THE PLANT WORLD. 9 



PLANT JUICES AND THEIR COMMERCIAL VALUES. 

 By Mrs. Caroline A. Creevey. 



\_Continued .'] 



Cotton seed oil has become an immense industry, dating from 

 1852. From four in 1867, the number of mills has increased to 300 

 to-day. In 1872 the export of the cotton oil amounted to 4,900 bar- 

 rels. In 1896 it was about 30,000 barrels. To-day the product is 

 28,000,000 gallons per year, worth 30 cents per gallon, expressed from 

 800,000 tons of cotton seed. The process of purification is intricate 

 and troublesome. Used for adulteration of olive oil, and for soaps. 



Other commercial oils are, non-drying-ground-nut, almond, colza, 

 rape and mustard, used for soaps, perfumery, medicine and for burn- 

 ing. Drying oils — German sesamum, linseed, poppy, cadia, Niger, 

 hemp, nut [Juglan.s regki)^ used in varnishes and paints, especially in 

 oil paintings, also for soaps, lubricants, and for burning. In England 

 Hull is the centre of the seed-oil trade; Liverpool, of palm oil and oil 

 of nuts. 



China produces the so-called tallow tree, StiUhigia sebifera^ a 

 spurge. Each cell of the three-celled capsule contains a thick, greasy 

 substance that is made into tallow for candles, used for soap, for 

 dressins: cloth, and as a substitute for linseed oil. It is also burned in 

 lamps. 



Butter trees grow in India, Ceylon, etc. They are members of 

 the Star-apple family, species of the genus Bassia. The seeds pro- 

 duce a half solid oil, which thickens and becomes like lard. The 

 natives eat it and also use it for anoining their bodies. Bassia lati- 

 folia, a product of India, gives out a fatty substance used for butter. 

 This is the celebrated Mahwa tree, \\ hich in famine seasons has pre- 

 served thousands of lives. A writer says that, standing on an emi- 

 nence 250 miles northwest of Calcutta, one may see 100,000 Mahwa 

 trees. "Any one fresh from Calcutta would mistake these for Mango 

 trees, whose crop is uncertain. The Mahwa crop never fails. The 

 part eaten is the succulent corollas, which fall from the trees in great 

 profusion in March and April. Then is the feasting time for the 

 humbler members of creation; birds, squirrels and tree-shrews feast 

 among the branches by day, whilst the poor villagers collect the 

 corollas which fall to the ground on all sides. Nor does the feasting 

 end with day; at sunset peacocks and jungle fowl steal out from the 

 surrounding jungle to share the Mahwa with deer and bears." 



