UROUND-NUT OIL. 517 



care and attention to its culture, while the oil extracted from 

 it is quite equal to that yielded by the olive. Almost any kind 

 of soil being adapted for it, nothing can be more simple than its 

 management. All that is required is the soil to be turned over and 

 the seed sown in drills like potatoes ; after it begins to shoot it may 

 be earthed with a hoe or plough. In many parts of Western Austra- 

 lia they are now grown in gardens for feeding pigs, the rich oil they 

 are capable of yielding being entirely overlooked. In regard to 

 their marketable value at home, I will give a copy of a letter of a 

 friend of mine, received from some London brokers, largely en- 

 gaged in the African trade : 



"Wilson and Eose present compliments to Mr. K, and beg to inform him 

 the price of African ground nuts is as under : Say for River Gambia, 11 per 

 ton here. Say for Sierra Leone, 10 per ton here. For ground nuts free on 

 board at the former port, 8 per ton is demanded ; these are the finest descrip- 

 tion of nut, the freight would be about 4 per ton ; the weight per bushel im- 

 perial measure, and in the shell, is about 25 Ibs." 



The following, also, is an extract from a letter written in 1842, 

 by Mr. Forster (the present M.P. for Berwick), an eminent 

 African merchant. Speaking of the staple of Africa, he says : 



" I have lately been attempting to obtain other oils from the coast, and it 

 was only yesterday I received from the hands of the oil presser the result of 

 my most recent experiment on the ground nut, which I am happy to say is en- 

 couraging. I send you a sample of the oil extracted from them. They are 

 from the Gambia. It is a pure golden colored oil, with a pleasant flavor, free 

 from the frequent rancidity of olive oil." 



Since then the cultivation has gone on, and the exportation 

 largely increased. The French also have entered into the trade, 

 and several vessels are exclusively employed in exporting this pro- 

 duct from the river Gambia, conveying it to oil factors on the 

 continent, who extract its oil. Seeing, then, the many advantages 

 the cultivation of such a product bestows, and its adaptation 

 to the soil and climate of Australia, I cannot refrain from ex- 

 pressing a hope that some of the influential landowners in the 

 cultivated districts will give the matter their consideration. 



I am informed by an American merchant that he cleared 12,000 

 dollars in one year, on the single article of ground or pea nuts 

 obtained from Africa. Strange as it may appear, nearlv all these 

 nuts are transhipped to France, where they command a ready sale ; 

 are there converted into oil, and thence find their way over the 

 world in the shape of olive oil ; the skill of the French chemists 

 enabling them to imitate the real Lucca and Florence oil, so as to 

 deceive the nicest judges. Indeed, the oil from the pea nuts 

 possesses a sweetness and delicacy that cannot be surpassed. 



Advices from the West Coast of Africa to the 16th August, 

 1853, report that the ground nut season had closed ; the quantity 

 shipped during the season having exceeded 900,000 bushels. 

 The yield has increased 20 per cent, each year for the last three 

 years, and it is expected the increase will be still greater in the 

 forthcoming season. 



