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CASTOR-OIL BEAN. 
Intimations of a revival of interest in the production of the Ricinus communis 
(or Palma Christi) have been received from the southwest particularly, with 
assurances of its attempted culture as a field crop. Mississippi, Louisiana, Ar- 
kansas, and Texas are peculiarly adapted, in soil and climate, to its profitable 
culture ; and many persons in the southwest propose to engage in the business 
this spring. 
In Illinois and St. Louis, where a successful farm product has been made of 
it, the following varieties are grown: Ricinus communis, early, four feet in 
height ; R. Spectadilis, dark green leaves, five feet; R. Sanguineus, fruit red, 
in clusters, stalks dark red, seven feet; R. Lividus, stems brilliant red, fruit 
green, five feet; R. Leucocarpus, dwarf, three feet, white fruit, au African 
variety ; R. Brasiliensis, brownish yellow fruit, five feet high. 
In South Carolina it was reported, years ago, growing twelve feet high; in 
the vicinity of Vicksburg, Mississippi, it has been made a very profitable crop ; 
in Texas it produces plants of great size and height. From thirty to one hun- 
dred bushels of beans per acre have been obtained in different locations, and two 
gallons of oil, or twenty-five per cent., obtained per bushel if the seeds are 
good; but twenty to twenty-five bushels are an average yield in Illinois and 
Missouri. The R. Lividusis a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and will thrive 
in a variety of soils of different elevations. In the tropics it is planted singly, 
ten or twelve feetapart. In poorer soils or more northern localities, a less dis- 
tance would do. In its native clime the plant bears the first season, grows con- 
tinuously for four years, and continues to yield for many seasons. ‘The seeds 
are gathered when the pods begin to turn brown. 
It is acommon crop in all parts of India. The oil is there extracted by 
boiling in water and skimming off the oil—a very crude and wasteful mode, 
and the oil thus obtained is used exclusively for burning. 
St. Louis has heretofore been the centre of production in this country, and 
the principal place of manufacture. The culture required is very much like that 
given to corn, and the soil should be the best of corn land; the planting should 
be done with the first warming of the soil, after danger from frosts is over; the 
hills should be five or six feet apart, and even seven or eight if the soil is 
sufficiently rich to make the requisite growth; the distance should be greater in 
the south than in more northern locations. As with corn or anything else, 
thorough culture pays best. The receipts at St. Louis last year are estimated 
at 50,000 bushels. The Prairie Farmer says, concerning prices and profits : 
The market price is variable. During the past winter the beans in the St. Louis market 
have ranged from $3 90 to $1 25 per bushel. As the cost of growing does not differ mate- 
rially from that of corn, the approximate profits can be caleulated. At the present depressed 
condition of the market, an acre of beans would yield about $25, leaving but little margin 
for profit. The oil is quoted at $2 10 to $2 25 per gallon. As the yield of oil is about 
sixty-eight gallons per acre, the manufactured oil would amount to about $150 per acre. 
This gives tour dollars to the manufacturer and one dollar to the producer—a division which 
cannot be regarded as equitable. 
MANURES AND HOW TO APPLY THEM. 
In an interesting discussion upon the above subject before the Bedford (N. 
H.) Farmers’ Club, Mr. Josiah Clark, of Hooksctt, claimed to have discovered 
a new process of chemicalizing manure, by the application of which large crops 
can be raised upon a small quantity of manure, He said he had been experi- 
menting for the past seventeen years on different soils, and had satisfied him- 
self from actual results that, at an expense of three dollars per acre, he can in- 
