252 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



seed-oil. It has been found, after careful test and by trial, to be superior in many respects 

 to the best sperm-oil, while its cost is only about one-half the present price of sperm-oil. 

 This valuable agricultural product occupies an important place in the economy of the 

 farmers of France, Belgium, Holland, and many parts of Germany. It is, in fact, the great 

 agricultural staple of many districts, and from which the farmers derive their entire living 

 income. In England, this vegetable is cultivated not so much for the production of oil which 

 it yields, as for grazing and fertilizing purposes. In this .country, it is cultivated to some 

 extent for grazing and as a fertilizer of the soil. Among the German population of Texas, 

 the colza is cultivated, and the oil expressed from its seed in sufficient quantities to supply 

 the domestic wants of the cultivators. In Mexico it has been introduced, and it is under- 

 stood that many villages, towns, and cities, including the city of Mexico, are dependent 

 upon it for oil to light their streets and houses. 



There is no doubt that this valuable vegetable could be very successfully cultivated in 

 nearly every portion of the United States ; and even at the present European price for the 

 oil, it would prove quite as remunerative as tobacco, wheat, and Indian corn. 



The annual diminution in the supply of sperm-oil, and the increasing demand for it for 

 mechanical purposes, would seem to render it indispensable that an article of good quality, 

 and adapted to purposes of illumination, should be found as a substitute for it. 



The cultivation of this vegetable on a large scale would prove a great boon to the country, 

 as well as a source of profit to the producers. It would also be the means of rendering us 

 altogether independent of European markets and of their fluctuations for oil for illuminating 

 our lighthouses, in case of a failure of the supply from the sperm-whale fishing-grounds, and 

 also in the event of the interruption of the fisheries and of commerce by war with a power- 

 ful maritime State. Should the agriculturists of this country not commence the cultivation 

 of this valuable and remunerative product, and should the supply of sperm-oil continue to 

 diminish in the same ratio it has done for some years past, this government will be reduced 

 to the necessity of importing rapeseed-oil from Europe for the lighthouse service. 



A New Oil Plant. 



THE small tree (Castigliona lobata) known in Peru under the name of pioncello, and surco, 

 huacho, and sambageque, also growing wild in considerable abundance in those regions, it 

 has been ascertained, yields a valuable oil, well adapted to the purposes of illumination. 

 Its beanlike fruit or seeds, when roasted, have an agreeable flavor, preferable to that of the 

 olive. When eaten raw, the ethereal oil generated between the kernel and the outer skin is 

 a strong cathartic, the effects of which can only be counteracted by drinking cold water. It 

 has been ascertained that the seeds will grow in Baltimore ; and, doubtless, plantations of 

 this tree might be formed in many parts of the South, from which vast quantities of oil 

 might be produced. The Patent Office has taken measures to procure some of the seeds of 

 this tree for trial in the South and South-west. 



Turpentine Product of the South. 



THE following is the report of a committee appointed on the part of the turpentine pro- 

 ducers of Alabama, in December last: 



The committee to whom was referred the resolution upon the subject of the cultivation of 

 turpentine, &c., beg leave to make the following report: That the character of the soil best 

 adapted to the production of the turpentine-pine should be of light and porous nature, with 

 a subsoil of clay capable of retaining moisture. The pine should be of an extended, low- 

 growing top, with thick bark and sapwood, the trees not to stand so thickly upon the land 

 as to be too much shaded by the overgrowing foliage. The number of boxes to be cut in a 

 tree should be governed by the size of the same. As a general rule for cutting boxes, the 

 committee recommend the following standard : The box to be thirteen inches in horizontal 

 width, three and a half inches in horizontal depth, and seven inches in perpendicular depth. 

 This will produce a box of the capacity of one and a quarter quarts, which, after a few 



