and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society,— Dec, 1910. 559 



HOW BUTTE BINE IS MADE. 



In a more or less vague way people know what 

 is meant by oleomargarine. They know it is a 

 kind of butter which is not cow butter, whether 

 it ' is just as good as butter ' or not ; but com- 

 paratively few know precisely how and of what 

 it is made. Tho assurance may be given at the 

 outset that there enters into properly made 

 oleomargarine nothing that is deleterious, noth- 

 ing that is dangerous to health, and that while 

 it is not butter and should not be sold as such, 

 it is a wholesome article of food. 



There are numerous grades of oleomargarine, 

 the compound parts of all of them being oleo oil, 

 neutral lard, cottonseed oil, milk and cow butter. 

 In the better grades cottonseed oil is not used 

 and cow butter is. The latter disappears in the 

 cheaper grades, the quantity of oleo oil dimin- 

 ishes and that of cottonseed, the cheapest 

 ingredient, increases. Oleo is the pure oil of 

 fat meats, cooked out by steam and clarified by 

 a careful process, which, at the same time, pre- 

 serves its sweetness. Neutral oil is the purest 

 product of the leaf fat of the hog, its process of 

 manufacture being similar to that of oleo. 

 Cottonseed oil, as its name indicates, is pressed 

 from the seed of the cotton. It is quite similar 

 to olive oil and is freely substituted for it. 

 These are the ingredients of oleomargarine. 



In the manufacture of the better grades of 

 oleomargarine, 47J parts of neutral lard are 

 heated to 95 degrees and run into an agitator 

 containing 52£ parts of oleo oil, warmed to 85 

 degrees. After agitation the mixture is turned 

 into a churn containing four gallons of milk, 

 with 20 per cent of cream and churned for ten 

 minutes. The combination is then run into a 

 vat of cold water — 30 degrees — which hardens 

 the mixture and forms the butter. The butter 

 is placed on a cloth — 10 to 30 pounds to a bundle 

 — salted to taste and stored in a temperature of 

 60 degreos for 12 hours. After having been 

 worked a little to insure a fine grain the butter 

 is ready for packing. 



If it is desired to colour the oleomargarine 

 thus made, 'annatto' is used. This is made 

 from a reddish pulp surrounding the seeds of 

 Bixa orellana, a tree found in South Africa. 

 Annatto is variously used for colouring purposes 

 and not infrequently is employed by dairymen 

 to give a golden tinge to genuine cow butter. 

 There is no essential difference between but- 

 terine and oleomargarine. A French chemist 

 who had successfully converted animal fat into 

 a substance resembling cow butter in taste and 

 colour used the term oleomargarine.— Indian 

 Trade Journal, Sept. 15. 



CITY LECTURE ON THE RUBBER 

 INO USTR Y. 



(By Dr. Philip Schidrowitz.) 

 The third of the series of lectures on india- 

 rubber was delivered by Dr Philip Schidrowitz 

 last evening at the City and Guilds Technical 

 College, Leonard-street, Finsbury. The lecturer 

 said although it was now generally recognised 

 that Hovea was under ordinary conditions 

 the most suitable tree for planting, local 

 conditions such as soil, climate and labour, ap- 

 peared in some instances to warrant a departure 



from the practice of the Kast. Thus, a woll- 

 known authority had stated that in Mexico it 

 was cheaper to produce Castilloa Elastica than 

 Hovea, the main reason for this being that 

 labour was very dear, and that whereas aHevea 

 tree required, say, 150 tappings to produce 2-3 

 lb. of rubber per annum, four to five tappings 

 were ample to obtain, say. L lb from a mature 

 Castilloa. Moreover, it was feasible to have 

 Castilloa as close as 400 trees to the acre for 

 mature trees. The same authority stated 

 that there were more than 100,000 acres plan- 

 ted with this species in Mexico. The value 

 of Ficus Elastica (rambong) and of Mani- 

 hot for plantation purposes was also ex- 

 tremely doubtful, but it certainly was the case 

 that somo varieties of the latter throve under 

 certain conditions of soil and climate under 

 which Hevea was out of the question. Where 

 strength and elasticity combined were required 

 Hevea was unsurpassed, but where great 

 strength or toughness was the main desidera- 

 tum Funtumia, and possibly also Manihot, were 

 in the lecturer's opinion, superior. The pro- 

 duction of Jelutong in the East was then dealt 

 with, and the lecturer said that from his own 

 investigations on the spot he has come to tho 

 conclusion that the supply was practically in- 

 exhaustible, In this regard the Jelutong areas 

 of Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay might be 

 compared to the vast Hevea areas in South 

 America. Dr. Schidrowitz gave it as his opinion 

 that the mature Jelutong tree should yield 40 

 to 70 lb. of crude material containing roughly 4 

 to 7 lb. of pure rubber. He showed a number 

 of specimens of Jelutong rubber, some of which 

 were prepared during his stay in Borneo, which 

 clearly showed the remarkable results with re- 

 gard to improvement in quality which had been 

 gradually achieved by the application of techni- 

 cal science to this problem. The latest qualities 

 produced were very similar in appearance and 

 strength to high class plantation rubber. In 

 concluding his technical description of crude 

 rubber, the lecturer referred to certain un- 

 desirable "affections" or diseases to which crude 

 rubber was sometimes liable. With regard to 

 one of these, tackiness, he was of opinion that 

 this was due to a variety of causes and that 

 every case should be examined on its merits. He 

 said that, whatever might happen in the future 

 he was fairly certain that the first rubbers to 

 disappear would be native rubbers, which were 

 prepared in an unclean or improper fashion 

 whether in Africa, Asia or South America. The 

 unknown factor in the future of crude rubber 

 was the ultimate basis of price on which it could 

 be produced in the Amazon districts. Whereas 

 it had been frequently stated that rubber could 

 not be produced on the Amazon appreciably 

 under 2s. 6d., it yet remained to be proved that 

 when the pinch came that this was so. Mr 

 Schidrowitz said he could not agree with those 

 who held that it necessarily followed that the 

 plantations must kill the Amazon, or vice versa, 

 or that either or both of these would be respon- 

 sible for the destruction of other classes of crude 

 rubber, at any rate not for a very long time to 

 come. He thought that over-production was not 

 yet within visible distance.— Financial News, 

 Oct. 27. 



