NATIVE OIL :JILLS. 



535 



Three varieties of Til are extensively cultivated tlironglioufc 

 India, for the sake of the fine oil expressed from tlieii* seeds, 

 the white seeded variety, the parti-colored, and the black. It is 

 from the latter that the sesamum or gingelly oil of commerce is 

 obtaiiied. Sesamum seed contains about 45 per cent, of oil. Good 

 samples of the oil were shown at the Grreat Exhibition from. 

 Yizianagi'am, G-anjam, Hyderabad, Tanjore, the district of Moor- 

 shedabad, and Gwalior. The gingelly seed is stated to be worth 

 about £4 per ton in the North Circars. 



An oil resembling that of sesamum is obtained from the seed of 

 Guizotea oleifera and Ali/ssinica, a plant introduced from Abys- 

 sinia, and common in Bengal. The ram til, or valisaloo seeds, yield 

 about SJi per cent, of oil. The oil is generally used for biu-ning, 

 and is worth locally about lOd. per gallon. 



Black til {Verhesena sativd). — This is known as kutsela or 

 kala til, in the Deccan. It is chiefly cultivated in Mysore and 

 the western districts of Peninsular India, as well as in the Bom- 

 bay presidency. 



About Seringapatam, as soon as the millet crop has been reaped 

 the field is ploughed four times, and the seed sovra, a gallon per 

 acre, diuing the month of Jidy or August, after the first heavy 

 rain. Xo manure or weeding is required, for the crop will grow 

 on the worst soils. It is reaped in three months, being cut close 

 to the ground, and stacked for a week. After exposure to the 

 sun for two or three days, the seed is beaten out with a stick. 

 The crop in Mysore rarely yields two bushels per acre, but about 

 Poonah the produce is much larger. The seed is sometimes 

 parched and made into sweetmeats, but is usually grown for its 

 oil. This is used in cooking, but it is not so abundant in the 

 seed, nor so good as that of the sesame. Bidlocks will not eat 

 the stems unless pressed by hunger. 



About 5,000 maimds are exported annually from Calcutta. 3,703 

 bags were imported into Liverpool in 1851. The price per quarter 

 of eight bushels, in January, 1853, was from 30s. to £2; of teel oil, 

 in tins, weighing 60 to 100 pounds, £2 to £2 4s. 



Bombay linseed was worth £2 lis. to £2 12s. the quarter 

 of eight bushels, in January, 1853. Bengal ditto 2s. less. The 

 imports into Liverpool were 68,468 bags and 54,834 pockets 

 iu 1851, and 14,490 bags and 33,700 pockets in 1852. About 

 9,000 bags of mustard seed and from 18,000 to 20,000 bags of 

 rape seed are also imported thence. The price of the latter is 

 about £2 the quarter. 



JN'ative Oil Mills. — The principal native oil mill of India, 

 of which, however, there are some varieties, consists of a simple 

 wooden mortar with revolving pestle. It is in common use in 

 all Belgaum and Bangalore. Two oxen are harnessed to the 

 geering, which depends from the extremity of the pestle, — ■ 

 a man sits on the top of the mortar, and throws in the seeds that 

 may have got displaced. The mill grinds t^vice a day ; a fresh 

 man and team being employed on each occasion. When sesame 



