OILS AND FATS, ETC. 339 



viously made from fatty matters. The best oil sells at from Is. 2d. to 

 Is. 4d. the kilo, according to the year. An oil of an inferior quality, 

 for lighting purposes, is extracted from olive nuts. The marc or cake 

 is used for feeding cattle. 



Walnut Oil. — In the provinces of the Peninsula where the olive 

 does not grow spontaneously, and cannot be cultivated except in certain 

 places having an equal temperature, as on the banks of the lakes, walnut 

 trees have been planted from time immemorial ; they yield an oil which, 

 when fresh, is used for food and lighting purposes, or for painting when it 

 becomes rancid. In the north of Italy, in the valleys of the Alps, and 

 also of the Apennines, the walnut-tree forms, and gives its name to a 

 special botanical region. 



Other Oils. — The importance of nut-oil has diminished since the 

 introduction of the turnip (Brassica Napus, L.) and of the Colza (Brassica 

 campestris, L.), the seeds of which yield a good oil, and which are used 

 for culinary and for lighting purposes. 



For the same objects the Camelina sativa is also cultivated, but in 

 less quantities ; and in the Novarese, in the Vicentino, and elsewhere, 

 an attempt has been made to cultivate the ground-nut (Arachishypogcea), 

 a small plant which conceals its husks under ground, and which in hot 

 countries, and in fresh soils, yields more than half the weight of its 

 seed in oil, of sufficient good quality to bear a comparison with the best 

 olive oil. M. Filippo Majorana has persevered in developing the culti- 

 vation of this vegetable in Sicily, the merit of which, appertaining to 

 him, cannot be better appropriated. 



Sesame Oil. — Another important oleaginous plant is cultivated in 

 Sicily, that of the Sesame (Sesamum orientals, L.), commonly called Giug- 

 giolena. It is a small annual plant, which sown at the end of May, yields 

 its produce during the summer. The inhabitants strew their bread with 

 its seeds, which impart to it a pungent flavour. They also make comfits 

 or turroni of it. They extract very little oil from it, but in consequence 

 of the bad crops of olive during the last few years, the trade has been com- 

 pelled to have recourse to the Sesame, and we hope to see a great increase 

 in the cultivation of this plant in Sicily, which will rival the olive both 

 in the quality and quantity of its oil. At Leghorn and at Turin there 

 are already large manufactories of Sesame oil. 



Linseed Oil. — The extraction of linseed oil has given rise to exten- 

 sive manufactories. The establishment of M. Giovanni Battista Menotti, 

 of Pistoja, produces annually about seventy-thousand kilogrammes of 

 linseed and rape oil by the employment of very powerful mechanical 

 presses. 



The Association of the New Industry at Leghorn, which has at work 

 eight hydraulic presses and a steam-engine of 15 horse-power, produces 

 nearly 550,000 kilogrammes of oil. This oil is scarcely ever used for 

 culinary purposes ; it is of great use for painting, for lighting, and for 



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