and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— September, 1911. 287 



floor, exposed to the sun and air, and occa- 

 sionally turned over, Jn less than a week most 

 of them will have opened and shed their seed. 

 The empty busks should then be removed and 

 the seeds swept together and collected. The 

 pieces of husk and other debris with which they 

 are mixed should be removed by winnowing, 

 oither by hand or by passing the seeds through 

 a fanning machine. Iu some varieties the 

 capsules do not readily open, and it is 

 then advisable to beat them. or 

 wooden rollers can be drawn over them by 

 a pony whose hoofs are protected by being 

 padded with flannel or sacking. In some parts 

 of India the capsules are stacked in heaps in a 

 building, and covered with straw and weighted. 

 After about a week the outer husk is soft and 

 rotten. They are theu exposed to the sun, and 

 beaten to free the seeds. Another process 

 sometimes adopted is to bury the capsules until 

 the outer husk has decayed and set free the 

 seed. The seed should be stored in a dry place 

 until sold or pressed for oil. 



In countries where the castor plant is not 

 systematically cultivated (as in Jamaica), but 

 where it grows wild or semi-cultivated, and in 

 places where labour is cheap, the collection and 

 preparation of seeds on the lines indicated 

 above should be encouraged. The numerous 

 uses to which castor oil is now applied ensures 

 a ready sale for the castor seed, and the present 

 market value of the latter provides, as a rule, 

 ample remuneration for the labour involved. 



In India, when grown as a mixed crop, the 

 yield of seed per acre is about 250 lb., and 

 when grown as a pure crop is from 500 lb. to 

 900 lb. per acre. The yield of individual plants 

 grown together as a single crop is much less 

 than that of well-developed, freely-branched 

 plants that have grown singly or in isolated 

 clumps. As much as 20 lb. of seed per plant 

 has been sometimes gathered from these In 

 the United States the yield is said to be from 

 900 lb. to 1,350 lb. per acre when grown on 

 suitable soil and with good cultivation. In 

 Brazil it is circulated that in the castor plan- 

 tations each plant yields from 4 - 5 lb. to 1T25 lb. 

 of seed. 



The same can be said of Jamaica as of 

 Brazil :— The castor plant grows here rapidly 

 from the seaside to over 3,000 ft., flourishing in 

 the very driest spots, indeed, is seems to pre- 

 fer a medium dry locality here. There are 

 no regular cultivations here, but in almost 

 every plot of land in the Island, in house 

 yards, in the corner of cultivations, there are 

 castor plants, and wherever the castor tree 

 has once grown the moment land is cleared or 

 burned up come numerous small plants 



Although the making of castor oil is a small 

 home industry in which any housewife could 

 make a little money there is not enough pro- 

 duced in the Island to supply our wants and a 

 considerable quantity is imported, mostly from 

 India. Castor oil is used in the country for 

 lubricating sugar mills, oiling boots and harness 

 and in small quantities as medicine for man and 

 beast. 



Our soils are very much superior to the or- 

 dinary run of soils in India and the remarks 

 about manuring in the above would not apply 



for many years here. We would not require to 

 use our best soils for growing castor oil, but 

 there are many uncultivated lands in the drier 

 parts which could be used profitably for the 

 growing ct this product ; lands that are fairly 

 level so that they can be ploughed are prefer- 

 able and this would make cultivation so much 

 cheaper. 



We have many varieties of seeds here, differ- 

 ent sizes, different colours, different rates of 

 growth, but have, unfortunately, no reliable 

 data as to the average yield of the different 

 kinds per acre, or the comparative yields of oil 

 from the different varieties. There are, how- 

 ever, experiments being carried out in nearly 

 evevy parish of the island now on behalf of a 

 company and we hope that useful data may 

 result from these experiments. The commercial 

 value of castor seeds at present is about £12 5s 

 per ton and a yield of a ton per acre would only 

 be a fair return. The yield of oil varies very 

 much. The yield of oil should not be less than 

 40 per cent, if the proper kinds of seeds are 

 planted, and there are some varieties which will 

 give 50 per cent. Lt has not been discovered 

 yet whether the varieties rich in oil give as 

 large a yield as the varieties which are poor in 

 oil; naturally the contents of oil has a great deal 

 to do with fixing the price. It will be important 

 to know this. 



Production of Castor Seed. 



India is the principal producing country, and 

 the bulk of the supply of castor seed that enters 

 international trade is drawn from this source. 

 The Indian exports of castor oil also exceed 

 those of any other country. Although the 

 actual production of this crop is not shown in 

 statistical returns for India, the following tables 

 showing the amounts exported will indicate the 

 magnitude of the trade in this commodity. 



The quantities of castor seed exported from 

 India to the principal consuming countries dur- 

 ing 1908-1909, year for which figures are available 

 have been as follows : — 



United Kingdom, 806,789 cwt.,; France, 333,959 

 cwt.; Belgium, 207,093 cwt. ; Italy, 176.223 cwt. ; 

 Germany, 109,603 cwt.— Total exports, 1,650,466. 



The quantities ot castor oil exported for the 

 same period have been as follows : — 



United Kingdom, 131,308 galls.; Ceylon, 

 63,980 galls.; Straits Settlements, 176,824 galls.; 

 Hongkong, 13,533 galls.; Cape Colony, 9069 

 galls.; Natal, 73,690 galls.; Mauritius and De- 

 pendencies, 82,414 galls,; New Zealand, 166,718 

 galls.; Australian Commonwealth, 352,841 galls.; 

 Foreign countries, 23,275 galls. — Total exports, 

 1,099,967 galls. 



The imports of castor seed are not shown 

 separately in the trade returns of the United 

 Kingdom, but the imports of castor oil during 

 the period 1905-9 have been as follows : — 



Belgium, 9,847 cwts.; France, 6,756 ewts.; Italy, 

 2,388 cwts,; other foreign countries, 1,258 cwts.; 

 British India, 12,494 cwt. 



After the United Kingdom, the United States 

 is perhaps the largest consumer, part of the de- 

 mand being met by the home produce, and part 

 by imported material. The cultivation of castor 

 seed in the United States is confined chiefly to 

 a few districts in Oklahoma, Eastern Kansas, 

 Western Missouri and South-west Illinois. The 



