400 



THE GROUND-NUT. 



metliod of pounding tlie seed in hard wooden mortars, with pestles 

 shod with iron, and set in motion by cams driven by a shaft turned 

 by horse or water-power, was formerly used. The bruised seed was 

 then transferred to woollen bags, which were wrapped in horsehair 

 cloth and squeezed between upright wedges in press-boxes. This 

 arrangement, known as the Dutch mill, is still obstinately adhered 

 to in some districts of England and the Continent, it being supposed 

 to be preferable to the hydraulic mills and presses, which have in 

 modern times almost entirely superseded the old method. 



The manufacture of linseed oil in 1860 was estimated at 65,000 tuns, 

 of which 33,700 tuns were exported. As our imports of linseed are 

 now half as much more than they were in 1860, the make of oil must 

 proportionately larger. 



Imports of linseed and flax seed into the United Kingdom : 



Quarters. Quarters. 



1840 444,759 1870 1,490,695 



1850 608,984 1875 1,961,987 



1860 1,330,623 1876 1,998,130 



We exported in 1876 18,206,860 gallons of seed oils, valued at 

 1,898,830Z. 



In France there were in 1871 67,216 hectares under culture with 

 flax and hemp, grown for the seed, which produced 567,693 hectolitres, 

 of which 154,881 were reserved for sowing, and the rest converted 

 into oil. A hectolitre of seed yields, on the average, a little more 

 than 17 kilos, of oil and 32 kilos, of oilcake. Setting aside the less 

 important usages of linseed, &c., and supposing the whole converted 

 into oil, the following results are arrived at in the official French 

 statistics : 



Production of oil 70,303 metrical quintals, of the rough value of 

 6,817,529 francs; oil-cake of the rough value of 2,554,519 francs; 

 total, 9,372,048 francs = 374,881/. The departments which princi- 

 pally produce this oil are Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Nord, Maine et Loire, 

 Vendee, Haute Marne, Haute Garonne, and Lot-et-Garonne. 



The Geound-Nut. — The plant (Arachis hypogcea) which produces 

 the fruit, entering into commerce under the popular name of the 

 ground-nut, is a little annual, with oblong leaves, growing in fours, 

 and rather large yellow flowers, rising a little way above ground. 

 It is one of a class which bury their pods in the earth, where they 

 ripen, instead of raising them into the free air. In order to effect 

 this, the flower-stalk, after the flower has passed away, gradually 

 curves downwards, and at length forces its end perpendicularly into 

 the soil, along with the very young pod which is seated there. Having 

 buried itself sufficiently deep, the pod then begins to swell, and when 

 ripe becomes an oblong, rugged, pale-brown fruit, containing about 

 two seeds, as large as the kernel of a hazel-nut. It is now found in a 

 state of cultivation all over the hottest part of the tropics. It was 

 unknown until the discovery of America, and every region in the old 

 world where it is now grown owes it to Brazil ; so that we have in 

 this plant a further example of the rapidity with which vegetables 

 will take possession of soils where the climate is suitable, for it is 



