light soils in Bengal may be chosen for growing this crop in 

 a judicious manner, that the demand may be met from Bengal 

 paripassu with the failure of supply from Madras. Half a 

 mnd. of seed may be sown per acre at a distance of 9" either 

 way. The outturn may come to 40 mnds. per acre. 



388. The oil burns slowly but it does not give a brilliant 

 light. It is almost as good as olive oil and is largely used 

 even for medicinal purposes as a substitute for olive oil. It 

 does not get rancid so quick as other oils do. It is largely 

 used for adulterating cocoanut and other oils. In Europe it is 

 extensively employed for soap making, for dressing cloth and 

 for lubricating machinery. The yield of oil is about 40 per 

 cent. It is unfortunate that the export should be chiefly in 

 the form of nuts and not in the form of oil only, as the cake 

 would be of great benefit to the country as a food and as 

 manure for soil. European machinery should be imported for 

 extracting the oil before export from this country. France im- 

 ports about 100,000 tons of ground-nuts per annum of which 

 India supplies only 7,000 tons, the rest being imported from 

 the Western coast of Africa. French India exports five times 

 as much as British India, as the demand for this article is al- 

 most confined to France and Belgium, and the port which 

 is principally concerned in the export of the article is 

 Pondicherry. 



389. The ground-nut oil-cake fattens cattle very rapidly. 

 Indeed it has been recommended as a highly nutritious and 

 agreeable human food in a cooked condition. The cake is 

 actually richer than peas and lentils in flesh-forming matter, 

 while it contains more fat and phosphoric acid than pulses. 

 The percentage composition of the cake is given below : 



Moisture ,.. ... ... 9*6 



Fat ... ... ... ... n-8 



Nitrogenous matter .. ... ... 31*9 



Sugar and starch ... ... ... 3'7^ 



Fibre ... ... ... ... 4*3 



Ash ... 4'6 



