FEBRUARY, 1909. J 



155 



Edible Products. 



per cent, of alcohol-producing material. 

 It is possible that sweet potatoes will 

 become one of the chief sources of de- 

 natured alcohol in the United States, 

 but at present the methods of manu- 

 facture have not been sufficiently per- 

 fected to warrant their use for this pur- 

 pose on a farm or community basis.— 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. Farm- 

 ers' Bidtetin, 324, Sweet Potatoes. 



A. B. 0. OP LIME CULTIVATION. 

 ( Concluded froi 1 1 page Jf2, ) 



Hand-pressed Lime Oil. 

 Lime oil is used in perfumery and for 

 soap making. The hand-pressed pro- 

 duct is obtained by pressing the limes 

 by hand over an ecuelle pan. The ecu- 

 elle is a shallow, concave, circular cop- 

 per pan studded with blunt spikes on 

 its concavity and with a receptacle at 

 the base to catch the oil. The work of 

 obtaining hand-pressed oil is done by 

 women, who usually select the best limes 

 and pass them quickly with a circular 

 movement over the blunt spikes, ex- 

 erting sufficient pressure to break the 

 oil cells in the skin of the limes. The 

 oil runs into the receptacle and is col- 

 lected from time to time in bottles. It 

 is then settled, and afterwards is passed 

 through filter paper into copper vessels. 

 These vessels are usually exported in 

 boxe-i. 



A barrel of limes will give from 3 to 

 4£ oz. of oil by this process, and the 

 usual price paid for extracting the oil 

 is Id. per oz, At this rate, women who 

 have become expert by practice at this 

 work are able during the height of the 

 crop season to earn good pay. 



The yield of oil varies according to 

 conditions of moisture- In localities 

 where the annual rainfall is from GO to 100 

 inches, the citric acid content of the 

 juice of the fruit is high, aud the yield 

 of oil from the rind of the fruit low. 

 Where the rainfall is high— say, from 130 

 to 200 inches— the citric acid content is 

 low and the yield of oil high. 



Distilled Lime Oil. 

 When lime juice is to be concentrated 

 it is first distilled in order to obtain the 

 oil. In the case of estates which, ship 

 raw juice, the scum that collect* on the 

 juice in the settling vats is alone distilled. 



The oil is exported in either copper or 

 tin vessels which are packed in boxes. 

 It costs less to produce than hand- 

 pressed oil, but commands a lower price. 



Stills fitted with steam coils are the 

 best, but it is only in a very few cases 

 that steam is available on estates. 



The yield of oil by distillation is from 

 3 to 5 oz. per barrel of limes, or taking 

 8» barrels of fruit to make one hogshead 

 of concentrated juice, from'15 to 25 lb, 

 per hogshead, according to locality and 

 conditions of moisture. A gallon of 

 distilled oil weighs 9 lbs. 



Appendix I. 



Citrate op Lime. 



The following information on citrate 

 of lime has been obtained by the Impe- 

 rial Department of Agriculture from 

 manufacturing chemists in London and 

 New York : — 



Messrs, Sydney Harvey & Co., 48, 

 Mark Lane, London, E.C., write as 

 follows :— 



' Citrate of Lime is preferred to con- 

 centrated juice by our acid makers, 

 because the former is more easily worked, 

 and is altogether a more satisfactory 

 article to deal with, and to the producer 

 himself, citrate of lime is also a better- 

 article. In the first place, a higher- 

 price is paid for citrate of lime than for 

 juice, and there is a considerable saving 

 in freight, casks, and loss by leakage. 



'Up till a few years ago, the whole 

 of the Sicillian production was in con- 

 centrated juice, but when the makers 

 once realised how much more satis- 

 factory citrate of lime was, the making 

 of concentrated juice ceased entirely, 

 and now we receive from Sicily some- 

 thing like 5,000 tons of citrate of lime. 



' There is no chance whatever of the 

 demand for citrate of lime falling and 

 returning to concentrated juice, We 

 believe that more citric acid can be 

 saved in making citrate than in concen- 

 trating juice.' 



The Powers- Weightmau-Rosengarten 

 Company, Philadelphia, write as fol- 

 lows : — 



' The cost of a citrate plant cannot be 

 very great, and we believe the money 

 spent in installing the same would be 

 quickly returned through the increased 

 economy and efficiency. 



'Citric acid contained in citrate of lime 

 sells at a higher price than that con- 

 tained in concentrated juice. We would 

 give preference to citrate as against 

 concentrated juice, and the tendency is 

 strongly set in that direction and will 

 remain so. 



' We have never determined the 

 saving in making citrate, but have 

 always considered it to be at least 10 per 

 cent.' 



