CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES AND PRODUCTS OP INDIA. 135 



which, the oil is extracted by boiling, as in this case it is found cheaper 

 than the method used for other seeds, which is by pressure. The cost 

 of the seed is one rupee per maund, and the price of the oil is from two 

 to five seers per rupee, according to the abundance of the crop in the 

 season. The proportion of the oil yielded is about half the weight of 

 the seeds boiled ; used only for burning. 



The plant is grown all over the province of Cuttack, a good deal in 

 patches of newly cleared land in the jungles of the Tributary States and 

 Sumbulpore. The oil is extracted in two ways. It is used for burning 

 and culinary purposes, and also medicinally. The local market is now 

 ll^r petuls of the seeds per rupee. Both the native methods of extract- 

 ing oil are wasteful and tedious, and therefore expensive. European oil- 

 presses and a knowledge of some methods of clarifying the expressed 

 oil, seems only to be required to render the oil-seed crops of this exten- 

 sive division of great value. 



The flax Linum usitatisshnum is a well-known plant almost all over 

 the world, but is in most parts of civilised Europe more cultivated for 

 its flax than for its seed. In Russia and in India the contrary is the 

 case, and it may fairly be said that in India its flax-producing qualities 

 are unknown. It is, therefore, cultivated as an oil-seed alone. It is, 

 however, probable that the stunted plants grown in India would be of 

 little use as a flax bearer, until improved cultivation had again raised its 

 standard of height. In the Punjab and in Scinde considerable attention 

 has of late been paid to this subject, and it would be an additional 

 staple added to the agricultural resources of Shahabad and Behar, could 

 it be brought under cultivation as a flax bearer here, which it doubtless 

 could be with the same advantage as in the Punjab. It is always grown 

 in Shahabad as an auxiliary crop with wheat, masoor, barley, and the 

 spring crops ; its bright blue flowers are a pleasing relief to the yellow- 

 ish brown of the other cereals. I have never known it cultivated alone, 

 so that I have no data as to its probable yield per beegah or acre. It 

 would probably not be found to differ much from the Unseed crops of 

 England in that respect, were the cultivation equal : that is to say, were 

 the same 'labour bestowed upon its cultivation, which, however, is not 

 the case in this district at least. Its favourite soil appears to be the black 

 clay, (kurile)* but it is sown largely in other soils, and the only difficulty 

 to its indefinite extension appears to be want of facilities for carrying 

 the crop to market. It is therefore grown in south Shahabad, prin- 

 cipally for home consumption, and is used largely for lamps under the 

 name of Teesee-ka-Tel. Under the native process it produces 25 per 

 cent, of oil : what it would produce with the European method I am 

 unable to say. The native method produces a tolerably clear-looking 

 oil, but it smokes much in burning, showing that a large proportion of 

 vegetable fibre finds its way through the rude press into the pure oil. 

 Considerable quantities are grown near the Ganges for export. The 

 price varies much according to the season and the quantity in the 



