MCKK SKKl) AND OIL 



GUTTA-PERCHA 





GUIZOTIA ABYSSINICA, <<t. : Fl. Br. 2nd., iii., 308; D.E.P., 

 Woodrow, '-'<>/'/. in In>L. l> MollUon, Handbook I nd. A<jn., I'.HU iv., 186-8. 



m.. mi 2; A'--. Ht. 8wv. ln>L, 1902, ii., 91; iii., i>29 ; Prain, j&ny. NigerSee 



/'//,>-, 1 '.MKI. ... r.ll; r.M.ke, Fl. Pre*. Bomb., 1904, ii., 66; COMPOSITE. 

 NIL'T Soed and Oil. The k4ld-til,8urguja,rdmtil, kernani, khurdsni, ulisi, 

 i*'t, l/iiclicl'fll'i, gurellu, etc. A native of tropical Africa, but cul- 

 tivated as an oil-seed here and there in most of the provinces of India. 



h ix a kharif crop, sown from .lime to August and harvested in November Cultiva- 

 ..r IWemU-r. Rough mid ro.-ky laterite or light sandy Boil is generally tion. 



. ami th. preparation of the land is very simple. Two ploughing** before 

 ' are sufficient, and manure is not necessary. The seed is drill. -d in rows 

 i: mi-he-; apart, ami 4 to 6 lb. per acre is held to be a sufficient seed rate. 

 It I-; more commonly grown alone, but is sometimes accompanied by a pulse- 

 crop. In I tfiical a considerable portion of land is under this crop, especially in 

 air Division, but unfortunately the NIHKK seed is returned in the Agricul- 

 finil StntiKtica under the general heading of " Other Oil Seeds," of which there 

 ;tn u-iiinlly 500,000 acres, with 150,000 of these in Chota Nagpur. The " Others '* 

 r and above linseed, rape, til, so that a fair proportion must be nigei. 

 In Madras linseed and til (. mum) are separately returned, but a much larger 

 iir.M tlian both these put together is usually devoted to " Other Oil Seeds." In 

 1'">| ;, the "Others" came to 1,018,483 acres, of which 286,509 are in 

 S.. nth Anot; 111,594 in Anantapur; 92,461 in Cuddapah; 84,810 in Bellary; 

 71. :!.M in Knrniil; 50,730 in Trichinopoly ; 51,909 in Tanjore; and 47,215 in 

 \ortli Arcot, with lesser areas in the other districts. It is impossible to discover 

 the exact proportions of these areas devoted to niger, but they must be consider- 

 ji'ile. In the United Provinces the acreage of " Other Oil Seeds " was in 1904-5, 

 I I::. 731, and in the Central Provinces the corresponding figure was 314,716, 

 of both of which a certain proportion would have been niger seed. Bombay is 

 the only province that appears to give separate returns for the acreage of this 

 oil seed. In 1905-6 (according to the Season and Crop Report) the total land 

 used for it was 169,863 acres, of which Nasik had 68,940; Poona 22,843; Ahmed- 

 nagar 14,764; Satara 16,026; Bijapur 7,960; and Ratnagiri 7,147 acres, etc. 

 Rice (Mysore Qaz., 1897, i., 123) gives an account of the niger seed in the various 

 cli-tri. -t- of Mysore, which the reader should consult. 



When the crop is ripe it is cut near the root and stacked for eight days. It Harvest. 

 '- then exposed for two or three days in the sun, then the seed beaten out with a 

 pi i.-k and separated from fragments of the plant by a fan. The greater part is 

 sold to the oil-makers for expression of the oil, the yield of which is about 35 per 

 cent, of the weight of the seed. But the seed dries quickly and in England 

 yields only about 16 gallons of oil per quarter of seed, while rape seed yields Yield of Oil. 

 20 gallons. The oil is pale yellow or orange in colour with little odour and sweet 

 taste, more limpid than rape oil, with a specific gravity of 0'924 to 0*928. In 

 its drying properties it ranks between cotton and linseed oil. For making paints, 

 lubricating and lighting, this oil is useful, and in many parts of India is employed 

 in cookery and for anointing the body : it is also frequently used as an adulterant Uses. 

 for more valuable oils. It is said to be useful in cases of fracture and dislocation 

 of t n>nes among cattle. The oil-cake is highly appreciated in some parts of Oil-cake. 

 the country as a cattle food. In the English market the value of the oil is about 

 37s. per quarter. The production of this oil crop has suffered in recent years, 

 like that of most other oils, through the remarkable expansion of the traffic in 

 kerosene and other mineral oils and the by-products of these illuminants and 

 'ubricants. \Cf. Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, pt. i., 70 ; Pharmcog. Ind., 1891, 

 ., 269-71 ; Agri. Ledg., 1895, No. 24, 502 ; Hurst, Lubricat. Oils, Fats, etc., 1896, 

 199; Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 28, 280; 1899. No. 12, 121, 144; 1901, 364; Setti. 

 Rept. Betul Dist. Cent. Prov., 1901, 31 ; Wright and Mitchell, Oils, Fats, etc., 

 l'.'7 : Imp. Inst. Tech. Repts., 1903, 128; Agri. Ledg., 1903, No. 7, 171; 

 Hanausek, Micro. Tech. Prod (Winton and Barber, trans!.), 375.] 



GUTTA-PERCHA. Since Gutta-percha can hardly be character- 

 ised as an Indian product, it will be dealt with here very briefly. It is 

 the commercial name for the inspissated milky sap of several plants of 

 which nearly all (or at least all the important ones) belong to the natural 



625 40 



D.E.P., 

 *" 104-8- 



