177 



a little lot of trees of three and a half year old which had already- 

 commenced fruiting and also seedlings coming away nicely from the 

 trees. These trees were about as big as good five year olds over 

 eighteen inches at 3 feet from the ground. This is an unusually 

 rapid development even for Para-rubber in the Peninsula. 



H. N. R. 



PARA RUBBER SEED OIL. 



Some notes of interest on experiments made with oil from seeds 

 of the Para rubber tree are contributed by Mr. L. Wray to the 

 Journal of the Federated Malay States Museum. He reports that, 

 on an average, 1,000 husked and sun dried kernels were found to 

 weigh 4^ pounds avoirdupois. At an estimated 40 per cent of oil 

 in the kernels, 1,000 seeds should yield I pound i2f ounces of oil. 

 By the same figures, one ton of dried kernels would yield about 96$ 

 gallons of oil. According to Mr. Wray's observations, one tree 

 may be expected to average over 1,000 seeds, though some will pro- 



In order to procure the most valuable commercial oil, it was found 

 necessary to put the kernels into the press immediately after they 

 had been dried and pounded. Any delay tended to give the oil a 

 darker and cloudy appearance. The longer it was kept the deeper 

 became its colour. Some of the oil last expressed was quite thick. 

 As it became viscid it was more difficult to express and required 

 greater pressure to expel it from the cake. As these experiments 

 were carried on with a locally made press without sufficient 

 pressure to expel all the oil from the meal, it was found impossible 

 to determine the comparative yield of the fresh and the old meal, 

 but there appeared to be a much greater yield from the former. 



There are on exhibition at the Perak Museum three samples of 

 I, ?t° lls " 0ne is from freshl y crushed seeds, one from seeds which 

 Had been crushed for about a week, and the third from seeds crushed 

 about two weeks.— "Times of Malaya," March 6, 1907. 



The Cultivation and great value of Paspalum Grass. 



The Editor, "Agricultural Bulletin" 



Singapore, Straits Settlements, 



East Indies. 



pal!! 11 ! 11 ma y p rove ° f s reat va]ue 



Soufc, Grass has been cultivated 

 W ales for several years past. 



