northern mills. 



The factors continue to hold for the following prices, 

 viz., F.xtra Fine 3.5c., Fully Fine 34c., Fine o2c., but they 

 show more disposition to sell, and would probably make some 

 concession in price to dispose of 4uantity, halving a large 

 .stock on hand. 



There is a limited demand for planters' crop lots, which 

 resulted in the sale of one small crop at 37c. 



USES FOR COTTON SEED OIL. 



The foUowinof e.xtracts are taken from a paper 

 published in the United States under the name Cothni- 

 ticed Oil Muijazinc. They show that cotton seed oil is 

 continually becoming of greater importance, and that 

 the number of possible uses for this product has by no 

 means been e.xhausted. 



It is well known that by far the larger part of all the 

 salad oil sold in this country to-day is made from cotton seed 

 oil. Cotton seed oil enters largely into medicinal preparations, 

 and, in fact, wherever an edible oil is used, it is almost sure 

 to be cotton seed oil. It is replacing lard to a remark- 

 able extent for cooking and baking, not only in the 

 large wholesale establishments, but in our homes and 

 kitchens as well. Probably the most promising field for 

 cotton seed oil is the oleomargarine industry, provided that 

 that industry could free itself from the effects of adverse 

 legislation. 



According to statistics, the output of cotton seed oil for 

 la.styear in this country was 1,200,000 barrels, for domestic 



consumption. Had our consumption of oleomargarine been 

 even equal to that of the Principality of Holland, which 

 has a population of a little over two million people, it would 

 have required,- on the present basis of formulae for making 

 oleomargarine, 2,370,000 barrels to supply the domestic 

 demand for oleomargarine alone, to say nothing of that 

 for other purposes, which now takes probably about 1,000,000 

 barrels. 



The writer was recently approached by a party in the 

 East, who claims to have discovered a process of refining 

 cotton seed oils, rendering them sweet and palatable, at what 

 he states is a much lower cost than is possilile with present 

 methods. The information leads me to state, for the benefit 

 of the cotton seed oil chemists, that if they could produce an 

 oil which would be absolutely neutral in taste and smell, they 

 would find a much larger market for this oil than they now do. 



In the maiuifacture of oleomargarine, for instance, about 

 30 per cent, of cotton seed oil is used, and the only reason 

 why more of it is not employed is that that i.s the largest 

 amount that the product will stand without the oil disclosing 

 itself, on account of the peculiar taste, which it seems hard 

 to remove. For the manufacture of oleomargarine, a pure 

 neutral oil is essential, and when this is discovered or pro- 

 duced, it will find a ready sale. Another item which may be 

 ©f value to the cotton seed oil chemist is that if he could 

 produce an edible oil without destroying the crude colour, 

 or if he could make it of a red gold tint, it would open up an. 

 entirely new market, and would bring a good price. 



It is well known that, at present, the refining of cotton- 

 seed oil removes its colour, together with the objectionable 

 taste; but if this taste could be removed and the colour left, 

 I believe we should have a product which would revolutionize 

 the industry of oleomargarine making, which industry is 

 rapidly increasing, and will increase still faster whenever it 

 can get the proper materials to produce it. 



The Tapping of Assam Rubber Trees. 



For the purpose of tapping Assam rubber, or Rambong 

 trees (FirKs e/nstira), the use of a rotary pricker, in which 

 the pins are such a distance apart that the latex which runs 

 from the puncture joins that from those adjoining, is a more 

 practical way of extracting the latex than the making of a cut 

 Avitli a knife. If the rubber which flows from the various 

 punctures is pulled off directly it has coagulated, it will be 

 found that the flow will occur again, and a second irrpe-\ik& 

 film of coagulated latex can be pulled off. The absence of 

 wounds prevents the attacks of borers, and the trees can be 

 again pricked after a short time has elapsed. When the flow 

 from the puncture is too great to allow it to coagulate, and it 

 runs down, it can be caught at the base of the tree. 

 (^India-Ruhlier Journal, September 1909.) 



