Edible Products, 



236 



April 1907. 



in other oil-cakes ; e.g., two samples of rape-seed cake containing 10'53 and 8-5 per 

 cent, of oil contained after two years only 1"98 and 1 87 per cent, when overrun by 

 fungi." (Biff en in Annals of Botany, 1899, p. 372.) 



Here lies the reason why cake from Indian seed is more or less condemned. 

 It must be confessed that the product is not sent into the market in the best condition ; 

 and moreover the practice of increasing weigbt by adding water or of gathering 

 the nuts by flooding the land or the storage which may be necessary between the 

 shelling and shipment cannot but be detrimental. Obviously, then, the sooner the 

 crop finds its way into the oil mill, the better the oil and the cake. The short voyage 

 between Gambia or Senegal and European ports is greatly in favour of these 

 countries ; but the existence of oil mills in India, in China, and now at Chinde in the 

 Zambesi delta, all places with an increasing output, indicates the possibility of the 

 extension of crushing in the centres of production. 



That there is a demand for the oil appears from statements to the effect that 

 in the making of a firm hard soap other oils cannot readily replace it. As a table 

 oil its use is wide, and one result of the large imports of cotton-seed oil into Europe 

 has been to cause more of the Marseilles mills than hitherto to turn their attention 

 in this direction. The big importation of undecorticated ground-nuts into Marseilles 

 in 1898 while showing the demand, is probably an effect of this. 



The Chamber of Commerce of Pondicherry aware of the decrease in their 

 trade— for not only has the acreage under the crop diminished, but a greater 

 percentage of the output of India has been diverted to other ports— has commenced 

 to experiment by the introduction into India of new seed ; and the Government of 

 Madras is moving in the same direction. It has been noticed that fields sown with 

 seeds imported from the Mozambique coast have proved satisfactory results, while 

 neighbouring crops sown with Indian seeds have been very poor. More experiments 

 are needed ; in the absence of any certain estimate of the relative values of differ- 

 ent races it is impossible to foretell what the results will be.— I. H. Bubkill, in 

 Kew Bulletin. 



A METHOD OP PREVENTING THE RAPID DECAY OF RIPE FRUIT. 



In Vol. XII., p. 305 of the " Journal of the Board of Agriculture," an account 

 was given of certain experiments conducted in the Jodrell Laboratory, Kew, with 

 the object of ascertaining the relative value of various substances in preventing the 

 rapid decay of ripe fruit. These experiments were based on the fact that the 

 primary cause of decay and rotting of ripe fruit is in most cases the presence of 

 the germs of fungi, yeasts,bacteria, &c, on the surface of the fruit and not — within 

 a definite limit of time — to any inherent tendency on tbe part of the fruit to decay. 

 Among the various substances experimented with, commercial formalin (= formalde- 

 hyde, 40 per cent.) proved to be most suitable, on account of its efficiency, cheapness, 

 and ease of application, and because of the entire absence of danger in its use. The 

 method of treatment explained in the article quoted above is here reproduced. 



" In the case of fruits where every part is eaten, as strawberries, &c, the 

 fruit should be immersed for ten minutes in cold water containing 3 per cent, of 

 commercial formalin. On removal immerse the fruit for five minutes in cold water, 

 and afterwards place it on wire-netting or some similarly open material to drain and 

 dry. When the fruit has a rind or ' skin' that is not eaten, the immersion in water 

 after the treatment in formalin solution can be omitted with advantage." 



During the present season a second series of experiments have been conducted 

 at Kew, for the purpose of checking the results previously obtained, and of experi- 

 menting with other kinds of ripe fruit. No special selection was exercised in 



