CASTOR-OIL INDUSTRY. 6 



which have turned brown. Table I presents a comparison of the 

 acidity of carefully selected beans with that of a mixture containing 

 a known number and weight of black beans. 



Table I. — Comparison of the acidity of carefully selected castor beans with that of a mix- 

 ture containing a known number and weight of black beans. 



Source. 



Black 

 beans in 

 mixture 

 by num- 

 ber. 



Acidity 



(as oleic 



acid). 



Source. 



Black 

 beans in 

 mixture 

 by num- 

 ber. 



Acidity 



(as oleic 



acid). 





Per cent. 



f ° 



26 



\ 50 



75 

 1 100 



1 d 



[ 50 



Per cent. 

 0.9 

 2 



7.7 

 6 

 13 

 1.1 

 2.4 

 8.1 





Per cent. 



! - 



24 



\ 8.2 



( ° 



I 15 



/ ° 

 \ 10.7 



Per cent. 

 1.4 

 4.6 



Miscellaneous imported lot 





3.3 



1.2 



Do 





1.5 

 .6 





1 



1 







2.1 



It is interesting to note that in no case, even when all the beans 

 were perfectly whole (controls), did the acidity as determined by 

 titrating run below 0.6 per cent. Consequently, since at least a small 

 amount of acid is invariably present, an acid determination of care- 

 fully selected sound beans would give a correct idea of the degree of 

 freedom from acidity possible were all the beans equally sound. This 

 percentage could not, of course, be realized in actual commercial 

 practice, but it would show the standard toward which to work. 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



The normal annual consumption of castor oil in the United States 

 is more than 2,000,000 gallons, almost all of which is produced by 

 our own crushing plants. The average annual importation of castor 

 beans for the five fiscal years ended June 30, 1917, was about 834,000 

 bushels, while the importations of oil as such were comparatively 

 insignificant. 



The castor beans and castor oil of commerce come chiefly from 

 India, China, the West Indies, and South America, with India pro- 

 ducing by far the greatest quantity. In 1913 India exported 954,495 

 gallons of oil, while in 1917 this trade had increased to 1,723,463 

 gallons, 1 approximately 80 per cent of which was exported to the 

 United Kingdom, 9 per cent to New Zealand, and 8 per cent to Aus- 

 tralia. The center of the oil industry in India is Madras, which 

 produces about 60 per cent of the total. Before the war the center 

 of the industry was Bengal, which produced about 90 per cent of 

 the castor oil exported. Table II gives the total exports of castor 

 beans and castor oil from India for the years 1911-12 to 1917-18. 



1 These figures were supplied by the Far Eastern Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 

 merce, February 21, 1919. 



