542 



OLEAGITTOLTS PLANTS, 



Brought forward £15 15 7 



£SZ 12 6 



Deduct Bills of Lading, &c. 0 19 6 



£82 13 0 



Deduct the Board's expenses for gathering and 



preparing, &c „ . . 28 8 7 



Leaving a clear profit of £54 4 5 



This statement shows that from a plant, which is indigenous to the colony, 

 and might be cultivated to almost any extent, and mostly on soils unavailable 

 for other purposes, an article of great export could be derived at a comparatively 

 small expense ; it is with that view that I desire to direct public attention more 

 prominently to it. 



In tlie Museum of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, wax 

 is shown as scraped from the the trunk of the wax palm 

 {Geroxijlon andicold), and candles made from it, as also some 

 made of acorns and closely resembling common tallow. Concrete 

 milk and butter made from the Shea butter tree, and others 

 growing in Para, are also exhibited. 



Wax candles liave been made from the seeds of Myrica macro- 

 carpa in Colombia, and also from vegetable wax in Java. Some of 

 these are to be seen in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society 

 of London. 



CASTOE OIL PLAOT, 



Castor oil is expressed from the seeds of Mlcinus communis 

 {Palma Ohristi), a plant with petale-palmate leaves, which is 

 found native in G-reece, Africa, the South of Spain, and the East 

 Indies, and is cultivated in the West Indies, as well as in JSTorth 

 and South America. In the temperate and northern parts of 

 Europe, the plant is an herbaceous annual, of from three to 

 eight feet high ; in the more southern parts it becomes scrubby 

 and even attains an height of twenty feet ; w^hile in India it is often 

 a tree thirty to forty feet high. The best oil is obtained by expres- 

 sion from the seeds without heat, and is hence called " cold drawn 

 oil." A large quantity of oil may be produced by boiling the seeds, 

 but it is less sweet and more apt to become rancid than that 

 procured by expression. 



The JPalma Ckristi grows continuously for about four years, and 

 becomes a large tr^e in constant bearing, ripening its rich clusters 

 of beans in such profusion, that 100 bushels may be obtained 

 annually from an acre, and their product of oil two gallons per 

 bushel. 



There are several species, all of which yield oil of an equally 

 good quality. A shrubby variety is com-mon in South Australia, 

 and other parts of ISTew Holland. Bicinus lividus is a native of 

 the Capo of Good Hope. It is a hardy plant, of the easiest cul- 

 ture, and will thrive in almost any soil, whether in the burning 



