OLEAGIJJOrS PLANTS. 



Oats contain, as a maximum, about seven per cent, of oil, and 

 Indian com nine per cent. The cake of the gold of pleasure con- 

 tains twelve per cent. Indeed the most valuable oil-cakes are 

 those of the Gamelina sativa, poppies and walnuts, Vvhich are 

 nearly equal ; next to these are the cakes of hemp, cotton, and 

 beech-mast. In Prance the extraction and purification of oil from 

 the cotton seed is a recent branch of labor, the refuse of which is 

 likely to prove useful in agriculture ; its value as a manure being 

 nearly ten times greater than that of common dung. Oil is ob- 

 tained from maize or Indian corn in the process of making whiskey. 

 It rises in the mash tubs and is found in the scum at the surface, 

 being separated either by the fermentation or the action of heat. 

 It is then skimmed off, and put away in a cask to deposit its im- 

 purities ; after which it is drawn off in a pure state, fit for imme- 

 diate use. The oil is limpid, has a slight tinge of the yellow 

 color of the corn, and is inofieusive to the taste and smell. It is 

 not a drying oil, and therefore cannot be used for paint, but burns 

 freely in lamps and is useful for oiling machinery. 



Among the various seeds used in the manufacture of oil-cakey 

 flour of linseed is the most important. Eape seed is also em- 

 ployed, but is considered heating. In Lubeck, a marc, called 

 dodder cake, is made from the Gamelina sativa. Inferior oil-cake 

 is made from the poppy in India, Cotlon-seed cake has lately 

 been recommended on account of its cheapness, being usually 

 thrown away as refuse by the cotton manufacturers. It is exten- 

 sively used as a cattle food, in an unprepared state, in various parts 

 of the tropical world, and to a limited extent in this country. 



The cost of seed, freight included, was 2d, per lb. from Charles - 

 town to Port Glasgow. Cotton oil-cake is now ordered at tbe 

 same price as linseed cake. The produce of oil-cake and oil from 

 cotton seed, is two gallons of oil to one cwt. of seed, leaving about 

 96 lbs of cake ; 8 lbs. is the daily allowance for cattle in England. 



Cotton seed oil, very pure, is manufactured to a considerable 

 extent at Marseilles, by I)e Grimezne}^, from Egyptian seed ; and 

 be received a prize medal at the Great Exhibition. 



Account of the export of linseed and rapeseed cakes ft^om Stettin, 

 principally to England, in — 



cwts. cwts. 



1834 .... 33,518 1839 .... 115,416 



1835 . , . . 27,038 1840 . . , . 162,457 



1836 .... 56,581 1841 .... 143,816 



1837 .... 70,643 I 1842 .... 119,814 



1838 .... 119,540 I 



The quantity of oil-seed cakes 

 dora was in — 



tons. 



1849 .... 69,462 



1850 . . . 65,055 



imported into the United King- 

 ton?. 



1851 .... 55,076 



1852 . . . ; 53,616 



Cargoes of oil-cake, to the value of £22^207, were exported from 

 the port of Shanghae, in China, in 1849. 



