Ahmednagar, 



Poona, 



Satara, 



KCARTHAMUS 

 IMPORTANT OIL-SEED IN BOMBAY TINCTORIUS 



iil.ihty in alkaline solutions, and insolubility in pure or acidulated 

 I India tht> alkali used is almost invariably that prepared by Aiku ud. 

 itinii bajra (1't-niiisrttnn) stems or chir chira (.l<-hnrniithen, 

 [>. 49), but crude natural carbonate of soda known as aajji-mdtti is 

 o employ. -.I. It would seem probable that the isolation and utilisation 

 .trtlminin is in India a comparatively recent discovery. 

 //. THE OIL. The seeds from the dye-yielding plant are collected and Oil. 

 in a supplementary return, but, as already stated, in some parts of 



ntrv, notably Bombay, an oil-yielding crop is specially grown. Bombay. 

 11 (I.e. 98) says, " Safflower is the most important oil-seed crop in 

 Bombay Presidency. The area is usually from 500,000 to 600,000 

 annually. The chief centres of cultivation are in the black-soil 

 lands of Ahmednagar, Poona, Satara, Bijapur, Dhdrwar, and Bel- 

 inn." It is subordinate to the crops with which it is associated such as 

 wheat or gram. " It therefore participates in the general cultivation 



to these crops." " Usually three consecutive rows of safflower nd Beiganm. 

 mate with 9 or 15 or 21 consecutive rows of the principal crop." In 

 .e Central Provinces the area of special oil cultivation has recently been c. ProT. 

 atly curtailed, so that the Deccan production may be accepted as alone 

 importance, though of course the oil of the dye crop must not be entirely 

 .ored. 



Manufacture. It has been customary to find Baden- Powell's state- TWO on Plants, 

 nt (Pb. Prod., 421) that two oil-yielding forms of this plant exist 

 the wild and the cultivated repeated by Indian writers without its 

 observed that an admission was being thereby made to which only 

 most cursory attention had been subsequently paid. But in addition ? xt ^ tioa of 

 there being two distinct sources of the oil there are also two widely Two Methods, 

 ierent methods of preparation. In the one the seeds (fruits) are simply 

 .bjected to cold-dry pressure either before or after they have been 

 husked. The yield is said to range from 20 to 30 per cent., but both the 

 quality of the oil and the value of the cake depends upon the seed being 

 husked. The second process is a hot-dry extraction, or rather a crude 

 downward distillation. The seeds are placed within an earthen pot, and 

 this is inverted over the mouth of a similar pot placed within the ground, 

 the two pots being separated by a perforated plate. Over and around 

 e inverted pot is piled some fuel, and on this being ignited, the seeds 

 partly roasted ; the oil in consequence drains from them and accumu- 

 .tes in the lower or submerged pot. 



The cold-drawn oil has a clear straw colour, with a sp. gr. of '9224 at Description. 

 15 C. According to Hooper (Agri. Ledg., 1904, No. 11, 160), it "pos- 

 sesses pronounced drying properties. It readily saponifies with alkalis, 

 forming a fairly good soap, and the free fatty acids have some of the 

 characteristics of the linoleic acid obtained from lineseed. The oilcake 

 retains 1T55 per cent, of the natural oil, and is not contaminated with 

 earthy impurity. The nitrogen amounts to 3' 19 per cent., which is 

 equivalent to 19'94 per cent, of albuminoids." It is an oil extensively used 

 for culinary purposes, and to adulterate ghi or til. Moreover, safflower, Culinary OIL 

 earthnut, and til are often mixed together and the oil expressed ; this con- 

 stitutes the sweet-oil of Bombay. Safflower oil is also said to be an in- sweet-oiu 

 Kmlient in Macassar hair-oil. Inferior qualities are used for illumination. 

 The hot-extraction oil is about one-fourth larger than the cold, but is use- 

 less both for burning purposes or for food. It has, in fact, acquired a 



281 



