FARMERS' REGISTER— MAMUFACTLRE OF OIL FROM RAPE. 771 



the peculiar characters which so strongly attracted this 

 gentleoian's notice afterwards in Kentucky.] 



PUOGRES.S OF THK MANUFACTURE OF OIL 

 FROM RAPK IN FRANCE.* 



Extract from a Report of a committee to the Agricul- 

 tural Society of Caen. 



Translated for tlie Farinprs' Roijister from the ^nn-ales dc V^$- 

 riculture Francuxsc of Dec. 1834. 



The manufacture of oil from rape seed has ren- 

 eJ such great services to the agriculture of the de- 

 partment, that it deserves to have a distinguished 

 place m the annals of the industry of Calvados. 

 Oil mills have multiplied; the culture of rape 

 is extended; and the cultivators find a ready mar- 

 ket lor this commodity, which is a valuable re- 

 source for them; especially in years when corn is 

 low, and the sale of horses is unprofitable. Honor 

 then to him who has endowed our country with 

 this branch of industry! Honor to the family of Le 

 Cavalier, which first set it on foot and sustained it! 

 They have deserved much from agriculture. 

 About 22,000 hectolitres of rape seed are made in 

 the department, which we may suppose to be the 

 product of 11,600 hectares of all qualities of land 

 fit to be put under this culture. The oil cake 

 which cultivators purchase of the manuliicturers 

 of oil, procures for them the addition of manure 

 which the culture of rape makes necessary. The 

 stalk.s and stems of this plant serve lor fuel in the 

 plain, where wood is scarce and dear; or, they may 

 be converted into manure. In this way all the pro- 

 ducts of the rape may be turned to the profit of 

 agriculture. Forty oil mills are at work in the de- 

 partment, which furnish every year more than 

 5G,000 casks (barriques) of oil, containing 100 ki- 

 logrammes each. Of this number, 37 are worked 

 by water, and 3 by steam. The Ibrmer are situa- 

 ted on many of the rivers which water the depart- 

 ment. The waters of many of them are reduced 

 by drought considerably towards the end of sum- 

 mer. The work of the mills diminishes in pro- 

 portion, and sometimes even ceases for a while. 

 The three moved by steam, are situated at Caen, 

 or at a little distance from the town. The oldest 

 is that of M. Foucamberge, who established it 

 near the suburbs of Maladrerie. He design- 

 ed it at first to grind corn; but being unable to 

 overcome the usages and prejudices of the coun- 

 try, he abandoned this kind of industry and sub- 

 stituted the manufacture of oil. This good exam- 

 ple was followed by M. Larue-Elie, who obtain- 

 ed a steam engine from the cotton mills of the Ur- 

 sulines, and established an oil manufactory at 

 Mondeville, to which he has joined a manufacture 

 of animal black. The third mill is the one which 

 M. Tillard has recently established in the middle 

 of the town, near the port. This estimable man- 

 ufacturer has neglected nothing to make it as per- 

 fect as possible. More than half of the oil is pu- 

 rified before its exportation. There are six estab- 

 lishments there, in which purifying alone is car- 

 ried on. All are situated in the town of Caen. 

 Some manufacturers only purify their own oil. 

 Five manufacturers and three refiners have ex- 

 posed samples of their produce — the former are 

 M. M. Danjou, Tillard, Pierre, Le Cavalier, Marc 



Elie and Levard; the latter are M. M. Eudes, Ni- 

 colas le Cavalier and Frederic le Cavalier. The oil 

 of the manufactures of Calvados has, in commerce, 

 a merited preference; but it would have been im- 

 possible for your committee to make a distinction in 

 the quality of the oils of each of these manufac- 

 turers: it is then on other grounds that you ought to 

 place your judgement. M. Levard has introduced 

 the manufacture of" oil in the arrondissement of 

 Vire. M. Marc Elie has used in his manufacture 

 (situated at Laize-la-Ville) mill stones of granite 

 to crush the seed. M. Pierre le Cavalier also uses 

 these mill stones, and sustains the well merited 

 reputation which his family has enjoyed lor so long 

 a time; tliey obtained a medal at the exhibition of 

 1806. M. Tillard established in the town a mag- 

 nificent oil manuliicture, remariuible for its steam 

 engine of 16 horse-power, which serves to break 

 and bruise the grain with heavy vertical mill stonea 

 of granite, to stir the seed in the stoves, and to 

 squeeze out the oil by hydraulic presses. M. Dan- 

 jou has many establishments: he manufactures a 

 large quantity of oil, and purifies a part of it. M, 

 Eutles purifies more oil than any one of them. 



* See an account of rape oil, and the value of the 

 rape crop at page 646 Vol. I. Farm. Reg. 



EXTRACTS FROM A REPORT ON THE AGRI- 

 CULTURE OF EAST AND WEST FLANDERS. 



By the Rev. Thomas Radcliff. 



Culiivatiun of Flax, and application of Liquid 

 Manure. 



In addition to those crops in some part of the 

 district,* particularly in the line between Woomen 

 and Ypres, magnificent crops of rape are cultiva- 

 ted, and are relied on as a sure and profitable re- 

 turn. 



Flax is also a crop upon which their best indus- 

 try is bestowed, and their careful preparation of 

 the soil is scarcely to be surpassed by that of the 

 neatest garden. This preparation, is as follows: 

 the field intended for the flax, after two or three 

 ploughings and harrowings, is backed up iii the 

 centre, and ploughed round in but one set, so as to 

 leave it without any furrow. The heavy roller is 

 drawn across the ploughing by three horses, the 

 liquid manure is then spread equally over the en- 

 tire surface, and when well harrowed in by eight 

 or nine strokes of the harrow, the seed is sown, 

 which is also harrowed in by a light harrow with 

 wooden pins of less than three inches, and the sur- 

 face, to conclude the operation, is again carefully- 

 rolled. Nothing can exceed the smoothness and 

 cultivated appearance of fields thus accurately 

 prepared. The manure universally used for this 

 crop demands particular notice — it is termed liquid 

 manure, and consists of the urine of cattle, in 

 which rape-cake has been dissolved, and in which 

 the vidanges conveyed from privies of the adjoin- 

 inc towns and villages, liave also been blended. 

 This manure is gradually collected in subterra- 

 neous vaults of brickwork at the verge of the farm 

 next to the main road. Those receptacles are 

 (generally forty feet long by fourteen wide, and 

 seven or eight feet deep, and in some cases are 

 contrived with the crown of the arch so much 

 below the surface of the ground, as to admit the 

 plough to work over it. An aperture is left in the 



♦The Southwestern part of Belgium, adjoining 

 French Flanders. 



