Vol. XTI. No. 386. 



THE AGMCULTUKAL NEWS. 



41 



A New Method in the Pi'oduction of Sweet- 

 Orange and Lime Oil. 



In an article on the lime and the lemon in the 

 Bidletln of the Imperial Ivstltute (No. 1 of 191.5) 

 attention \vas called to the fact that after the Messina 

 earthquake Jamaica came into the essential oil market 

 and supplied a considerable quantity of orange nil as 

 a partial substitute for the Sicilian product. Formerly 

 the West Indian oil had been of an inferior grade but 

 improvements in manufacture were introduced and 

 Jamaica obtained a hold on the market. 



With a view to extending the West Indian pro- 

 duction of orange oil it may prove useful to refer to 

 a valuable Bulletin (No. .399) recently issued from the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department 

 of Agriculture. This deals with the production of 

 sweet-orange oil and describes a new machine for peeling 

 citrus fruits. An attempt will not be made to describe the 

 machine in this short note: the section devoted to its des- 

 cription in the Bulletin is fully illustrited with diagrams 

 and the reader who is interested may best be referred to 

 that. As to methods employed in extracting the oil, 

 vacuum distillation proved satisfactory and simple, but 

 the production of the pressed oil called for special 

 manipulation and device. An inexpensive screw press 

 was employed. The oil thus obtained formed a thick 

 emulsion with a portion of the water. "The mixture thus 

 formed, on account of a gum -like substance present, 

 was found to resist all the regular methods of breaking 

 down emulsions. Centrifugaling or treatment with 

 ufusorial earth were found useless. Ultimately the 

 lollowmg procedure was arrived at. 'AH the water 

 possible was removed with a separatory funnel, and the 

 water warmed on a w^ater bath to not over 90° C. To 

 tihis was added one-tenth its volume of a hot solution 

 •ontaining 2 per cent, of gelatin and the whole 

 -thoroughly mixed. To the warm mixture was added 

 one- fourth its volume of hot sohition containing 

 approximately 10 per cent, of tannin. The emulsifying 

 agent was thus brought into a state of coagulation, and 

 he oil was released. The mass was now thrown into a 

 .ack of heavy Canton flannel and again pressed. The oil 

 and water thus pressed out were separated by means 

 of a separatory funnel, and the o;l dried with quick- 

 lime and filtered.' 



The filtered oil constitutes the marketable pro- 

 duct. The method has proved both practicable and 

 oheap and should prove of value to West Indian 

 growers of citrus fruit, possibly to lime growers. 



We may conclude by reproducing the general 

 ! umraary given at the end of the Bulletin, which runs 

 ■•'s follows: — 



The extraction of sweet-orange pil is a commercial 



possibility in the United States. As a source of raw 



> material for extraction the culls, drops, and inferior 



,rades of friiit may be used. A good marketable 



.\ialiiy of oil may be produced by the process of 



acnu'm distillation herem described. 



Pressed oil extracted by the method described is 

 ..1 excellent quality and a larger yield of oil is secured 



than by the vacuum process. The process is very 

 simple and the cost of equipment extremely small. 



The utilization of inferior or low-grade fruit for 

 the extraction of oil will give a wider market for the 

 better sfrades of fruit and also tend to greater care in 

 the selection of these grades. 



The yield of pressed oil from 100 ft. of ordinary 

 cull fruit is estimated to he-from 4 to -5 ounces, and the 

 gross returns from this quantity of oil, based on the 

 average price for the past ten years, would bo from 47c. 

 to .59c. per standard field box. 



The cost of extracting; the oil from lOOft. of cull 

 fruit is estimated to be about 15c. and the net returns 

 would be from 32c. to 44c., per standard field box, 

 assuming that the fruit is delivered at the factory door.. 



Cotton-seed meal as Human Food. 



The experiments that are being made in several 

 of the islands w-ith a view to finding out the extent to 

 which sweet potato can be mixed with wheat flour in 

 the making of bread have already led to results of 

 interest. It has been found that potato meal and flour 

 mixed in the proportion of one part by weight of the 

 former with three parts of the latter gives a very- 

 palatable bread somewhat resembling the ordinary 

 brown bread. 



.Several substitutes for Avheat flour have recently 

 been suggested and one of the most recent is cotton- 

 seed meal. It is unlikely, however, for one reason on 

 account of the fact that this meal has a toxic eflfect on 

 certain animals, for example pigs, that the use of cotton- 

 seed meal is desirable The following note on the 

 subject of the use of the meal in the Experiment 

 Station Record (Yol '34-, No. 8) is nevertheless inter- 

 esting. 



'The possibility of using cotton-seed flour in bread 

 making was studied to some extent. Cotton-seed flour 

 stimulated fermentation. It caused decrease in loaf 

 volume by weakening or diluting the gluten of the 

 wheat flour. When more than 75 grams of cotton- 

 seed flour is added the gluten is so weakened 

 that sufficient rise for baking cannot be secured. The 

 colour resembles that of ginger bread when as much as 

 20 per cent, of cotton-seed flour is added. The loaf 

 has a rich, nutty flavour, that is highly pleasing, and it 

 is the opinion of those who have tried it that the flavour 

 is an improvement over the straight wheat flour.' 



In another reference (Bxperiment Station Record, 

 Vol. 35, No, 5) it is stated, in connexion with the same 

 subject that while investigating the suitability of 

 cotton-seed meal for human consumption, experiments 

 were made with a view of determining the efficiency of 

 cotton-seed meal as a food for promoting the growth, 

 development and reproduction of the albino rat. The 

 results indicate that cotton-seed meal does not contain 

 sufficient minerals for growth, is not -xctively toxic, 

 contains efficient protein and perhaps fat-soluble 

 growth-promoting substances similar to those of butter- 

 fat but in less adequate quantities. 



