290 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



are exceedingly small, and jjiices high. The manu- 

 facture of linseed oil in the United Kiugdom in 

 1860 was estimated at 65,000 tons ; of which 33,700 

 tons were exported. The home production of oil-cake 

 was also considerably in excess of former years. The 

 stock of rapeseod held was only about 18,000 qrs. 

 at the commencement of this year, while of poppy 

 and Niger seeds there were none on hand. Rape 

 and seed oils, we are told, continue to sustain the 

 same prominent position in our markets they have 

 done for years past, and independent of a large home 

 make, 9,500 tons were imported into the kingdom 

 last year. 



A new kind of grease made from rape oil is now 

 manufactured at Leipzig. The mass of grease, or 

 fat, is quite pure, without taste or smell, and ac- 

 cording to medical certificates, contains nothing iu the 

 least injufious to health. In cookery, it answers fully 

 the purposes of butter, with the advantage that, in- 

 stead of the usual quantity of butter, one-third in 

 quantity of this rapeseed grease will suffice. The butter 

 sold in London is bad enough, in all conscience, and 

 we therefore trust that, for edible purposes, the rape- 

 grease may be kept by our German friends. 



The ground-nut, as it is popularly termed, the sub- 

 terraneous fruit of the AracMs hypogcea, is now culti- 

 vated very extensively as an oil-seed, especially at the 

 Gold Coast, Gambia, and Sierra Leone, on the West 

 Coast of Africa. Weimported in 1859 1,124 tons from 

 the Gambia, 1,116 tons from Sierra Leone, and 147 

 tons from the Gold Coast. But large quantities are 

 sent direct thence to France. Thus in 1857 13,554 

 tons of ground-nuts were exported, of which 11,300 

 tons went to France, and 1,300 to the United States. 

 From Sierra Leone 243,123 bushels were sent away, of 

 which 206,503 went to France. The French imports 

 from their own Afi'ican possessions are also con- 

 siderable; and it is stated that from 70,000 to 80,000 

 tons of ground-nuts are annually received, chiefly at 

 Marseilles. 



In the Southern States of America its culture is 

 much attended to, and there, and in parts of the West 

 Indies, it is called pindar and pea-nut. In Brazil it is 

 known under the name of mindoubi. In Natal and 

 the Cape, as well as in the Indian Presidencies, the 

 ground-nut is now extensively grown ; and in Spain 

 and Algeria it is found to rank among the more advan- 

 tageous objects of field cultivation. The price has of 

 late been steady in our market for them at ^16 10s. 

 per ton. The prepared oil, expressed from the seed 

 or kernel, is of the finest quality, and fit for some of 

 the most delicate purposes to which oil is put. Under 

 the name of Gingelly and Teel, quantities of sesamum 

 seed are imported from India and Egypt, and oc- 

 casionally from other quarters. The small seeds are of all 

 colours, varying from white to black. When carefully 

 pressed, sesame oil is quite equal to the best olive. On 

 the coast of Africa and in some parls of the West Indies 

 sesame is called bennie seed. 



Cotton-seed oil is now a large article of commerce, 

 its seed being abundant, and the difficulties of removing 



the husk having been got over. In cotton-seed the 

 oil is in smaller proportion, and the albuminous com- 

 pounds larger than even in the best linseed cake. 



There are other seeds, of less commercial importance, 

 which are occasionally used to obtain oil from, among 

 which may be enumerated pumpkin, melon, and cu- 

 cumber seed in India, and also under the name of 

 Agusi, in 'Western Africa; dodder-seeds, or gold of 

 pleasure {Camelina sativa) in the south of Em-ope 

 and Canada; sunflower-seed, cress-seed, niger-seed, 

 the small black seed of Guizotea oleifera, called 

 "ramtil" in India; radish-seed, and safflower-seed 

 {Carthamiis tinctorius): the oil of this makes ex- 

 cellent soap. Mustard-seed is also pressed for oil. 



We have confined our remarks entirely to the oil- 

 seeds proi^orly so called, distinct from the oils obtained 

 from nuts and other vegetable sources, which furnish 

 so large a proportion of the supplies — as the palm, 

 cocoanut, olive, bassias, vegetable tallow, and wax, 

 which can scarcely be looked upon, in an agricultural 

 point of view, as objects of agriculture, although they 

 are of high importance, both to the producer of the oil, 

 the merchant, and the manufacturer. 



Professor Anderson well observed, some time ago, 

 that the introduction of new oilseeds into commerce is 

 a matter which very much depends upon the farmer; 

 for, in the more familiar seeds, such as linseed and rape, 

 the value of the cake often exceeds half that of the 

 seed, and the price obtainable for it is a matter of the 

 utmost moment to the manufacturer, who cannot aflford 

 to use a seed unless he can sell the cake to the farmer. 

 He must be guided also by the proportion of oil the 

 seed will yield in the press, and hence a knowledge of 

 the quantity of that substance contained in them is of 

 importance to him. A knowledge of the composition 

 of these oil-seeds is important also to the farmer, be- 

 cause it is quite possible that some of them may be 

 sufficiently low-priced to permit them to compete 

 advantageously with linseed, which is occasionally 

 used, more particularly for feeding calves, although its 

 high price necessarily restricts its employment. 



We may, hereafter, touch upon the composition and 

 comparative feeding properties of the oil-cakes ob- 

 tained from many of these seeds, whether home-made 

 or imported. 



WASHINGTON'S LOVE OF HORSES.— The Presi- 

 dent's stables iu Philadelphia were under tlie direction of 

 German John, and the grooming of the white chargers will 

 rather surprise the moderns. The night before the horses 

 Vi'ere expected to be ridden they were covered entirely over 

 with a paste, of which whiting was the principal component 

 part; then the animals were swathed iu body-cloths, and left 

 to sleep upon clean straw. In the morning the composition 

 had become hard, was well rubbed in, and curried and 

 brushed, which process gave to the coats a beautiful, glossy 

 and satin-like appearance. The hoofs were then blackened 

 and polished, the mouths washed, teeth picked and cleaned, 

 and, the leopard-skin housings being properly adjusted, the 

 white chargers were led out for service. Such was the 

 grooming of the ancient times, — Recollections of Wash- 

 ington, 



