SESAMUM 



INDICUM 



Burma 



Areas. 

 Districts. 



THE GINGELLY OR SESAME PLANT 



Seasons. 



Two Crops. 



Seed to Acre. 



Yield. 



Expression 

 of Oil. 



Properties. 



Uses. 



Perfumery. 



Trade- 

 Internal: 



Bombay. 



Calcutta. 



Burma. 



60,317 acres in Lower Burma. The largest areas were as follows : Mying- 

 yan, 241,355 acres ; Magwe, 185,386 acres ; Lower Chindwin, 128,398- 

 acres ; Sagaing, 127,634 acres; Meiktila, 94,954 acres; Minbu, 77,176 

 acres, etc. The following facts regarding Myingyan (Carey, Settl. Rept. 

 Operat., 1901, 34), where the largest area is ordinarily grown, may prove 

 instructive. " Early sesamum is sown in May and June and is reaped 

 in July and August. Late sesamum is sown in October and November 

 and is reaped in January and February. The early sesamum seeds are 

 the ihadunbyu (white), boktaung (red), shan hnan (large seed), and the 

 late sesamum varieties are the hnangi-net (black) and hnangyi-phu (white). 

 The same quantity of seed is sown for both crops. The late crop is the 

 safer, but the early crop gives the larger yield. Invariably 2J pyis of 

 seed are sown to the acre, and, whereas the early crops yield from two to 

 twelve baskets (both extreme figures), the best late crops seldom exceed 

 six baskets. A basket of seed gives 5 viss of oil, the value of which varies 

 from Es. 3 to Rs. 5 per viss, but Rs. 3-4-0 is the average normal sale 

 value." [Cf. Settl. Operat. Repts. for Parlett, Sagaing, etc. ; Max and 

 Bertha Ferrars, Burma, 1900, 51, 149.] 



MANUFACTURE AND USES OF THE OIL. As indicated, there are at least 

 two easily recognised forms, one with white, the other with black seeds. The- 

 latter is the most abundant and yields the best oil. It is extracted by expres- 

 sion in mills, by the same process as that for mustard-oil. Is clear and limpid, 

 varying in colour from pale yellow to dark amber. Has no smell and not liable 

 to become rancid. Adulteration with ground-nut oil is frequent. In India it 

 is largely used for culinary purposes, in anointing the body, in soap manufacture,, 

 and as a lamp-oil. It is also frequently employed as an adulterant of ghi (see 

 pp. 479, 481). In England it is chiefly used in making soap. In many of its 

 properties it resembles olive-oil, and is accordingly similarly utilised. The oil from 

 the black variety is generally stated to be more suitable for medicinal purposes- 

 than the white. It is also extensively employed in the manufacture of Indian 

 perfumes, and for this purpose the perfume is frequently extracted by the seeds 

 direct layers of the seeds being placed between layers of flowers, etc. (see 

 p. 820). The white-seeded form is largely eaten as an article of food, more 

 especially in certain sweetmeats. The oil-cake, left after expression of the oil, 

 is in demand all over India as a cattle food, and in times of drought and scarcity 

 is even eaten as food by the poorer classes. As a manure the cake is of less value 

 than castor and other oil-cakes. In Madras tanghedi bark (see p. 290) is said to 

 be added to the seeds before being pressed for oil. [Cf. Pharmacog. Ind., iii., 

 26-33 ; Agri. Ledg., 1893, 1895-7, 1901, 1903-4 ; Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, 

 pt. 1, 131; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 197; Blount and Bloxam, Chem. for 

 Engin. and Manuf., 1900, ii., 233 ; Merck, Digest., 1900, No. 7; Ludwig Hesse, 

 Physiolog. and Therap. Import, of lodipin in Pharm.-Centralhalle, 1900, No. 1 ;. 

 Thorpe, Diet. Appl. Chem., 1900, iii., 377-8 ; Leach, Food Inspect, and Anal. f 

 1905, 420 ; Leather, Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1907, i. (Chem. ser.), No. 2.] 



TRADE. Internal. The returns of til seed carried by rail were in 

 1902-3, 4,590,935 cwt. ; in 1903-4, 4,675,014 cwt. ; in 1904-5, 3,627,307 

 cwt. ; in 1905-6, 2,956,419 cwt. ; and in 1906-7, 4,326,824 cwt. The 

 chief importing centre is Bombay port, which in 1906-7 drained its supplies 

 chiefly from the Central Provinces, Rajputana, Nizam's Territory and 

 Bombay Presidency, viz. 2,738,978 cwt. Calcutta follows next with a 

 total of 453,979 cwt., received from the Central Provinces and Bengal ; 

 then come the Madras ports with 384,156 cwt., derived from the Nizam's- 

 Territory and Madras. The traffic of Burma is not given in the returns 

 of railborne trade, but it is doubtless mainly toward Rangoon and the 

 other chief towns of the province. 



The total exports by coast of sesamum seed in 1905-6 amounted to 

 479,169 cwt,, valued at Rs. 37,69,577, and during the period 1900-5 



986 



