September i, 1887.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
clear, bright, cold water, and leaving it for an hour or 
so. Pure coffee communicates its colour to cold water 
slowly, aud when the colour has been imparted the infu- 
sion is still bright and clear, and the colour is never deep, 
liufc chicory and other adulterants quickly produce an 
opaque and dark infusion. The difference is so striking 
that for ordinary purposes a better test is not required. 
" To place good coffee on the table daily is a simple 
and inexpensive business, but it cannot be done at a 
penny a cup, as some folks are iu haste to aver. At 
from Is. to Is. 8cl. per pound, a good coffee in berry 
is always obtainable, and Is. 4d. may at the present 
time be considered a fair family price. It is best to 
roast and grind as wanted, but the grinding is the one 
important point, because ground coffee quickly parts 
with its aroma, and there is a great charm in having 
it made immediately from the mill. In some houses the 
trouble of griudiug is thought much of, but as a mat- 
ter of fact, it is almost nothing, and a mill costing only 
a few shillings will last a lifetime. 
"Coffee should never be boiled; it should be made 
with soft boiling water at boiling heat, but if hard 
water must be used, it should not be made to boil un- 
til wanted, for boiling augments its hardness. A com- 
mon tall coffee-pot will make as good coffee as any 
patented invention, but a cafetiere is a convenient 
thing, as it produces bright coffee in a few minutes, and 
thus enables us to secure a maximum of the aroma 
and dispenses with the use of auy rubbish called 'finings.' 
Evereyoue to his taste, we will say, but as careless peo- 
ple make the coffee too strong one day and too weak 
the next, the ground coffee and the boiling water should 
be both measured, and it will always take as much as 
four cups of water to make three cups of coffee. For 
the breakfast table the addition of about one-eighth of 
chicory is an improvement, but for the dinner table 
coffee should be made without chicory, because it dulls 
the piquant flavour of the genuine article. 
" Two points in coffee-making deter people from 
using it — the trouble of grinding and the boiling of 
the milk. The grinding, however, must be done, and 
it is really nothing, but the boiling of the milk may 
bo advantageously evaded by using Swiss milk, which 
harmonises perfectly, aud by many well-trained palates 
is preferred to fresh milk heated. 
" Good coffee is such a grand help to men who 
work hard, that I shall hope to be pardoned if I have 
said a word too many on the subject." 
SUNFLOWER OIL. 
Mr. Charles Halleck has furnished an exchange 
with some interesting information touching the results 
of a series of experiments conducted by him looking 
to the extraction of oil from sunflower seeds. Having 
to fill a contract for a certain line of canned goods 
into which catton seed oil enters as an ingredieut, and 
knowing of the success which had attended sunflower 
culture iu Russia, India and China, Mr. Halleck was 
induced to enter upon his experimental investigations. 
Th' 1 first difficulty he encountered was in procuring 
reliable information relative to the conduct of tin- 
industry in couutries where sunflower seed oil has 
bocome a recognized article of commerce. The plant 
is cultivated here only by a few country housewives, 
either for fattening poultry or on account of its sup- 
posed value in warding off malaria. An application 
to the Commissioner of Agriculture elicited nothing 
of value; the inquirer was informc 1 that the depart- 
ment hid but little information and few seeds, and 
was referred to the private florists and seedmen. In- 
quiries among those tradesmen proved as fruitless as 
hail those addressed to the Commissioner, and Mr. Hal- 
leck bad recourse to Dr. W. F. 1) a Niidinan, a native of 
Russia, at present connected with the Botanical Gar- 
dens at Washington, 1). C. From the latter gentleman 
he receive I some valuable information regarding 
Sunflower culture in Rossi*, which is here with given. 
Thi" variety of thu plant grown iu Russia is the 
gr.'uidiu>ra. It grows in one slender stalk, five feet 
high, producing one monstrous- head. A good, warm 
summer is required to bring tho flower to perfection; 
the climate of Minnesota closely resemble, that ol 
south-western Russia, where the cultivation of the plant 
is extensively conducted. The sunflower is exceedingly 
exhaustive to the soil, and after two crops the land 
is allowed to rest. Time has been found to be the 
best manure. The seeds constitute, of course, the 
most valuable portion of the crop, whose yield is about 
fifty bushels to the acre, but every portion of the plant 
is utilized. The leaves are used for fodder, and. when 
steeped in strong tobacco water so closely resemble in 
color, texture and smell those of the tobacco plant, 
that they have been known to be used to adulterate 
the tobacco of commerce. The stalks are prized as 
fuel, and their ashes are readily sold to soap makers 
on account of their richness in soda. Ou small plant- 
ations the heads of the plants when full ripe, are cut 
with knives, the stalks being left standing that they 
may become more thoroughly dried; but where the 
cultivation is carried on an extensive s-cale sickles are 
used, the stalks are cut close to the ground, and both 
stalk and flowers left on the ground for about a week, 
In the former case, the heads are in small piles and. 
according to the weather, dried either in the sun 
or in sheds. The seeds ate thrashed out, usually 
by flails. After the separation of the seeds has been 
accomplished, and they are thoroughly dried, they 
are hulled. To accomplish this, specially constructed 
mills or grindstones are used ; a fan is commonly 
attached, and the motive power is a pair of horses. 
That the manufacture in Russia is fouud to be a 
source of|profit is shown by the fact that sunflower cultiv- 
ation is constantly increasing. . The amount of needed 
seed for planting isjabout the same in measure [as of corn. 
Cold pressure has been fouud to extract the first 
and best oil. The crude oil is refined, but seldom 
(if ever) boiled. Latterly, the process employe ! in 
this country in the refinement of cotton seed oil has 
been adopted to some extent. The product is largely 
used in Russia as a substitute for olive oil, both for 
culinary and other purposes, and is pronounced 
excellent, although its taste is peculiar. It is said 
that it has never been known to become rancid. Mr. 
Halleck expresses himself as well satisfied with the 
result of his own experiments. He is of the opinion 
that he would have obtained still better results had 
not some of the seed used by him been of the variety 
known as the ordinary American multiflora, which 
had been, without Irs knowledge, mixed with the 
Russian grandiflora seed which he had ordered. He 
says that the oil which he obtained was " bright, 
transparent, limpid, of a pale straw eilour and pleasant 
to the taste." It showed no rancidity after an exposure 
for more than a year to an atmosphere varying 
from 50 to 150 dog. Fahrenheit. It is also worthy 
of note that oil of this description is said to equal 
linseed as a drying oil. — Oil, Paint and Dmy Reporter. 
[An experiment tried by Mr. C. H. de Soysa in Ceylon 
was very decisively unfavourable. Apart from the 
exhaustion of the soil, the seed did not realize a paying 
price. — Ed.] 
COTTON SEED OIL AND ITS USES. 
Quite a stir has been made of lale about the enorm- 
ous consumption of cotton seed oil iu the United 
States aud the uses to which it is put, and thu New 
York Times, which among other prominent dailies has 
taken the subject up, recently published a lengthy 
article ou the adulteration of various articles of food 
with this product. The extent of its employment can 
only be surmised after the publication iu the above 
paper of a statement siid to emanate frjin one of the 
loading lard refiners on the continent, who acknow- 
ledged the use by his firm of millions of gallons 
annually iu the manufacture of lard. That which is 
used iu the making of lard is but the indication of 
that which goes into other food products. The cot- 
ton seed oil people themselves indorse the declar- 
ation of The Times that of the manufacturers of food 
use this oil, they should be willing to acknowledge it 
publicly. According to the oil makers there U only 
purity in their product. Being finiply vegetable, it is 
free from the suspicion of disease and bill quilitt's 
that other adulterants might have. I* Inn no ting" 
of putrid refuse in it, they say ; It is wholly healthy 
