OIL OF BEN. 



425 



There are several varieties of this bean, white, yellow, and green. 

 The yellow are made into a fermented mass, or cheese, called tan-fir, 

 by macerating them in water and pressing them into a cake, adding 

 lime and salt to precipitate the caseine, which is obtained in the 

 form of a jelly. It is chiefly cultivated in the north of China, parti- 

 cularly in the province of Shantung. Upwards of 3000 junks are 

 employed in its transport to the southern ports. From Che-foo there 

 were exported, in 1869, 242,224 piculs of bean-cake, and 5570 piculs 

 of bean oil, and about 10,000 piculs of the cake were imported into 

 Foo-Choo-foo, valued at 42,000Z. The cake is not only used for 

 human food and for stock, but also as manure. 



In the Madras Presidency in 1870 there were 1,018,000 acres 

 under culture with oil-seeds, consisting chiefly of the following : 

 50,000 acres under rape seed in Tinnevelly ; 67,000 acres with the 

 castor oil plant, chiefly in Coimbatore ; 870,000 chiefly under gingely, 

 &c., in Godavery. 



Oil of Ben. — From the seeds of two species of a leguminous 

 plant, Moringa aptera and M. pterygosperma, is obtained an oil which 

 is valued for its fluidity. It is mild, almost colourless, does not turn 

 rancid, and is of a pleasant taste. The oleine, when separated from 

 the stearine, is highly appreciated by watchmakers, and also by per- 

 fumers, as it retains the most fugaceous odours without diminishing 

 their softness. Hence it serves to fix the odorous principles of 

 certain flowers, such as the tuberose, the heliotrope, and the jasmine. 

 It is, however, rarely to be met with pure in commerce, and is gene- 

 rally replaced by virgin olive oil. One species of the tree grows in 

 several of the West India islands, whilst the other, M. aptera, is found 

 principally in Egypt and India, whence small quantities of the seeds 

 are occasionally imported. 



