384 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



those of 1910, which was the largest on record, 

 amounting to 643,634 metric tons for the 1911 

 business. The largest volume of these receipts 

 was shelled nuts, amounting to 200,509 metric 

 tons; of copra, 173,056 metric tons; lin-seed, 

 11,540, and sesame, 80,266 metric tons ; cotton- 

 seed, 9,180 metric tons. 



In connection with these reports there is also 

 received from Yokohama an account of the rape- 

 seed oil refining in Japan, and from Gothenburg 

 an account is given of a new soya bean mill in 

 Sweden. The report from Yokohama says : — 



Japapese production of rapeaeed is about 

 2,750,000 bushels annually. The 12,879,604 gal- 

 lons of oil therefrom in 1909 was valued at 

 $4,661,294, which included that from 2,794 tons 

 of imported seed. Imports of rapeseed in 1910 

 were still larger — 10,333 tons, valued at $364,951. 



Japanese rapeseed yield 19 to fc2 per cent, of 

 oil, against 17 to 22 per cent, from the Chinese 

 seed imported. A buBhel of seed produces 

 3£ to 5% quartz. The oil is used largely for 

 cooking, though some is used in making light 

 lubricating oil and for soap making. The seeds 

 are usually crushed in mortars in which the 

 pestle is worked by motor or by foot power 

 with a stone pestle. The following methods 

 of refining are supplied by the Japanese De- 

 partment of Commerce and Agriculture : — 



(1) Oil is gradually mixed with strong sul- 

 phuric acid and after an hour's stirriog is 

 allowed to remain for six to twelve hours until 

 all sulphides are completely precipitated. This 

 precipitation is carefully removed and tha oil 

 washed several times in a warm bath. 



(2) Oil is placed in a pan and heated for 

 about thirty minutes over a slow Ore, when 

 oyster-shell ash and cottonseed ash, in amount 

 each equal to 3 per cent, of oil being refined, 

 are added to mixture, with a little water. This 

 mixture is stirred for four or five hours, then 

 removed from pan and placed in a jar to cool. 

 It is then passed through Japanese filter paper 

 and again placed in a pan and heated to a 

 temperature of 130 degrees C. Some of the 

 water is poured off and the balance soon 

 evaporates, leaving the oil a light colour. 



The above processes are designated "old pro- 

 cess," and it is likely that improvements will 

 soon be made in the refining of these oils. 

 The 93,010 tons of rapeseed oil cake produced 

 in 1909 were valued at $2,387,326. This article 

 is used for fertiliser, but represents only a 

 small proportion of the oil cake so used, as 

 great quantities of Manchurian bean cake are 

 imported for that purpose. 



The account received from Gothenburg tells 

 of the new soya bean works in the following : — 



For installing a plant to work soya beans 

 from Manchuria the Aktiebolaget Goteborgs 

 Ris-och Valskvarn (Gothenburg Rice and Rol- 

 ler Mill Company) has increased its capital 

 stock from 794,000 crowns ($212,792) to a 

 minimum of 2,000,000 crowns ($536,000) and 

 a maximum of 6,000,000 crowns ($1,608,000). 

 Establishing such a plant at Gothenburg 

 has been discussed for several years. 



The plant will be the first of its kind in Swe- 

 den. Soya bean oil, oil cake and meal have 



hitherto been imported from Hull, England and 

 from Copenhagen. This oil has in the past four 

 or five years become a strong competitor of other 

 vegetable oils, many of which are imported from 

 America, while the bean cake and meal have 

 been most successful in competing with Ameri- 

 can cotton seed cakes and meal. 



The new enterprise is allied to the Swedish 

 and Danish East Asiatic companies and with 

 similar plants at Copenhagen and Stettin, and 

 Danish money forms part of the capital. The 

 two East Asiatic companies referred to operate 

 a joint steamship service to the Far East, and 

 the problem of return cargo for the ships that go 

 out with paper, pulp, timber and iron is im- 

 portant. This explains their interest in deve- 

 loping uses for Manchurian beans. It is planned 

 to expend 1,500,000 crowns ($402,000) in plant, 

 erecting; a new mill capable of handling 30,000 

 tons of beans annually, so designed that it can 

 easily be enlarged to 50,000 tons capacity. 



From Consul Michael, at Calcutta, the follow- 

 ing brief reference was made in a report on the 

 British Indian sesamum crop : — 



The final memorandum on the Indian sesamum 

 crop of the 1911-12 season, which covers the 

 British provinces producing about 79 per cent 

 of the reported crop in British India states that 

 the total area reported was 4,164,700 acres, 

 against 4,933,300 acres in the previous year. The 

 total outturn (excluding Hyderabad) was 311,300 

 tons, which is 136,300 tons less than during the 

 preceding year. This is a decrease of 15"6 per 

 cent in area and of 30 per cent in outturn. 

 — New York Oil Reporter. 



ABYSSINIAN RUBBER. 



British investors in the light of recent experi- 

 ence are likely to fight shy of rubber exploita- 

 tion in Abyssinia, but according to Professor 

 H. Jumelle, who writes on the subject in the 

 current issue of the "Journal dAgriculture Tro- 

 picale," a decided increase in the quantity and 

 quality of the rubber produced in the old em- 

 pire of Prester John is to be expected. In 1910 

 Abyssinia exported 310,500 lb, of i ubber, valued 

 at £60,766. The importations at London are in- 

 creasing steadily, and Abyssinian sheets and 

 scrappy sell at prices which approximate to 

 those obtainable for Manicoba sorts. The source 

 of the rubber is a Landolphia which flourishes 

 at altitudes from 2,500 to 3,200 ft. A manufac- 

 turer who has examined a sample rather under 

 than over the usual standard of quality gives the 

 following analysis : 1'8 percent, moisture, 015 

 ash, 7 2 per cent, of resins soluble in acetone. 

 This was valued at 6 to 8 francs the kilo when 

 Para was quoted 12 - 00 francs. The collection of 

 rubber in Abyssinia is a monopoly and is at pre- 

 sent in the hands of M. Ifdlibi — whose name is 

 not unkno >vn to English readers. The payment 

 made by him to the Ethiopian Government is 

 understood to be 117,500 francs per annum. An 

 Egyptian syndicate works half the concession 

 under license from M. Ydlibi, and this syndi- 

 cate is stated upon the authority of its mana- 

 ger, M. Balanos, to be about to engage in a 

 vigorous exploitation of huge rubber-bearing 

 areas at {.resent untouched. — fndia-Rubber 

 Journal, March 23, 



