74 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



March 



If there are no caves of this character in the 

 State, we are at a loss to account for the law, un- 

 less some son of Kentucky was ambitious to en- 

 graft into our code a poriion of the law of his 

 native State. There may be saltpeter caves in 

 the souih part of the State, for aught we know. 

 If so, will not some of the "oldest inhabitants" 

 inform us in regard to the matter ? 



If there are such caves, now is the time to 

 work them to advantage, and the farmers upon 

 whose lands they are situated, should at once 

 enter upon their enclosure with the view of 

 making them useful. On the other hand, if they 

 as we suspect, are a myth, let the statute be 

 purged of the absurdity. 



CASTOR BEANS. 



There is a general impression that castor oil is 

 only used in medicine as physic, but this ia not 

 the case, as it is used for other purposes. Four 

 parts of castor oil and one of spirits of turpen- 

 tine was extensively used in place of sperm oil, 

 twenty years ago, in North Carolina, according I o 

 the North Carolina Farmer's Advocate of 1841. 

 " That it burns perfectly free from smoke, or the 

 least degree of offensive smell, emits a clear and 

 powerful light, and never congeals in the c Idest 

 weather The preparation should be used with 

 great care, for it is as inflammable as gunpowder, 

 and explosions often occur by bringing a flame so 

 near as to ignite the gas. The wick should be 

 passed through long tubes, and in no instance 

 should a lamp be filled when lighted." 



Its dangerous properties when mixed with tur- 

 pentine may have been the means of its discon- 

 tinuance, though T^e suspect little was gained by 

 substituting fluid and camphene in its place. 



Since 1844 the culture of the castor bean 

 has been gradually losing ground, and of late 

 years has attracted but little attention. A house 

 in St. Louis offers to pay a dollar and a half a 

 bushel for the seed, to be sold to farmers for plant- 

 ing, and are urging an increased culture ; to this 

 end they also offer a premium of twenty-five dol- 

 lars for the best article on the culture of the cas- 

 tor bean. 



Flax seed has also taken an upward turn. 

 "Whether this is due to the new tariff or some 

 other cause, we know not. Castor oil is one of 

 the best oils for leather, making it soft, pliable 

 and water-proof, and can be used for many pur- 

 poses in the lab'^ratory. It is one of the most 

 inodorous of oils ; hence, valuable for many pur- 

 poses. Unless there is some foreign demand we 

 would suppose the business can be easily over- 

 done, but at present we propose to consider the 

 question as a matter of fact. 



PRICE OF BEANS. 



There is no crop that has brought so steady a 

 price, for the past thirty years, as that of the 

 castor bean. When the price for a short time 

 went down to fifty and sixty cents, the planters 

 refused to put in new crops, and the consequence 

 was, they soon came up to the old price, a dollar 

 a bushel, at which price they have remained with 

 little variation until now, when those interested 

 in the manufacture of oil are busy pushing the 

 new planting into a broader space, and the price 

 is one dollar and a half. So far as we are advis- 

 ed, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Alton are the only 

 points in the Northwest that have mills for man- 

 ufacturing, and that the culture of this plant has 

 generally been within wagon distance of the 

 mills. The supply since the advent of railroads 

 has been too small, and the demand so dull, that 

 no advantage has been taken of it. The crop ia 

 unprofitable, as we will show when we come to 

 the culture of the plant. From what we can 

 learn, no satisfactory attempts to grow the castor 

 bean have been made north of Madison county, 

 and that Madison, Kandolph and St. Clair coun- 

 ties have furnished the main supply for the St. 

 Louis and Alton oil mills. The Alton mill was 

 not in operation until 1841. In 1848 the culture 

 was extended to Macoupin county, and a mill put 

 up at Bunker Hill. At that date beans were 

 worth %\ 30 a bushel, and the oil sold in New 

 York at $1 50 to $1 75 per gallon. A bushel of 

 beans will make on the average one and three- 

 fourths gallons of oil, depending on the manner 

 in which they are dried and pressed, varying 

 from one to two and a half gallons. Two quali- 

 ties of oil are made, being fir^t and second press- 

 ings. We also hear of cold pressed oil, but the 

 cold is only the first pressing, s the seeds must 

 be first hulled, or the dirt rubbed from them in 

 an iron mill, and then heated in a large oven as 

 hot as possible, without burning them, when they 

 are submitted to an immense pressure. A peck 

 only is pressed at one time, and that with a screw 

 six inches in diameter. It will thus be seen that 

 the idea of cold pressed oi! is out of the ques- 

 tion. After pressing, the oil is clarified by boil- 

 ing, giving another contradiction to cold pressed 

 oil. A second grinding and heating follows, 

 when the hoi pressed oil makes its appearance. 



In 1850 a mill was built at Louisville, Ky., and 

 the farmers near Shawneetown induced to try 

 their hand. Speculation run the seed up to two 

 dollars a bushel for planting, but the crop sold at 

 fifty to sixty cents, and no further efforts made 

 to cultivate them. 



