ARACHIS 

 HYPOG^EA 



Ground-nut 



THE EAETH OE PEA NUT 



Uses. 



Medicine and 

 Pood. 



European Trade. 



Indian Oil 

 Trade. 



Pondicherry 

 versus Madras 

 Ports. 



Total Exports in 

 the Oil. 



Coastwise 

 Traffic. 



Burma. 



Native Oil 

 Mills. 



Oilcake. 



0-920 when old. It becomes turbid at 3 C., concretes at 3 C., and hardens 

 at 7 C. As an illuminating oil it is now recognised as having but a feeble 

 power, and its chief use is therefore in soap-making and as a lubricant. 

 It is also much employed by perfumers in the preparation of pomades, 

 cold creams, etc. The finer qualities are, however, used both in MEDICINE 

 and as an article of FOOD, and there can be little doubt that large quantities 

 are annually passed off as Olive oil and are made into a form of butter 

 employed in cookery. The chief centre of this oil industry may be said to 

 be at Marseilles, though it is also produced at London, Hamburg, Berlin, etc. 



Formerly the seat of the Indian ground-nut oil trade was Pondicherry. 

 In 1894, however, a change took place and the traffic migrated to Madras 

 ports, more especially the port of Cuddalore. In 1890-1 the total ex- 

 ports (coastwise and Foreign) from Pondicherry are said to have been 

 762,195 gallons and from Madras ports 41,275 gallons. In 1893-4 the 

 corresponding figures were 860,800 gallons and 8,717 gallons, but in 1894-5 

 they stood at 165,858 gallons from Pondicherry and 567,375 gallons from 

 Madras ports, while in 1895-6 the coastwise exports from Madras were 

 690,134 gallons, mostly consigned to Burma. Steadily this change con- 

 tinued until the exports from the French port had been entirely dis- 

 continued. A similar migration of the trade in ground-nuts from Pondi- 

 cherry also took place. 



Turning now to consider the total traffic of India in this oil, the 

 total foreign exports for the last eight years were 1898-9, 27,859 

 gallons; 1899-1900, 53,261 gallons; 1900-1, 40,357 gallons; 1901-2, 

 73,079 gallons ; 1902-3, 84,785 gallons ; 1903-4, 50,603 gallons ; 1904-5, 

 48,582 gallons; 1905-6, 7,814 gallons; and 1906-7, 16,608 gallons. The 

 total coastwise exports from India (not Madras alone as above reviewed) 

 during the corresponding periods were in 1898-9, 544,572 gallons ; in 

 1899-1900, 761,584 gallons; in 1900-1, 1,585,964 gallons; in 1901-2, 

 2,159,843 gallons; in 1902-3, 1,610.975 gallons; in 1903-4, 1,761,898 

 gallons ; in 1904-5, 1,469,769 gallons ; and in 1905-6, 2,472,334 gallons. 

 Of these amounts on an average 70 to 80 per cent, go from Madras to 

 Burma, while the foreign exports in the oil go mainly from Madras and 

 Bengal and are consigned to Mauritius, Natal and the Straits Settlements. 



on Mills. It is significant that the bulk of the Indian manufacture 

 of this oil should be in the hands of the owners of ordinary Native pestle- 

 and-mortar-pattern rotary mills. At Valavapur there are said to be 700 

 such mills, at Panruti 200 mills, and at Pondicherry there were formerly 

 200 mills. Mills of the European pattern were tried both at Pondicherry and 

 Cuddalore, but it was found they could not compete successfully with the 

 Native mills. The cake from the European mills was too dry, powdery and 

 wanting in oil, hence everywhere rejected. This is all the more significant 

 since so very economically are the oil mills worked at Marseilles that 

 ground-nut oil is cheaper in France than in India a circumstance perhaps 

 to some extent due to the fact that African seed is very much richer than 

 Indian. It is commonly estimated, moreover, that 1 cwt. of dry kernels 

 will yield about 5 gallons of oil. The seed produced on unirrigated is more 

 oily than that raised on irrigated land. Formerly it was customary to read 

 of the seed of Tanjore and Shiyoli being richer in oil than that of any of 

 the other districts of Madras. It remains to be seen if the same will be 

 true of the Mozambique seed now being cultivated or if the new seed will 

 preserve a uniform quality throughout the Presidency. 



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