Botany. 268 
duced into Carolina by the African negroes, where it suc- 
ceeds extremely well. The inhabitants of that country 
make an oil from the seed, which will keep many years, 
and not take any rancid smell or taste ; but in two years 
becomes quite mild, so that when the warm taste of the 
seed which was in the oil when first drawn, is worn off, 
hea) use it as a sallad oil, and for all the purposes of sweet 
oil. 
A late writer, (Darby,) speaking of Louisiana, says it 
“might indeed be made an universal object of culture. The 
seed vessel isa many seeded capsula, containing round oily ~ 
seeds, which are used in various ways by the negroes, who 
cook it asa pulse. It has been long known to produce an 
oil, containing all the valuable qualities of olive oil, without 
the same liability of becoming rancid by age. ‘The Chené 
is certainly one of the most productive vegetables that was 
ever cultivated by man. It is known in Louisiana, but 
much neglected. Being brought from the western coast of 
Africa, from the banks of alluvial rivers, its growth is luxuri- 
ant on the fertile borders of the Mississippi and Teche : it 
will also vegetate extremely well on a high dry soil.” 
I have been led to the foregoing enquiry from the suppo- 
sition that such an oil would be a great acquisition on many 
accounts, and a knowledge that it may be applied to many 
useful purposes in mechanics. It is well known that a thin 
fat oil, which will bear exposure to heat, and air, without 
becoming rancid, fora great length of time, is the erand de- 
sideratum in Horology. Provided it is not glutinous, or too 
volatile, the spirit obtained by freezing and pouring off the 
thinner part that it may not be affected by cold, would 
have many advantages over the different kinds now in use. 
all of which are faite to become rancid, and of course, un- 
suitable for such purposes. ‘The spirit of common olive oii 
is mostly used, but soon becomes unfit; and the objection 
is equally applicable to that obtained from spermaceti.— 
There have been several methods proposed for remedying 
this defect in oils, such as shaking them with pearlash wa- 
ter, or pouring melted led into them, etcetera ; all of which, 
on experiment, have been found objectionable; the first ev- 
idently extracts the thinnest, eonsequently richest and most 
valuable part, the last wonders itacrid and empyreumatic. 
W. 
