37 
to the advances which are being made in improving and 
extending cotton cultivation in India, which are to form 
the subject of communications to the Congress. 
The dividing line between forestry and agriculture 
is not easy to draw, especially when we attempt to 
classify agricultural and forest products. There has 
been in the last few years an important advance in a 
subject which lies at present, perhaps, within the domain 
of forestry, since the materials are largely obtained 
from naturally occurring trees in the forests. I refer 
to the oil-yielding trees, especially those which furnish 
oils suitable for the manufacture of soap or for other 
purposes. Oils which are edible are now in large 
demand for the manufacture of those preparations now 
so widely used in cooking, which under various names 
are partly or wholly composed of vegetable oils or fats. 
The result of the demand for certain oils for edible 
purposes which were formerly used for soap-making 
has led not'only to a rise in the price of these materials, 
but to a demand on the part of the soap-maker for the 
supply of other and cheaper oils suitable for his pur- 
pose. The oils now in demand include cotton seed, 
arachis (ground nut), sesame, and some others, which 
may be regarded as agricultural products, as the plants 
are grown as crops in the field. Coconut oil, palm 
oil, and palm-kernel oil are three of the most im- 
portant of vegetable oils used for soap-making, and 
more recently for edible purposes. Coconuts have 
passed into the domain of agriculture, being now culti- 
vated in plantations. The proper cultivation of these 
palms is a subject of great importance which requires 
serious attention. The habit, nature of growth, and of 
nutrition in relation to productivity require study from 
the plant physiologist ; the diseases, fungoid and insect, 
to which the coconut palm is subject, and the treatment 
of the soil and manuring of plantations, are matters in 
which our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete, 
and which should receive attention, in view of the great 
commercial importance of this crop. The West African 
oil palm is another most important source of two oils 
respectively derived from the pericarp of the fruits 
of this palm and from the kernels of the seeds. The 
oil or fat furnished by the pericarp and roughly 
