AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 153 



priced of all Japanese oils (75 sen per sho, or 3 shillings for 175 

 liter). Its colour ranges from amber to straw colour. Its 

 specific gravity is 0*927 at 14° C. It congeals at between —4° and 

 — 6° C. Its weight consists of oleic-acid and stearic-acid glycerides, 

 in proportion as f to \. In China it is said to be utilized, like 

 tea-oil, which resembles it closely, for food, light, and the manu- 

 facture of soap. The oil of the Sasanqua is clearer, though in 

 other respects not differing greatly from the foregoing. 



This plant is cultivated in Suruga, in Kiushiu, e.g. in Hizen, in 

 Amakusa, and in several other districts, just like the tea plant. It 

 grows in the shape of spreading bushes from 2 to 4 m. high, never 

 as trees, and is in general more like the tea-shrub than the common 

 camellia, in regard to its season of blossoming for example, this 

 being in November and December. 



4. Wata-no-abura, cottonseed-oil. Cotton seeds (Wata-no-mi) 

 have only lately been utilized in Japan, as elsewhere, to produce a 

 heavy (specific gravity 0'926), thick, brown oil. This is made e.g. 

 in Awa, on the Island of Shikoku, from seeds of Gossypimn her- 

 baceum, and is used for lamps, though, like hempseed-oil, which it 

 recalls in smell and taste, it creates a sooty flame. When refined, 

 it is straw-coloured and has a nutty taste. In this state it is used 

 in Europe as a food-oil — olive-oil, which is double the price, being 

 frequently adulterated with it. 



5. Rakkuwasho- (pronounced Rakkasho) no-abura, groundnut- 

 oil. It is yielded by Arachis Jiypogcea^ L., Jap. Rakkasho, or 

 Tojin-mame, the ground-nut (pea-nut, pistache de terre, and 

 arachide). It is used for food, and is produced only in small 

 quantities, in Southern Japan. A very considerable botanico- 

 geographical interest attaches to this remarkable leguminous herb. 

 Numerous leaves appear on its low-lying, branching stalk. These 

 are elliptical or oval, inverted, and at their axils grow short- 

 stemmed, yellow blossoms. When these have disappeared their 

 stems lengthen out, the joints sink into the loose sandy soil, where, 

 at a depth of 5-8 cm. below the surface, they develop into little 

 pods, 15-30 mm. long, and TO-15 mm. thick. As a rule they 

 have a constriction in the middle, deep and gradual, reminding one 

 in this respect of the male cocoons of many breeds of the common 

 silk-worm, which they resemble also in their entire shape, and in 

 size and their reticulate surface, though less in their grey-white 

 earthy colour. These shells contain a seed on each side of the 

 constriction. Shorter ones, without constriction, hold only one. 

 These seeds may be compared to the kernels of long, medium- 

 sized hazel nuts. Externally, they are a brownish red ; inside, 

 white. They yield 40-60 per cent, of a fatty oil, which serves almost 

 all the purposes of olive-oil. The taste of the seeds when raw 

 resembles that of all leguminous plants ; when roasted, that of 

 almonds, pistachios, and other nuts, as the various names indicate. 



Brazil was formerly considered to be the original home of the 



