10 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1885. 



or, t-peciallv uitli cacao, the latter requiring shade, the 

 oriiier eupiilying bolb .'■hacle and jd'Otlucc of a remuner- 

 ative kind especially as the consumption ia so great. 

 I would not have troubled you but that a general 

 opinion prevails that the thing will be overdone as 

 it is only used medicinally, and, knowing your pro- 

 veibial good-nature, I am writing to ask you if you 

 can put my mind at rest, as, if so, I intend putting 

 down a good acreage. — Yours truly, PLANTER. 



[There must certainly have been some mistake : where 

 did our correspondent see the article in the T. A ? — 

 we cannot lay our hands on it for the moment.* But a 

 reference to the latest edition of MaeCulloch shows 

 that the imports imo the United Kingdom of all the 

 ■' seed" oils put together do not average more than 

 from 12,000 to 14,000 tons. We cannot find crotnn 

 specified separately. The following reference is the only 

 one of consequence in the Encyclopedia Britamiica: — 



Oroton Oil [Crotonis OUnm) is prepared from the seeds 

 of Crotoii Titflium, a euphorbiaceous tree indigenous to the 

 Malabar coast and Tavoy, and grown in many parts of 

 the East Indies. The tree is from 15 to 20 feet in 

 height, and has few and spreading branches ; alternate, 

 oval-obloDg leaves, acuminate at the point, and covered 

 when young with stellate hairs and small, downy, greenish- 

 yellow, moniecious flowers. The male blossoms have five 

 petals and fifteen stamens ; the females are apetalous, but 

 bear three bifid styles. The fruit or capsule is obtusely 

 three-cornered, and jths of an inch long ; it consists of three 

 carpels each inclosing a seed. The seeds resemble those 

 of the castor-oil plant ; they are about half an inch long, 

 and 2-5ths of an inch broad, and have a cinnamon-brown, 

 brittle integment ; between the two halves of the kernel 

 lie the large cotyledons and radicle. The kernels contain 

 from 50 to 60 per cent, of oil, which is obtained by press- 

 ing them, when bruised to a pulp, between hot plates. 

 C'roton oil has long been known in India as a medicine, 

 and has been in use in Eugland since 181'i. !8eeds for 

 maniifactui'iog it are imported mostly from Cochin and 

 I'.ombay. It is occasionally adulterated with olive, castor 

 ami nut oil. 



From Simmond's Commercial Products we get some 

 interesting particulars : — 



Croton oil is obtained by expression from the seed or 

 nuts of Croton Tic/Hum, an evergreen tree, 15 to 20 feet 

 in height, belonging to the same order as the castor oil 

 plant, producing whitish green flowers, and seeds resembl- 

 ing a tick in appearance, whence its generic name. It 

 is a native of the East Indies. 100 parts of seeds afford 

 about lit of kernel. 50 quarters of croton nuts for ex- 

 ]ir('ssing oil were imported into Liverpool from the Cape 

 A^crde Islands, in 1849, 



The Croton Tic/Hmii grow.s plentifully in Oeylon, and the 

 oil if jiroperly e.xpressed, might be made an article of 

 traile. The hC't mode of preparing it is by grinding the 

 ■ seeds, placing the powder in bags, and pressing between 

 plates of iron ; allow the oil to stand for fifteen days, 

 then filter. The lesidue of the expression is triturated 

 with twice its weight of alcohol, and heated on the sand- 

 bath from 120 to 110 dcg. Fahrenheit, and the mixture 

 pressed again. In this ste|) the utmost caution is necessary 

 in avoiding the acrid fumes. One seer of seed furnishes 

 by this process rather more'than eleven fluid ounces of oil, 

 six by the first step, and five by alcohol. The oil acts as 

 an irritant purgative in the dose of one drop. In large 

 does it is a dangei'ous poison. When applied externally 

 it produces pustules. In 1845, eight ca.ses of croton oil 

 and six cases of the seed were exported from Oeylon. Other 

 species of croton, as 0. I'avnnay a native of Ava and the 

 north-eastern parts of Bengal, and C. Roxhvrghii, yield a 

 purgative oil. The bark of C. Eleiittria, C. CascariUa and 

 other species is aromatic, and acts as a tonic and stimulant. 

 It forms the cascarilla bark of commerce already spoken 



* We have since found the passage ; it is in an article 

 from a Demerara paper and we should like much to have 

 some light thrown upon the statement which is as fol- 

 lows": — " About 14,000 tons Oroton oil are annually imported 

 for the use of the wool-dressers of Ifritain." — Ed. 



of. Wlien bruised, it gives out a musky odor and is often 

 used in pastilles. 



Oil is also obtained from the seeds of Jatropha curcas, 

 a native of South America and Asia, is purgative and 

 ametic, and analogous in its properties to croton oil. It 

 is said to be a valuable external applicatian in itch. In 

 India it is used for lamps. 



Then of the "Jatropha " we read in Simmond's tropical 

 work : — 



Physic Nut {Ciircts pargans, Lindl. ; Jatropha Otircas, 

 Liu.)— This small tree or shrub is grown in Brazil, tha 

 East and West Indies, and West Aifrica ; but the prin- 

 cipal seat of production is the Cape Verde Islands. In the 

 tropics, hedges and enclosures are made with this shrub, 

 as cattle will not touch the leaves. The seeds are excess- 

 ively drastic, hence their general name of purging nuts. 

 This plant grows in abundance al Casamauca, and Gaboon 

 and other parts of the African coast could supply this 

 oil seed. The bush from which the seed is obtained is 

 readily increased by cuttings, which rapidly take root. 

 The seeds are three or four, contained in a thin skin, 

 which is black ; the seed is of the same colour, 

 and grows in bunches ; the stems of the bushes 

 are not strong, but they answer excellently for 

 fcuees, with split bamboo tied on each side to keep 

 them straight and together, and the great advantage is 

 that no kind of cattle eat them. The seeds are collected and 

 the oil expressed inthe usual way. The oil obtained from 

 the seeds is chiefly used for lamps, and also in cutaneous 

 diseases and chronic rheumatism. The Chinese boil the 

 oil with oxide of iron to make the black varnish used 

 for coating boxes, &c. The oil is viscous, of a deep yellow, 

 with a density of 0-918. 



This oil has been frequently imported into Eng- . 

 land as a substitute for linseed oil. Tho colour is some- 

 what paler ; it answers equally well. Quantities of the 

 seeds are shipped from the archipelago of the Oape Verde • 

 Islands ; the average export from thence is about 100,000 

 hectolitres annually ; they are sold at the port for 5 francs 

 the decalitre . The seeds are known under the name of 

 Pignons d'Inde by the French, and Purgueira by the 

 Portuguese. 



The following shows tho quantity of these seeds raised 

 in 1869 in the Cape Verde Islands, the chief locality of 

 production : 



Tons. 

 St. Jago .. .. 15,750 



Togo .. .. 900 



Bona Vista . . . . 23 



1(5,072 



An oil obtained from another species in India (Ja/rnp/m 

 glauca, Vahl.) is also used locally in medicine and for 

 lamps. In appearance and consistence it resembles castor 

 oil. The seeds of other species, /. niultijichi and J. gossypl- 

 folius, are also purgative. 



CitoTON Oil.— The oil is obtained by grinding the seeds, 

 placing the powder in bags, and pressing them between 

 plates of iron. The oil is then allowed to stand fifteen ■ 

 days, and afterwards filtered. The residue after expression 

 is saturated with twice its weight of alcohol, heated on 

 the sand bath from 120' to 140" Fahr., and the mixture 

 pressed again. The alcohol is distilled off, the oil allowed 

 to settle, and filtered after a fortnight. One soer (21I>.) 

 of seed furnishes 11 fluid ounces of oil; G oz. by tho (ir.st 

 process, 6 oz. by the second. Sometimes the seeds are 

 roatied before they are compressed. Tho seeds of 0. 

 Soxinirghii, 0. Pnraiin, and 6'. oblonyifoUus have similar 

 purgative properties. 



We suspect that a profitable market will be found 

 (for other than physic purposes) for all the croton oil 

 seeds our Ceylon planters can produce for some time 

 to come. All we can learn from the India Customs 

 Returns is that the export of "seeds" in 1883-4 

 was equal to 17,.357,8S4 cwt. valued at P>10,0=!6,090, 

 but in the term "seeds" the following are included: 

 — " Castor, coriander, casuarina, jinjili, ortil, ground- 

 nuts, linseed, methic, mustard, poppy, rape or sarsou, 

 and 'others.' "—Ed.] 



