RICINUS 



COMMUNIS 

 Madras 



Madras. 



Areas. 



Seeds Ground. 



Burma. 



Not Cultivated. 

 Oil. 



Yield. 



Methods of 

 Extraction. 



Purification. 



THE CASTOR-OIL PLANT 



Farm yielded 767 Ib. castor bean per acre, worth Rs. 43-14a., and a good 

 ground-nut crop with castor might yield in addition 2,500 Ib. nuts per acre. 



Madras. The Madras Board of Revenue unofficially furnishes the 

 area under castor for the five years ending 1900. It may be useful to 

 review the figures in question. The area under the crop might be regarded 

 as shrinking. In 1895-6 it occupied 751,173 acres, and in 1896-7 it was 

 produced from 782,135 acres, but from that date it would almost seem to 

 have declined, until in 1899-1900 it was returned at 600,214 acres. The 

 districts of greatest production are Anantapur, 128,476 acres in 1895-6 

 and 74,422 acres in 1899-1900 ; Bellary, 111,599 and 90,227 ; Cuddapah, 

 110,091 and 87,023 ; Karnul, 94,517 and 65,924 ; Kistna, 91,325 and 

 80,804 ; Nellore, 50,880 and 42,729 ; and Coimbatore, 39,470 and 34,567 ; 

 the figures shown indicating the acreage in the years in question. The 

 returns for the year 1905-6 show the area to have been 380,100 acres, or 

 32 per cent, less than the average of the ten years previous, which came 

 to 563, 100 acres ; and the chief production was in the Deccan. 



Francis (Gaz. Bellary, 1904, 111) describes a method of grinding the 

 seeds which prevails in that district. A machine is used like that com- 

 monly employed for making mortar, and consists of heavy stone wheels 

 dragged round by bullocks in a circular stone-lined channel in which the 

 seeds are placed. The paste so resulting, he adds, is boiled with water and 

 oil rises to the top and is skimmed off. The stench caused is, however, 

 most offensive, and the cake obtained is used as the fuel for roasting the 

 next batch of seeds. [Cf. Shortt, Man. of Ind. Agri., 241-5 ; Castor- 

 Bean Crop, issued by Board of Rev., 1899-1905.] 



Burma. The Director of Land Records observes: "There is no trade in 

 castor-oil by land or by sea, except that imported as medicine or in a semi-crude 

 state for lubricating purposes. The plant grows wild over a large area in Upper 

 Burma." " The plant is not cultivated in any part of the province." 



EXPRESSION OF OIL. 



It has still to be confessed that the report written by Col. Hawkes, in 

 1853, is the only authoritative statement that has appeared. Hooper 

 (Rept. Labor. Ind. Mus. (Indust. Sec.), 1903-4, 26-7) gives certain practical 

 results. Two samples of Nairobi (British E. African) seed were examined 

 the larger form yielded 47*35 per cent., the smaller 43 '35 per cent, of fixed 

 oil by ether extraction. Dubard and Eberhardt obtained an average of 

 46'19 per cent, with East Indian castor seed, and by the ordinary crushing 

 and heating with water about 37*40 per cent, of oil is extracted. Leather 

 (Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1907, i. (Chem. ser.), 32-5) gives the results of 

 numerous examinations. 



Bengal. N. G. Mukerji remarks that there would appear to be four 

 methods of extracting the oil practised by the people of Bengal. (1) The seeds 

 are crushed in a screw-press with horizontal rollers and the resulting pulp pressed 

 in gunnies. The cold-drawn oil thus obtained amounts to 36 per cent. (2) The 

 seeds are roasted, pounded in a mortar and placed in four times their volume 

 of water kept boiling. The mixture is constantly stirred, and the oil skimmed 

 off as it rises to the surface. (3) The seed is first boiled, dried for two or three 

 days, then pounded in a mortar and boiled in four times its volume of water kept 

 boiling, and the oil skimmed as in (2). Lastly (4), the seed is soaked overnight 

 in water, ground in the morning in a gunny, and then squeezed within cloth 

 till the oil has been obtained. It is generally stated that cold-drawing with proper 

 machinery is the best and most profitable method. The kernels are pressed in 

 gunny bags and the oil is thereafter bleached by exposure to the sun, which causes a 

 sediment to precipitate. The oil is then filtered through vegetable charcoal and 

 flannel bags. In some cases a fire is placed underneath the machine in which the 



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