PHYSIC NUT. 



423 



sold as a food to the poorer classes. The oil sells at about 5 seers 

 per rupee at Shahabad. The production of this seed is only limited • 

 by the production of the poppy. 



" In Oude each ryot sows from two to four beegahs in the month of 

 October. The oil is extracted by the common native press. The cost 

 of the seed is 10 seers for the rupee, and the oil sells for 3 seers 

 for the rupee ; two-fifths of the weight of the seed employed is about 

 the proportion of oil yielded by the native process. The poppy seed 

 is eaten by the natives made into sweetmeats, provided the opium has 

 been extracted from the seed vessel, otherwise it is bitter and nar- 

 cotic, and under these circumstances the oil extracted is also bitter. 

 Used for cooking and burning." 



Of poppy seed from India, the United Kingdom receives the greatest 

 share: 286,390 cwts., and worth 157,513Z., in 1875. France took 

 115,728 cwts., valued at 63,649/. This export trade is almost entirely 

 confined to Bengal, only a very small quantity being shipped from 

 Bombay. 



In France the poppy occupies an extent of 47,078 hectares of land 

 in the region of the north-west, being grown for its seed. 



Melon Seeds (Cucumis melo). — Under the local name of "petit 

 beraf " large quantities of these seeds are collected in various parts of 

 Africa, as in Senegal, Abeokuta, &c. They yield 30 per cent, of a 

 very fluid oil much like olive oil, which is used for food and for soap- 

 making. The production in Senegal in 1860 was 62,266 kilos., selling 

 at 20 to 30 francs the 100 kilos. In China no less than 4295 piculs 

 of melon seed valued at 345 IZ., were shipped from Chefoo in 1875. 

 The oleaginous seeds of other cucurbitaceous plants are also used ; 

 one called the " gros beraf " is the produce of Cucurhita mirooi\ and 

 called by the natives iam-bosse. 



Physic Nut (Cur cas ;purgans, Jjindh; JatrojpJia Curcas^JAn..). — This 

 small tree or shrub is grown in Brazil, the East and West Indies, and 

 West Africa ; but the principal seat of production is the Cape Verde 

 Islands. In the tropics, hedges and enclosures are made with this 

 shrub, as cattle will not touch the leaves. The seeds are excessively 

 drastic, hence their general name of purging nuts. 



This plant grows in abundance at Casamanca, and Gaboon and other 

 parts of the African coast could supply this oil-seed. 



The bush from which the seed is obtained is readily increased 

 by cuttings, which rapidly take root. The seeds are three or four, 

 contained in a thin skin, which is black ; the seed is of the same 

 colour, and grows in bunches ; the stems of the bushes are not strong, 

 but they answer excellently for fences, with split bamboo tied on 

 each side to keep them straight and together, and the great ad- 

 vantage is that no kind of cattle eat them. The seeds are collected 

 and the oil expressed in the usual way. 



The oil obtained from the seeds is chiefly used for lamps, and also 

 in cutaneous diseases and chronic rheumatism. The Chinese boil the 

 oil with oxide of iron to make the black varnish used for coating boxes, 

 &c. The oil is viscous, of a deep yellow, with a density of 0-918. 



