214 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



" Not long since those who had cotton-gins felt 

 themselves obliged by any neighbour who was 

 willing to take the seed away, and what might have 

 produced millions of dollars has been rejected as of 

 no value*." 



SESAMUM OIL. 



The seeds of the oil plant, or Sesamnm orientale, 

 produce oil very abundantly. This is an annual 

 plant indigenous to the coast of Malabar, the island 

 of Ceylon, and other warm countries. It is also 

 cultivated universally throughout Asia and in Africa, 

 where the whole seed is valued as an article of food 

 as well as the oil which is expressed from it. 

 Though a native of the warmer climates, it may be 

 successfully cultivated in the more temperate regions. 

 It is grown in the southern part of Russia, and has 

 been introduced into Carolina. In the West Indies 

 it has found a congenial clime. 



The sesamum has an herbaceous four-cornered 

 stalk about two feet high, sending out a few lateral 

 branches. The long oval leaves, somewhat hairy, 

 grow opposite. The flower-stalks terminate in loose 

 spikes of small flowers of a dingy white colour, and 

 in shape like those of the fox- glove. The seeds are 

 about the size of mustard-seeds. The culture of this 

 plant is very easy, and the oil is readily obtained 

 from the seeds by expression. Nine pounds of seed 

 yield two quarts of oil, which is perfectly sweet f, and 

 is used for the purposes of olive oil, while it has the 

 great advantage of not contracting rancidity, though 



* Franklin's Journal, May 1830. 



t Marco Polo, who frequently mentions the sesamum oil, says, 

 (l it is better and has more flavour than any other oil." It was 

 much used by the Tartars. 



