October i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
23S 
per annum, and whether it is profitable or not, 
all hands from engineer to stoker must be kept 
on pay as usual, whereas the native manufacturer 
under like as circumstances, literally loses nothing 
except the interest on the price of his checko. 
The bullocks and their driver are set to other 
tasks and all are ready to begin at oil-making 
again when the rates are once more favorable. 
The export of oil for the past year was 5,709 
tons, and will inorease yearly, since every day 
witnesses the planting out of new coconut gardens. 
There need be no fear of overproduction, for 
were the supply doubled it would find a ready 
market. The coconut is a mine of wealth to the 
inhabitants of Ceylon, and in time will no doubt 
be made to contribute to the resources of the state, 
as well as the prosperity of the people. * 
Sesame Orientate.— Teel or Gingelly Oil. — This 
very useful oil, which is in great repute on the 
Continent, where it is used as a substitute for 
Olive oil, is cultivated to a considerable extent 
in the Anuradhapura district, and could be grown 
almost anywhere as a dry crop. There are three 
varieties — the black, white, and brown — the white 
being the most esteemed, but I have never met 
with it in Ceylon. The looal demand, together 
with that for the India market, absorbs the whole 
of the supply, but if inquiry were made for it, 
in proper quarters, a surplus would soon be 
created. The increase of Gingelly seed is sixty- 
fold, and the price on the spot about 2s Qd pi r 
bushel of 45 lb. at the commencement of the 
season. f 
Gardole. — This is the oil contained in the pericarp 
or inter shell of the " Caju " nut, Anacardium 
Occidentale. It is of a deep black color, with a 
nauseous smell, and is extremely acrid, raising 
blisters almost immediately. Its properties are 
known in England, where it is much valued. The 
native method of extracting it is very effective, but 
too costly in a country where fuel costs little or 
nothing. The husks are put into a chatty, the 
mouth of which is covered with the net-like sub- 
stance procured from the young coconut-tree, and 
an empty chatty being in like manner secured, the 
two are put into a hole in the ground, the full 
chatty being placed with the mouth downwards on 
the top of the empty one. Earth is then heaped 
over them, and a large fire kindled on the surface, 
which is kept up for a dozen hours or so, until 
every drop of oil has filtered into the lower vessel. 
Five thousand three hundred nuts gave nearly 8 lb. 
of oil in a recent experiment, and with a simple 
contrivance for removing the outer husk, and a 
less expensive method of making the oil, the manu- 
facture might be made a source of much profit. 
Ricinus Uommunis. — The castor-oil seed abounds 
throughout the country, many abandoned clearings 
being entirely covered with it, but it is only used to 
produce a nearly black rancid oil, which is sold in 
the bazaars at a much higher price than the best 
refined oil would cost, imported from India. Over 
the vast extent of waste lands, there are numerous 
tracts where the seeds might be scattered towards 
the close of the rains, and as the tree requires no 
care, a highly profitable cultivation might be set 
on foot at a mere nominal outlay. Efficient 
maohinery for extracting the oil would cost but 
little ; and where the first expense waB an objeot, 
a careful process of boiling would produce a pure 
and almost colorless oil, quite equal in quality. As 
* The export of coconut oil from Ceylon in 1888 was 
364,110 cwt. valued at R4,531,223.— Ed. 
t Gingelly poouac is largely impottedfrom India. The 
Export from Ooylou of gingelly seed in 1888 was 14,050 
bushels, viduud at R32,8U0.— Ed. 
castor oil, when the price falls in the home markets 
to £30 per ton, can be sold in any quantity for soap 
making, there need be no fear of an excess of 
production. * 
Margosa. — Thousands of tons of this seed could be 
annually colleoted, growing as it does nearly in all 
parts of the island, but except at Jaffna where it is 
largely procurable in the North-East Monsoon, it is 
doubtful if more than a handful or two is gathered 
elsewhere, and that for merely local use. The oil is 
seldom to be had in the bazaars for less than a 
shilling a pound, and its use is confined merely to 
the treatment of sores and cutaneous affections. 
Medical men who have studied the properties of 
margosa oil assert that it is invaluable in oases of 
consumption, its curative effects being quite equal 
to those of Cod Liver Oil. The nauseous smell 
makes it an object of dislike to the owners of native 
mills, who refuse to make the oil, on the ground 
that it would be almost impossible to make their 
checkos or pug mills sweet again. As an article of 
export it can only be made to pay by the use of 
machinery which might be very advantageously 
employed in the manufacture. 
Bassia Longifolia. — This seed, the Mi of the 
Singhalese, grows extensively in the distriots of the 
Northern and Central Provinces, and is everywhere 
carefully collected and sold at rates which afford 
the villagers good profit. Its local uses are con- 
fined to burning in lamps, and the anointing of the 
body with the oil cake which softens the skin, and 
is thought to have medicinal value, but in commerce 
it is reckoned the first of the vegetable oils for the 
manufacture of soap. It is exported from Jaffna 
to some extent, but the demand for local consump- 
tion absorbs nearly the whole of the local supply. 
Jatropha Curcas. — Caat Aamunak. — This small 
tree, which is universally planted as a hedge in the 
North-Western Province, produces in great 
abundance a nut which has powerful purgative 
properties. It makes an oil of a yellow colour, very 
pure and limpid, and could be made an article of 
considerable commercial value. 
Molabodce. — The wild nutmeg yields to pressure 
and boiling a very pure description of vegetable 
butter, but it is not found in sufficient abundance 
to make it worth the attention of merchants. 
Murunga. — The oil from the seeds of this tree is 
the very purest known. Watchmakers use it under 
the name of the Oil of Ben, but though it would 
always command a very high prioe in the home 
markets, and grows tolerably abundant, the use of 
the legumes, as a favorite article of food, will always 
hinder the seeds from becoming an article of 
export. 
In India the flowers of the Bassia Latifolia are 
used to make an intoxicating drink, but in Ceylon 
the seeds only are occasionally used. The oil which 
they yield is of very good quality, and if the jungles 
were properly searched, a large quantity might be 
obtained. 
Kbn. — The produce of the Ceylon Oak is a small 
seed yielding a light-colored oil, suitable for burn- 
ing in lamps. The tree is not a very abundant one, 
but it gives a plentiful crop of seeds and would pay 
oooli es well for collection. 
Oroton Tiglium. Neervalum Cottay. — Qualities of 
Croton oil are well known, and as the tree requires 
no care to bring up, and the oil is worth on the 
average 3s per lb., no greater proof of the apathy 
of the Singhalese is needed than the statement of 
the fact that it is never exported raw from Ceylon, f 
* Both castor oil and cake are imported iroru 
India, where the plant is laigely cultivated. The price 
of castor-oil now is from 3d to 4jd per oz. — Ed. 
t The price of croton seed now is from 15s, to 
20s,;j or cwt. — Ed, 
