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to the advances which are being made in improving and 

 extending cotton cultivation in India, which are to form 

 the subject of communications to the Congress. 



The dividing line between forestry and agriculture 

 is not easy to draw, especially when we attempt to 

 classify agricultural and forest products. There has 

 been in the last few years an important advance in a 

 subject which lies at present, perhaps, within the domain 

 of forestry, since the materials are largely obtained 

 from naturally occurring trees in the forests. I refer 

 to the oil-yielding trees, especially those which furnish 

 oils suitable for the manufacture of soap or for other 

 purposes. Oils which are edible are now in large 

 demand for the manufacture of those preparations now 

 so widely used in cooking, which under various names 

 are partly or wholly composed of vegetable oils or fats. 

 The result of the demand for certain oils for edible 

 purposes which were formerly used for soap-making 

 has led not only to a rise in the price of these materials, 

 but to a demand on the part of the soap-maker for the 

 supply of other and cheaper oils suitable for his pur- 

 pose. The oils now in demand include cotton seed, 

 arachis (ground nut), sesame, and some others, which 

 may be regarded as agricultural products, as the plants 

 are grown as crops in the field. Coconut oil, palm 

 oil, and palm-kernel oil are three of the most im- 

 portant of vegetable oils used for soap-making, and 

 more recently for edible purposes. Coconuts have 

 passed into the domain of agriculture, being now culti- 

 vated in plantations. The proper cultivation of these 

 palms is a subject of great importance which requires 

 serious attention. The habit, nature of growth, and of 

 nutrition in relation to productivity require study from 

 the plant physiologist ; the diseases, fungoid and insect, 

 to which the coconut palm is subject, and the treatment 

 of the soil and manuring of plantations, are matters in 

 which our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete, 

 and which should receive attention, in view of the great 

 commercial importance of this crop. The West African 

 oil palm is another most important source of two oils 

 respectively derived from the pericarp of the fruits 

 of this palm and from the kernels of the seeds. The 

 oil or fat furnished by the pericarp and roughly 



