288 



and the seeds may then be put tlirough the wiuiio\vin<f machine or 

 shak'cu on the " neerv." Some of the Kernels may still have small 

 pieces of husk adhering to them but this is of no consequence in 

 the further process of expressinij" the oil. It may be here men- 

 tioned that tlie husks impart neither colour nor taste to the oil, so 

 that the quality of the oil is not affected by their presence with the 

 seed. 



As a matter of fact, present up-to-date oil-mills equipped with 

 powerful presses, treat seeds in the husk without taking the trouble 

 of huskinig them : but with presses of small power, such a-s would 

 be used on email plantations, the husks would retain an undue 

 proportion of oil in the cake: for this reason seeds must be husked 

 in the latter case. 



Oil the other hand, if it does not colour the oil, the presence 

 of the husks in the cake gives it a dark colour, and, moreover, it 

 detracts from it> manurial A-^alue, in that the husks contain no 

 nitrogen ; the nitrogen percentage of the cake is thereby lessened. 

 and its value correspondingly lowered. 



Hand power I'astor-seed decorticators are also made by makers 

 of Oil machinery by which the outer husk is removed and the white 

 Kernel turned out ready for the press but present prices put them 

 beyond the reach of the small farmer. 



Under fair average conditions a crop of 800 to 1,200 pounds 

 of seeds with their husks can be ol)tained off one acre in a season. 



According to Spon's " Iiidustrial Arts" 1,400 lbs. of Calcutta 

 Seeds gave 980 lbs. of Kernels from which the following quantities 

 of oil were obtained: 



1st Qualitv 324 lbs.] 



2nd „ " 87^ ,. [= 488 lbs. of oil. 



3rd .. 76^ .. J 



That is to say that the Kernels divested of husks gave almost 

 exactly half their Aveight of oil, i.e. 100 11). of seeds gave 70 lb. of 



Kernels which in their turn gave of oil . . . . . . 35 lbs. 



of cake 35 lbs. 



the weight of the husks aiiioimtiii"- to . . . . . . 30 lbs. 



100 lbs. 

 These (igures vary accoi-diiig to the amount of pressure used: 

 a i)o\verful set of presses may give from 5% to 10% more oil than 

 weaker ones and correspondingly less weight of cake. 



Again some varieties yield more oil than others and lastly 

 some also show .a greater weight of shell than others. 



The writer found 268 seeds weigh 1| ounce and after husking 

 them found : 



268 kernels weiy-li 1 ounce 

 268 imsk.s „' I .. 

 These seeds ^vere of a small variety in which the proportion of 

 husk to kernel is likely to be higher than in the larger varieties. 



