SOUTH AFRICAN \( IK rc rLTl' l<K : AX ANALNSIS. I 55 



*ion we can. but human ca])acit)' will set a limit to ag;ricultural 

 progress; a large edifice cannot be built from a few bricks; a 

 great agricultural industry cannot l)e raised by a small population. 

 Let us ap])ly the right formula, and our agricidturists will not 

 be founfl wantine. 



Oil Producing Plants from South Africa. — 



l"hc Internationa] Institute of Agriculture publishes, in its 

 Monthly Hullctiii of A(/rici(lfiiral fnfclligence-* a brief sum- 

 mary of a chemical examination, by S]:)rinkmeyer and Diedrichs, 

 of the -Manketti fruit (Ricinndcudron rautaivicmii SchinzV 

 plentiful in the Okawango district (South-West African Pro- 

 tectorate). This fruit furnishes a very (|uick-drving oil, which 

 certainly has an industrial value, and ma\- possiblv also be used 

 as a farm-food. The fruit is aromatic, and its mesocarp, which 

 constitutes 30.6 per cent, of the fruit, contains 31 per cent, of 

 saccharose. The authors record the following analytical 

 results : — 



Oil seeds 



Mesocarp. fdecorticatcd). 



Water to. 70 4.70 



Ether extract .gg .^9-40 



Alhitminnids 6.8.^ -36.g5 



Ash 4 . 60 ?).02 



Crude fibre and nitrnjren- 



free extract 76. S8 ^■Q^ 



Fn^n the extracted oil the following constants were obtained : — 



Specific gravity (T5"C.) 0.106 



Iodine value 1^8.55 



Saponification value iq.i-.^t 



Reichert-Meissl value -7^ 



Ester value ig^3 



Acid value .70 



Optical behaviour inactive. 



Another oil-|)ro(lucin'4' plant that may possibly be found of 

 economic value is Madia satk'a Afol., an annual closely allied 

 ro the sunflower. This ])lant was experimentally grown last 

 year in the National Botanic Tiardens, Kirstenbosch, and Pro- 

 fessor Pearson sent some of the seed i)rodiiced to the Director 

 of the Imperial Institute for examination. These seeds yielded 

 a yellowish-brov,-n liouid oil. equivalent to 38.4 per cent, from 

 the dry seeds. t This oil is of the semi-drying class, and thus 

 unsuitable for making paint, but it may prove useful as an' 

 edible oil. and could also be used for burning and in the manu- 

 facture of cheap soa]). The meal left after extracting the oil 

 "ihows more proteins than either sunflower or undccorticated 

 cotton-seed cake, and might prove of value for cattle-feeding. 



* (1015"), 6 r.-l- 703-70.S. 



fBull. Imp. hist. (iqt;). 13. |.?|. pji. .^44-.^,46. 



