416 GOLD OF PLEASURE. 



The quantity and value of the various oil-seeds shipped from India 

 is shown below : 



Year. 



Quantity. 



Value. 





cwts. 



£ 



1871 



6,693,482 



3,497,255 



1872 



5,079,009 



2,702,048 



1873 



2,739,792 



1,485,648 



1874 



4,401,994 



2.342,953 



1875 



6,629,939 



3,207,808 



Gold of Pleasure (Camelina sativa, Crantz), an annual herb, is 

 cultivated in middle and southern Europe. It is readily grown after 

 corn crops, yields richly even on poor soil, and is not attacked by 

 aphis. Thirty-two bushels of seed have been obtained from an acre, 

 and from these 540 lbs. of oil. The return is obtained within a few 

 months. 



The gold of pleasure produces a finer oil for burning than the rape 

 or mustard, having a brighter flame, less smoke, and scarcely any 

 smell. It succeeds better than any of the other cruciferous oil plants 

 on light, shallow, dry soils, and arrives so soon at maturity that in the 

 south of Europe it produces two crops in a season. In several of 

 the more northerly districts of the Continent, as the north of France, 

 Germany, and Holland, although it will not produce two crops in the 

 season, it is found very useful for sowing in June or the beginning of 

 July, when other crops may have failed ; and when sown in the early 

 part of the season, it can be removed in time to be succeeded by 

 turnips, grass seeds, &c. Besides the use of its seeds for oil, the 

 stems yield a coarse fibre for making sacks, sail-cloth, &c., and being 

 small, hard, and durable, are used for thatching temporary erections, 

 and also for making coarse packing paper. 



The seed may be sown in shallow drills, 10 inches apart, by the 

 old-fashioned plan of a quart bottle with a quill through the cork, 

 and will be ready for the sickle some three months after sowing; 

 the retmm of an average crop may be estimated as 300 to 1. The 

 Camelina is understood to be a non-exhauster of the soil, used as a 

 rotation crop, enabling old land to recover itself in some measure ; it 

 prefers soil of a light sandy nature, and is very hardy, enduring 

 both drought and wet. Its usefulness consists in its quality for 

 fattening stock of any kind. Two tablespoonfuls of the seed boiled 

 in a quart of water will produce about the same quantity of thick 

 jelly ; and this mixed with a sufficient quantity and bulk of food will, 

 it is considered, fatten the largest ox in a short time ; the chaff which 

 is left, after threshing out the seed, is readily eaten by horses. 



In some countries this plant is cultivated both for its stems, which 

 yield a fibre applicable for spinning, and for its oleiferous seeds, 

 especially in Flanders. Although the soils best adapted for its culture 

 are those of a light nature, a crop will never fail on land of the most 

 inferior description. It is usually sown in spring in March or April, 



